European Railroad Discussion > FINLAND: visit to Toijala museum

It was a beautiful sunshiny day in Sothern Finland, and even more to it, in Toijala railway museum steam engine Tv1 #933 was heated for the coming ride to Turku. This does not happen often for #933. I was lucky to visit the place with my friend. To my surprise there was also a new Fenniarail ChME 3M.
1. Welcome to the museum!
2. Wood burning ChME 3M  :)
3. ChME 3M stored here.
Next week VR organizes railway seminar in Turku where newest locomotives will be presented: Vectron Sr3, this ChME 3M. And steam engine Tv1 #933.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/16 01:52 by Stas.

---

---

---

1. General situation outside museum this morning.At he background is Sr1 #3106 that brought freight train.
Engine is hauled by a small shunter MOVE 21 (Dv 100 according to VR designation). Manufactured by Valmet Oy in 1948.
2, 3. My reason to come here - Tv1 #933.
 

---

---

---

7, 8: Move 21.
9. Snow plow stored outside.

---

---

---

Inside museum is very interesting. Besides 'must have' stuff for every self-respecting museum it full of small and strange rolling stock.
1. Frichs - one of the odd looking locomotives.
2. Shunting steam engine Hanomag "Bottle".
3. 600 mm Move-1 from the mines in Urjala.
 

---

---

---

4. Valmet's Move 3.
5. Tve 3 #473 with strange nickname "Voivoi".
6. Vr 2 # 964.
 

---

---

---

Great story and coverage of the museum Stas! The Frichs might actually be a French license built highly interesting design. They were "swarming" in Denmark before the WW2.

I can't resist to post a steering wheel inside this contarption, used long on duties on Finnish Naval station...must be one of a kind :D    Plus a similar loco from Denmark to illustrate how the World was a pretty small place enven in the old days.
 

---

---

Unfortunately, the ChME3-M and two sister units still don't run any trains for customers. But they are looking. VR still has 99.9% of the rail freight markets in Finland,  and monopoly on the traffic crossing the borders.

Thumbs up for the Fennirail!

7.  Breurer. Built in 1953.
8. The most strange oddity in the collection is this Dutch Pedershaab, powered by Ford 2.9 l 4-cyl engine. The flat platform is nothing, but adaptation of 600 mm locomotive to 1524 mm gauge.
9. Matisa. We used to see big yellow Matisa's monsters, but this contraption shows modest beginning of the company.
 

---

---

---

Yes, Frichs and one behind it (I could not take a good photo) are ones of a strange shape. Very interesting museum!

McKey, I have seen wheel type of steering wheel in other locos, but with one handle. I think we both saw it in abandoned Kisko Kalle, remember?

 

Yes, very cool coverage indeed! The one behind "Frichs" is one of the Bjurströms, which are much more common in Haapamäki museum...and still in use in Sweden!

Stas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> McKey, I have seen wheel type of steering wheel in
> other locos, but with one handle. I think we both
> saw it in abandoned Kisko Kalle, remember?

I think you are right. And here is one from Move 90 (quite similar to VR class Dv12)...how could a large loco like this stay on rails without streering it firmly? ;D


 

---

Did the Czech ChME3-M have a steering wheel too? Or do they trust to rail guidance?

10. This Matisa is a lovely contraption, isn't it?
11. Manufacturer plate.
12. Dv 12 #2241. On one the big 'must have' stuff. I wonder , is it in running condition?

In general, museum makes very good impression: everything well restored, ordered, clean, unlike many small museums that look rather like a dump places. And, what is good for international visitors, much of the text doubded in English - somewhat seldom seen in museums outside of the capital area. People do very good job keeping this place.
If you happen to be passing by Toijala, this museum is highly recommended to visit.

BTW, a few kilometers away there is a car race track on the frosen lake, where everyone with proper tires can do racing for fun. Interesting place. I saw there even Land Rover barge hitting a pile of snow :)

 

---

---

---

And about the traffic around Toijala.
1,2: Sr1 #3106 brought freight train and moved away for waiting.
3: Double Dv 12 (#2559,2701) came to pick up wood log train. When going to Toijala I thought to capture logs loading process, but after museum it was to late.

Also, while I was in museum, several passengers trains passed the station. They had Edo driving trailer. Next time will be interesting to photograph Edo in rural environment.
 

---

---

---

You can really feel the -20 degree celcius cold in your outside pictures! Glad you survived...;)

Interesting to notice how the larger media handles stories these days: one of the forest industry plants was closed at the years end in Valkeakoski (where the paper roll train originates) and this was all news. Nothing about two remaining still in full swing plants of the UPM. Even I was fooled for a while to believe that the forest industry there will be gone after 150 years of operations.

Stas, thanks for these interesting images.  I was there in winter 2005.  Everything was closed and walking around the outside was dangerous because of the ice.  Gerry

Woudlö you have any pictures from time Gerry? It would be interresting to see what has changed and how much they have managed to work the museum forward. I think theyäve done a lot of valuable work, and just missing some additional inside space for the vehicles.

Yes, Valkeakoski plant is working and happily steaming into the sky. I was there after Toijala.
McKey, where does log trains go from Toijala?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/16 23:51 by Stas.

There are several probable buyers nearby from Toijala. If it goes South, the most likely buyers are one of the huge forest industry factories on Lake Saimaa Southern shore (Imatra, Joutseno, Lappeenranta, Kuusankoski, etc.). If it goes North, there are another 20 possible buyers, trick being that wood can not be transported long distances on VR pricing. Then there is a division between logs for saw and woodboard industry and fiber wood / pulpwood. Most of what you saw was probabaly smaller wood, which will end up being used for all kinds of wood fibers, new "biological"/chemical substances, ethanol and biodiesel, plus pellets, depending on where it ends for further processing. Nothing goes waste as what is left from processing is burned and sold to electricity markets. Or used locally for the huge factories.

One page for everyone to observe. Look at the scale of this 1,4 billion USD pulpwood mill construction in Ääneskoski, Mid Finland. This is just one of the major forest industry building projects in Sweden and Finland. Though maybe the only major expansion that is not on the seaside.
http://bioproductmill.com/articles/web-cams

Ddi it look like the trcuks in Valkeakoski were loading pulpwood 24/7/365, whcih is their normal operations mode in winter? (Winter being the season for wood cutting).  

Stas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, Valkeakoski plant is working and happily
> steaming into the sky. I was there after Toijala.
> McKey, where does log trains go from Toijala?

McKey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Woudlö you have any pictures from time Gerry? It would be interresting to see what has changed and how much they have managed to work the museum forward. I think theyäve done a lot of valuable work, and just missing some additional inside space for the vehicles.
-------------------------------------------------------
Upon checking my records, I discovered that I was there twice.  The first three images are from 9/11/04.  I seem to recall that there was only one other person present and he didn't speak English.  Unfortunately, I didn't investigate the inside of the roundhouse.
Gerry

---

---

---