Smalspårsfrämjandets Forum

Excuse my ignorance as I am still getting used to Swedish Prototypes...

I have found a copy of a drawing on the net of what I think is a "Litt G" Van?



Can anyone confirm if this is correct and are there any images of the van to get an idea of what they looked like?

Also, what does the "Litt" stand for?

A typical G-van from the 1890s.

"Litt." is an abbreviation of "littera", literally meaning "letter" of course, but better translated with class or diagram. Thus, what we have here is a class G van.

A short translation of Swedish littera

Class G - Closed van
Class H - Insulated closed van for food
Class I - Open van high sides (3 planks or higher)
Class M - Ore van
Class N - Open van with stakes and 1 plank
Class NN - Open van with stakes and no plank
Class O - Open van, stakes, fold-able steel sides
Class P - Open van for sand

But these are main classes. Then there were numerous variants of each class.

/Olof

Almost the same waggon but with a steel door can be seen here:

[link]http://www.sklj.se/avd/maskin/fordon/go ... uhb390.htm[/link]

Thank you for the responses..

Jan Frelin skrev: A typical G-van from the 1890s.

How long did these vans remain in service for?

Olof skrev: A short translation of Swedish littera

Class G - Closed van
Class H - Insulated closed van for food
Class I - Open van high sides (3 planks or higher)
Class M - Ore van
Class N - Open van with stakes and 1 plank
Class NN - Open van with stakes and no plank
Class O - Open van, stakes, fold-able steel sides
Class P - Open van for sand

But these are main classes. Then there were numerous variants of each class.

/Olof

Many thanks for this information this is most useful. As I have been researching I have come to a conclusion that there was some sort of classification system, much like the UKs 'TOPS' system only introduced much earlier! The UK equivilent was introduced in the 1970's(!) and prior to that descriptions of wagons were used... e.g '16t All Steel Mineral Wagon -End Door'.

The stamp in bottom right corner seems to say Kalmar verkstad and the year 1909.

rich_eason skrev:

Jan Frelin skrev: A typical G-van from the 1890s.

How long did these vans remain in service for?

1940's, perhaps? Most revenue vans in the fifties and later were bigger.

rich_eason skrev: Many thanks for this information this is most useful. As I have been researching I have come to a conclusion that there was some sort of classification system, much like the UKs 'TOPS' system only introduced much earlier! The UK equivilent was introduced in the 1970's(!) and prior to that descriptions of wagons were used... e.g '16t All Steel Mineral Wagon -End Door'.

Basically what happened was that private companies took over the system SJ used for rolling stock (but not for engines). I believe using compatible classification was almost mandatory for standard gauge roads for facilitating stock interchange.