Midsummer day in Sweden

This is probably the most important day of the year in Sweden, and I celebrated by taking a little trip out into the country side – to a place called Anten, in fact, from where a narrow-gauge railway (891 mm = 3 old Swedish feet) runs about 12 km to Gräfsnäs, with its ruined castle.
Here are a few “postcards” from the trip:
1. 4-6-0 VGJ 24, delivered in 1911 by NOHAB (Nydqvist & Holm AB) of Trollhättan to the Västergotland-Göteborgs Järnväg. This 47 ton locomotive is now running again after having been laid up for the best part of 50 years.
2. Anten station; this is the base for the Anten-Gräfsnäs Railway, where its locomotive sheds are, and from where all the trips begin. The station has been restored to its 1930s state. All the staff are unpaid volunteers.
3. Diesel railbuses like this one run alternate trips between steam-powered runs, at the present time only one steam locomotive is available, the others are in various stages of repair, but they have been steamed and will again.
4. Setting off to church (which is on the other side of the lake) in the newly-built traditional style church boat. Lake Anten is so large, being 10 km long, that in the old days it would otherwise take all day to get there!
5. The train departing from Gräfsnäs station – note the lush greenery in what I call “darkest Sweden”!
6. Gräfsnäs castle ruins – dating from the 16th century, it burned down 3 times, in 1634, 1734 and 1834, allegedly as the result of a curse placed on the aristocratic owners by a “wronged woman”. Its beautiful English-style park remains, however and is a popular picnic spot.
7. In the park is this soldier’s cottage – the ceiling is just about 6 feet high and there are just three rooms – this living/sleeping room with its massive fireplace, a kitchen using the back of the fireplace as a stove, and a tiny pantry. Outside toilet, of course, and water fetched from the nearest stream or lake. A whole family with children would therefore live in just this one room.
8. No Swedish Midsummer celebrations would be without their musicians, in this case playing “standard” violins, but often a 6-string fiddle is played.
9. Today happened to be also a day for demonstrating handicrafts at Gräfsnäs, and here is the blacksmith at work.
10. Another old craft is extracting tar from a special variety of pine tree – its wood is placed in the “kettle” and then heated so that the tar runs out through the pipe at the left into a tin or bucket. Apparently this 5-litre tin will fill with tar in about 3 hours.