page_title: SJ B
section_title: Private operators
hierarchical_section_title: SJ B / History / Private operators
caption_attribution_description: Swedish 4-6-0 Class B No. 101A in steam at Wansford on the Nene Valley Railway
context_page_description: The B class of the Swedish State Railways was a type of steam locomotive for mixed traffic, introduced in 1909. 96 locomotives were built for SJ by between 1909 and 1919. The 4-6-0 B class was part of the development of modern superheated locomotives that had begun with the A class in 1906. Intended for fast freight trains and heavy stopping passenger trains, they proved to be highly useful in all types of traffic, and remained in use until the end of steam operations in Sweden.
  Eleven B class locomotives were sold to private railways during the 1930s, but all but one returned to SJ after the railway companies had been nationalized in the 1940s. One of the private operators, Stockholm–Västerås–Bergslagens Järnväg, had three more locomotives of the same type built, the last one in 1944. Most B class locomotives were eventually rebuilt with fully enclosed cabs, and some were equipped for oil-firing after the Second World War.
  When the locomotives became unnecessary in the daily traffic they were placed in the strategic reserve. Some locomotives from the reserve were reactivated during the winter of 1965–1966 due to a temporary shortage of electric locomotives.
context_section_description: Six B class locomotives were sold to Bergslagernas Järnvägar (BJ) in 1935–1937, and four to Stockholm–Västerås–Bergslagens Järnväg (SWB) in 1936–1937. Three locomotives were soon transferred from BJ to close cooperator Södra Dalarnes Järnväg (SDJ), but it is unclear if they were ever formally registered with that company. All these locomotives returned to SJ when the railways were nationalized in the 1940s, but the former SWB locomotives remained on the network of that company until electrification. The type was known as the B3 class at BJ and as the A class (A1 from 1943) at SWB. The cost to purchase one locomotive in used condition was 85,000 Swedish crowns; a similar amount was then needed to refurbish the locomotives before they could be used.
  Another B class locomotive was sold to Helsingborg–Hässleholms Järnväg (HHJ) in 1936, but was not intended to be used. Having been overhauled by HHJ, it was traded to BJ the year after for a H3 class locomotive. BJ sold it in 1947 to Stockholm–Nynäs Järnväg (SNJ), where it was given number 12, later changed to 2. SNJ had it modified for oil firing, as SJ demanded this to allow the steam locomotives of SNJ on the electrified tracks into Stockholm Central Station. The locomotive was scrapped in 1960 without having been reintegrated into the SJ fleet.
  The B3 class differed from other locomotives of BJ, as the driver's position never was moved from the left to the right side. They were in fact hardly modified at all during their time on BJ, meaning that two former BJ locomotives are the only ones preserved in nearly original condition. SWB did make some modifications on their locomotives: the sandboxes were moved, and the blastpipes were modified, increasing the production of steam. SWB bought used C class tenders from SJ to their locomotives, and the original A class tenders were rebuilt to tank wagons.
  Despite the purchase of the A1 class, SWB had too few 4-6-0 locomotives for their passenger trains. Three new A2 class locomotives were built by NOHAB in 1943–1944, based on the SJ B class. Some minor improvements were made, including fully enclosed cabs and the use of roller bearings. They were delivered with the modified sandbox position, but with unmodified blastpipes; the latter were quickly changed. The tender was of a new design, slightly larger than the C class tender, known as the B class after nationalization before being grouped with other six-wheeled tender types under the C3 designation. The former A2 class locomotives, known post nationalization a B class number 1695–1697, were last used in the 1960s in freight trains in the Dalarna region, where they were described by one driver as "the best steam locomotives ever built".
caption: SWB A2 101 has been preserved at the Nene Valley Railway in a non-authentic livery. The locomotives built for SWB were delivered with six-wheeled tenders of this type.
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