#westory – a Ticket to Ride

1891. Industrialization peaked and the expansion of the Swedish railway network was in full swing. It was a golden opportunity for business as demand for rail cars was sky high. Would gravity ever call? The reason why the factory is situated here is that the railway was being built, from Stockholm and southwards. There was a station right here. The road we see was covered with tracks. The only thing left from that era is the railway caretaker's cottage. In the 1890's they built a new railway on the other side of the lake. They became the first customers of the "Vagnsfabriksaktiebolaget i Södertälje" which was later abbreviated into Vabis. Vabis was known as a good supplier of high quality goods. They had close contact with their customers. Sometimes the national railway company would send drawings straight to their production department. The railway wagon production went on for 20 years, from 1891 to 1911. During this time they manufactured 3,172 wagons. This enormous railway network needed a lot of maintenance and for that purpose they started producing railway engine trolleys. Like the one I'm sitting on right now, from 1910. It was one way for the factory to go from railways to motor-driven traffic. At the same time the railway wagon factory here merged with Scania in Malmö. Two owners of motor vehicle producing factories came together in 1911 and started Scania-Vabis. The railway era was over and the new, motorized era began. Ever since we started building railway wagons, Scania has been a part of building the infrastructure, you could say. One could divide society into infrastructure and business behaviour where Scania has been balancing between the two for a period of 125 years. They have helped both customers and society. That journey continues, with the addition of some new methods. There could still be things to learn if we look back at the old pioneers.