The stop after Centralvägen was Parkvägen. This was, in my opinion, the most picturesque station on the line, surrounded by trees and greenery with a classic Lidingöbanan station house on platform 1. (That's why I've taken so many pictures of it!)
Here are some views of Parkvägen both before and after
it was closed, starting with a sequence of six photos I took on 21 May 2000.
The station building and both platforms, with waiting passengers.
The right-hand platform is used for southbound (toward Ropsten) trains, and
the left-hand platform for northbound (toward Gåshaga) trains.
At both ends of the station, the two tracks converge to a single one.
Taken from the same position as the first shot, but in the opposite
direction. A train is approaching from Kottla. If you look carefully
at the switch, you can see that the points are in the correct position for
the train to enter Parkvägen on the track to its right (see the previous
picture). It will then stop at the platform and open its doors on the
right.
The switch above is a spring switch, which is a type of trailable
switch. A trailable switch is one whose points can be moved, in
the trailing direction, by the wheels of a passing train. A spring switch
is a special type of trailable switch with a hydraulic mechanism that sloooowly
returns the switch points to their original position after the switch has
been trailed. Lidingöbanan uses this type of switch extensively
to see to it that trains always come in on the same track at a given station.
More detail for those who want it:
In the picture above, the approaching train enters the switch in the facing
direction and comes in on track 1 (southbound trains always use track 1) at
Parkvägen. A northbound train leaving Parkvägen, coming from
behind us in the picture above, would be on track 2, the right-hand track
in the picture, and would trail the switch. If the switch didn't return
to its original position, a southbound train approaching Parkvägen like
the one shown above would come in on track 2, which is the wrong track for
that train. So the switch will slowly return to the position that takes
a southbound train in on track 1.
In reality, if the switch failed to return to its original position and lock
in that position, the signal for entrance to Parkvägen here (barely visible
in the picture above, a shorter metal pole to the right of the track, in the
curve, with a black plate at its top) would be red.
Almost all of Lidingöbanan's stations use this principle to get trains
in and out on the correct platforms. The only exceptions are Ropsten,
Torsvik (south end; the north end uses a spring switch), Baggeby and Aga,
all of which use non-trailable motorized switches. Another implication
of this is that, except for the arrangement at Ropsten requiring the driver
to press a button to request a route to Torsvik, all the switches and signals
work automatically; normal traffic movements require no intervention by the
control center unless there is a problem on the line. Movements
into and out of the depot do require control center intervention, though.
The boxes at Ropsten control the switches at that station as well as the switch
at the south end of Torsvik; the motorized switches at Baggeby and Aga move
into the correct positions automatically as routes are (automatically) set
for normal traffic movements.
The same train entering Parkvägen. This photo shows
the signal a little more clearly.
Car 611, running at the front of this train, is a driving trailer;
i.e., it has driving controls but no motors. The pantograph seen in
the photograph belongs to the motor that's at the Gåshaga end of the
train. This is the normal two-car configuration on Lidingöbanan;
a three-car train normally consists of a two-car train with a second motor
coupled at the Ropsten end, giving a motor-driving trailer-motor consist.
Cars in the 300 series, type designation A30B, are motors. Cars in the
600 series, type designation B30B, are driving trailers.
The same train is coming to a stop at Parkvägen.
Note that its signal is still red.
The signal has now turned green, and the train can depart.
The train departs Parkvägen. That guy on the bicycle isn't allowed to ride it on the platform, but I guess he doesn't know that....
More views of Parkvägen:
(23 August 2000)
Signal 41 governed exit from Parkvägen northbound (toward Gåshaga).
Again, as with the views of Brogrenen earlier, note the "S" sign and ATC beacon.
(23 August 2000)
The station building at Parkvägen.
(23 August 2000)
Parkvägen with a three-car southbound train stopped.
(3 September 2000)
A view of Parkvägen on its last day of service.
(12 September 2000)
Yep, that's Parkvägen in ruins. The sign leaning over at the left
is the "S" sign shown next to signal 41 in the picture above. This photo
was taken from the same vantage point as the first photo in the sequence of
six above (from 21 May 2000). When everything is finished, this will
be the northern end of Skärsätra station -- i.e., basically just
a long switch.
(12 September 2000)
Track replacement being done north of Parkvägen (toward Kottla).
This photo was taken from the same vantage point as the second and third photos
in the sequence of six above (from 21 May 2000).