Collection destroyed in fire just before start of season
 

06:00 today the fire brigade were called to a fire in an industrial area. As they left the station they already knew that nothing could be done.
It was the so called "german warehouses (Swedish: Tyskmagasinen) that was burning.
The warehouses were built in the early 1900s and were used to store pulp. During WWII they were used to store supplies (food) etc for German troops in norway. (A blot in swedish history that should never be forgotten)
Until today the area were used by the Railway Society Malmbanans Vänner to store their collection of vehicls and a museum. None of their vehicles could be saved as the fire spread to all the vehicles in the yard.
The season for their train runnings was just about to start but now the future of the society is uncertain.

Video and picture (Swedish):
http://www.kuriren.nu/fb/lulea/se-la...l-8895282.aspx
http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/nor...asinen-brinner

Picture and interview with chairman of the society:
http://www.nsd.se/nyheter/lulea/bran...-10099945.aspx

Google Translate:
https://translate.google.se/translat...spx&edit-text=
https://goo.gl/maps/GHTsKJ1ffjP2

Very sad news, lost heritage that can never be replaced.

Pictures of more vehicles in a swedish train forum:
http://www.postvagnen.com/forum/index.php?id=1026535

That is very sad news - the society must be devastated.

Tony

WHY do people do this and spoil the enjoyment of others?

Well. The fire started exactly 75 years after the transportation of armed german soldiers through sweden started. As mentioned, a blunt in Swedish history that should never be forgotten.
If the fire was not started by arson it is a very odd coincidence. Probably it is some kind of protest agains the swedish transit of german soldiers. Don't think the arsonist had any thoughts about the trains and their value.

More about the transit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transi...and_and_Sweden

This is one of the vehicles that can not be replaced:
http://www.hjordis.se/jla/rail/brand/DSCN4889t.jpg

In the beginning there were no road to Kiruna, except for the small road used when the railway was built. All transportation were made by railway. In Abisko, they had an ambulance on rails, to transport people to the hospital in Kiruna.
The vehicle on the picture is that one, and was the only one of its kind.

Very bad news. A lot of peoples efforts destroyed as well as irreplaceable stock! Richard

Sad when you hear about things like this, protesting is one thing but why they think they should feel the need to destroy items that people have restored and cared for amazes me. I hope the society have the desire to continue, who could blame them if they decided that enough is enough

The chairman said in an interview that it took them 30 years to collect and restore all the cars, "but hopefully it will not take 30 more" so it sounds like they will try.
Most of the destroyed cars were the ones used in their summer trains, so the cars that was not destroyed were parked at the museum (at another location) and they are not allowed to be used in traffic.
So they had to cancel all their vintage train runnings.