Per Gustaf Bork – blacksmith and narrow gauge pioneer

When the Skyllberg Iron Works planned to introduce steam power on their railroad in 1881, master mechanic Olaus Bork (see “A railroad builder in the family” ) did not have to go far for advice. Since 1875 his younger brother Per Gustaf Bork was employed as a locomotive engineer, and later master mechanic at the Hjo – Stenstorp Railroad (HSJ).

Per Gustaf was born in 1844 at Liljendal, Rämen parish, eight years younger than his brother Olaus. He is only seven when his father dies in smallpox, and their mother remarries his father´s assistant Olof Johnsson Roth. Per Gustaf starts to learn the blacksmith trade, and in 1865 he moves to Rönneshytta. This is a blast furnace which delivers pig iron to the rolling mill at nearby Skyllberg, where Olaus has just been appointed superintendent. Brother-in-law Gustaf Elg (married to Maria Sophia Bork) also moves to Rönneshytta where he is a master blacksmith.

In Rönneshytta Per Gustaf marries Amalia Persdotter, and daughter Tekla Olivia is born in 1869, the couple´s only child. In 1870 the family moves to Arboga. Per Gustaf´s profession is now listed as “machinist”, perhaps a sign that he has taken a first step from blacksmith to the new mechanical engineering industry.

In 1872 the young family moves again, this time to Karlskoga. Here Per Gustaf´s career takes a new turn. He is trained in the high technology of this new era, and next time the family moves, Per Gustaf´s profession is listed as “locomotive engineer”.

In 1872-73, the first parts of the Nora – Karlskoga railroad opens for business, and we can safely assume that it is here that Per Gustaf learns his new profession. In 1873, brother Olaus also oversees the construction of a railroad from Skyllberg to the new standard gauge mainline at Lerbäck – although his line will initially be horse-drawn.

 The boom spirit of Karlskoga is broken by a deep recession in late 1873. By 1875 Per Gustaf moves his family to Hjo, a small town in southern Sweden, located on the shore of lake Vänern, one of Sweden´s largest lakes. Here he is employed as an engineer on the new Hjo-Stenstorp railroad (HSJ.

 

HSJ engine at the railroad shops in Hjo.  Per Gustaf Bork in the cab. Source www.hsj.se

HSJ was one of the first common carriers on narrow gauge rails in Sweden. The gauge, 3 Swedish feet or 35 1/12”, was the most common narrow gauge in Sweden. Like many other such projects, HSJ was built by local businessmen in Hjo, to connect a town which had been bypassed by the main trunk lines.

The pier in Hjo. An HSJ train and passenger steamer steamer ”s/s Trafik”.  Source: Swedish Railway Museum ( www.samlingsportalen.se )  Jvm.KDAA03023:

Since 1855, Hjo also had one of the best harbors on Lake Vättern (Sweden´s second kargest lake), and while the railroad was seen as a threat to the harbor, the harbor also came to account for a fifth of the freight shipped on the railroad. Shipments included aspen wood for the matchstick factory in Tidaholm, raw liqour for a liqour factory in Hjo, and beet sugar for a sugar refinery in Lidköping.

Villa Olga, around 1900

 

I have not been able to uncover many details about Per Gustaf Borks career at HSJ, but he seems to have done well. His job title advances from “engineer” to “engineer foreman” and eventually “master mechanic”, and in the final years of the century he is able to purchase Villa Olga, located in a park in Hjo. Today the building is a historical landmark. Bork passed away in 1927.

Relations between the two railroading brothers were perhaps not entirely without frictions. In 1873, HSJ orders their third locomotive, “Tidaholm”, from Henry Hughes in England. Already by 1877, HSJ tries – without success – to sell the locomotive to the Lidköping – Skara – Stenstorp railroad, another 891 mm gauge line which connected to HSJ at Stenstorp. In a document dated October 1883, the locomotive is described as “totally unsuitable” and should be sold immediately. By the autumn of 1885, what appears to he the same locomotive is found on brother Olaus Bork´s Askersund – Skyllberg – Lerbäck railroad, but again meets with little enthusiasm. Among other problems, the short wheelbase makes it prone to derail, in particular when clearing snow. The Skyllberg company tries to sell the loco already in July 1891, and it is finally scrapped by ASLJ in 1903.

Villa Olga today

 

 

 

Location of Hjo, in southern Sweden

Young man with a horn

When other kids my age listened to the Beatles, I walked around with a feeling of being born 30 years too late: My music was the big bands of the 1930´s and 40´s, and to my ears the high point of music history was Benny Goodman´s performance of “One O´Clock Jump” at his legendary Carnegie Hall Concert on January 16, 1938 (listen to the rideout at the end of the song and you will get the meaning of swing). My teenage Walter Mitty dream was standing in a white tuxedo in front of my big band, with young ladies fainting  from excitement right and left. Of course it was not to be..

So I was delighted when I discovered that our family history does after all include a young man with a horn.

 

Nellie Elge, daughter of emigrated gold miner Frans Otto “Francis” Elg(e), married James Austin Gordon, a dentist in Helena, Montana.

This was a musical family: Dr Gordon was also a clarinet soloist, and Nellie a pianist. With a number of musically inclined children, the formed a family orchestra led by their father. They performed as the staff orchestra for a local radio station.

 

 Photo: Tei Gordon collection

One of the children, Claude Eugene Gordon (1916-1996)  was given his first cornet at the age of five, and three years later, while in fifth grade, was featured as a soloist playing with the Helena High School Band! While he was still in his early teens, Claude was already a professional player and was teaching for both cornet and accordion.

During the era of live radio and television, Claude distinguished himself as one of the most successful studio trumpet players and gained a reputation as "the trumpet player who never misses." He performed with the studio orchestras on many popular shows including, Amos and Andy, and I Love Lucy. During the 1950s Gordon emerged as one of Hollywood's frequently sought-after jazz trumpet soloists. Claude later formed his own big band which was named the "Best New Band in America" in 1959. Perhaps his timing could have been better – this was a period when young men with guitars were set to take over the popular music industry..

 

 

Claude Gordon passed away in 1996. Today, he is best remembered as a teacher. He authored a number of method books. The "Claude Gordon Method" has influenced most of today's top trumpet players, and is still used by teachers across the world. The Claude Gordon Personal Papers and Music Instrument Collection is housed at the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

https://www.purtle.com/claude-gordon-approach  About Claude Gordon´s approach to teaching

http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=688818  The Claude Gordon Band online