Welcome to Hedelands Railway.

The "Hedeland Vintage Railway" HVB is Denmark's longest narrow gauge ( 700 mm) vintage railway.  The HVB now offers a 10 km. return train ride in the former large gravel pit, converted into a recreational area named Hedeland. The Railway is more than just a train ride through Hedeland's beautifull nature, offering a whole new experience for some and a nostalgic memory of a past century for others.  We have both steam and diesel locos in service.  Timetable. Sundays from may to september.  Trains dept. from HEDEHUSGÅRD station, Brandhøjgårdsvej 2, 2640 Hedehusene, to Fem Ege station. 10:30 – 11:00 – 11:45 – 12:30 – 13:15 – 14:00 – 14:45 – 15:30 Please notice that we do not take any creditcards . About the railway. History, the line, news, research, books, membership. Hedelands Veteranbane (the Hedeland Vintage Railway) HVB is Denmarks longest narrow gauge ( 700 mm) vintage railway, currently with a length of 5,3 km. Plans exist for a further extension so that the railway in a matter of probably 10 years will be app. 7 km. long. HVB is run by Industribaneklubben (the Danish Industrial Railway Society) founded in 1974 by a gang of dedicated industrial railway enthusiasts. In 1975 the club started its engagement in Hedeland, a large recreational area, situated in a series of large gravel pits 20 km. west of Copenhagen. The first short (only 100 m) stretch of the railway was officially opened in the summer of 1977 and in 1980 the line had a length of 800 m and traffic was begun during week ends in the summer period. Along the line. Through the years the railway has been extended several times, and the latest   extensions from Rubjerg station to Fem Ege station, was completed in 2004, bringing the railway to a length of 5,0 km.   In the years 1994-1996 the club built a 600 square meter large building, that in the future will house a museum for industrial railways in Denmark. The shed has six tracks (total length under roof: 180 m.) and holds a large part of the historical locomotives and vehicles in the club's collection. The main station on the railway is 'Hedehusgård' contains two engine and works sheds, facilities for coaling and fuelling, museum shed, passenger facilities and marshalling tracks. Here is also facilities for the members that restore and repair rolling stock and locomotives, build the railway line and run the trains. All work on the railway is done by active members of the Danish Industrial Railway Society in their spare time. From Hedehusgård the line runs through a tight curve, down a steep ramp towards the bottom of the old gravel pits. The railway passes a series of small lakes before reaching Sølund station and later Stenager halt where it is possible to change trains. From the platform one can change to a model steam train. These trains are operated by the Model Steam Engine Society and are built in several scales, e.g. 1:10. After Stenager halt the next station is Brandhøj, where the railway keeps its supplies of rails, fishplates, ties etc. stocked From Brandhøj station the railway negotiates a minor gradient toward a large 'prairie-like' area with cattle and sheep. Next the railway crosses a large dam crossing one of the channels that crosses through Hedeland and passes a large hill that is used for skiing in winter. The next station that is reached is Rubjerg station. From there the rail goes right next to the old claypit, where clay to Hedehusene tileworks vere digged, up to the mid seventies. After 300 meters the line reaches "Plantagen" halt, wich is just next to a spruce plantation. The halt is primary used  during december, in connection with the service of the christmas-trains. The line now reaches the automatic equipped level crossing and after 500 meters curved and slightly falling terrain, Fem Ege station is reached and all passenger trains at present returns to Hedehusgård. From Fem Ege station the line goes 100 metres before the railway and the riding path and padistraing path meets the same lane over a 30 meter long bridge, crossing the road between Roskilde and Greve. We've reached the third and last comunity of the stakeholders in Hedeland. Books, newsletter etc. In 1998 the Danish Industrial Railway Society published a book with descriptions of its locomotives and rolling stock. Titled "Hedelands Veteranbane - Materielfortegnelse" the 80-page book contains photo and precise information on every locomotive in the club's possession. The book is available through payment of 85,- DKK incl. p&p, to the society's giro account 5 25 68 52, or use our bank connection: Danske Bank Køgevej 87, 2630 Taastrup. Regnr: 3129 account: 3129847603 . Also back issues of the society's newsletter is available through payment to the giro account, a full volume costing 50,- DKK. The society's newsletter, 'Tipvognen' (the skip) is issued on a regularly basis five times a year. It contains news from HVB, articles on existing industrial railways in Denmark and neighbouring countries besides historical articles. Research. The Danish Industrial Railway Society has through the years collected a large amount of information on industrial railways in Denmark. Both documents, pictures, drawings and also memories of former employees has been assembled in the archive The research has led to countless new discoveries and is increasingly taking place in co-operation with enthusiast abroad. Do You have any questions on Danish industrial railways You can contact the leader of the society's archive or leader of research. Leader of archive: Peter Andersen Brandvænget 60 DK-2640 Hedehusene. Leader of research: Bent Hansen Rugmarken 30, Nr. Bjert DK-6000 Kolding. News. Longer railway 5.3 km. New distance of main line We've finished the last 150 metres of track during the Vinter 2006-2007 and  the 13. february 2007, the line was connected to the tracks on the bridge. At 14.20 pm. the first train, with dieselengine M12 in front, crossed the bridge, leaving Høje Taastrup, entering Greve. The bridge over the major road between Roskilde and Greve was biuild in 1987, and it's been vaiting for traintraffic for almost 20 years. The last tamping and ballast works need to be done, before we're continuing on the other side. I'ts the plan that we during spring do aprox 60 metres before an official celebration are made. After that we have to wait until the major works preparing the trackbed towards Tune are ready for tracklaying. A few years ago the earth works for the 1,5 km extension was completed, and after a year of hard work we have succeeded in getting the tracks down. The new station at the end of line, 5 km from our main station - Hedehusgaard are finished and all trains terminates here. The new extension is built with our standard rail profile (24 kg/m) on used wooden sleepers. Steam locos: HVB have for a long time been busy restoring a O&K-engine (O&K 7459/1921) and that work will be continued through 2007. The work was planned to terminate in late summer 2002 - resulting in a restored example of what was a very common type of steam loco on the danish marl railways during the twenties and thirties, but other upcomming projects has been taking our time.  Our only workable steam engine, Da 7 (Henschel 18449/1921), expirenced a crack in the boiler during the 2000-season. The crack was welded and Da 7 continued working the passenger trains, but it was decided not to use the loco in the 2001-season on safety reasons. A new boiler for Da 7 was ordered in early 2002 and Da7 is now in ordinary service again.  The boiler costs about 315.000 danish kroner (42.000 €), seemingly not a fortune, but nevertheless a substantial amount for a small club like our's. Diesel locos: During 2003/04 we have restored a four cylindred diesel engine, build at the sugar factory in Nakskov 1962.  The loco vas in service until 1968. IBK bought it in 1974. Link to some pictures  of M24. Still going strong... Traffic on HVB has been satisfactory the last few years with a steady increase in revenue. This has been mostly due to carefull planning of the specially chartered trains (usually on week days). We have tried to balance the price of the trains with the manpower available for running the trains and have through this method gained the benefit of high earnings with the least use of  our members' limited spare time. "Once upon a time..." 25 years ago HVB was officially opened, and allthough the railway was only 100 m long, it nevertheless represented a dream come true for the pioneers of the Industrial Railway Society. Over the next quarter of a century these 100 m have grown into a almost 5,2 km long railway with workshops and sheds, steam locos and 10.000 passengers a year. More than 50 locos have been aquired and over the years the volunteers learned how to run a railway - even profitable! Several arrangements through the year will serve to commemorate the aniversary for the general public as well as our members. Membership. Membership of the society can be obtained by the payment to the club's account: Danske Bank Køgevej 87, 2630 Taastrup. Regnr: 3129 account: 3129847603. The club's general address is: IBK / HVB Brandhøjgårdsvej 2 DK-2640 Hedehusene.