The first railroads in Sweden and Västergötland
The railroads were first introduced i Sweden in the year 1845 by the so called "The English committee" under management by count Adolf Eugène von Rosen. For Västergötland was the question this: -" How do we build the railroad between Stockholm to Göteborg?"

There were two old roads. The south runs by Jönköping and Östergötland and was of no interest for Västergötland. The north road went over Västerås - Örebro - Hova - Mariestad - Skara - Björnebro - Kullings Skövde - Alingsås. An alternative road were from Mariestad through Lidköping to the river Göta Älv.

By a decision, on the 18^th of March 1856, by Kungl. Maj:t (HRH King Karl XV) it was set that the Västra Stambanan, the main line from Stockholm to Göteborg should go east of the mountain Billingen (i.e. through Skövde instead of Skara). This was in accordance with Nils Ericsons proposal but in opposition to the so called "The Akrell committee" and a rather compact opinion.

Building the main line
The main line was based on the principle of Nils Ericson: "-they should be built so far as possible from already existing roads to create a development in the future" (Heckscher). For Västergötlands part did this mean that the main line was built through Alingsås - Herrljunga - Skövde - Töreboda - Hallsberg and the large towns of that time, Mariestad and Skara, didn't get any railroad.

In the year of 1862 was the railroad between Hallsberg - Töreboda - Göteborg was opened for public use. Shortly this was of big influence on the social change. The thoughts of connecting other towns with the main railroad by building branch lines was growing.

Building branch lines
The government buildt and owned the standard gauge railroads - the main lines. Build branch lines was up to each and everybody. Just find the money to do it.

The first branch line was built to connect Mariestad to the main line between Stockholm and Göteborg. After a 12-years old debate about build the railroad to Moholm or Töreboda the railroad between Mariestad and Moholm (Mariestad - Moholms Järnväg, MMJ) was den finally was inaugurated on the 1^st of March 1874.

Some years earlier, 1869, the railroad Uddevalla - Vänerborg - Herrljunga Järnväg (UVHJ) had been opened which lead to a connection from Vara to the main line.

To combine the interest of Skara and Lidköping was not easy but on the 19^th of November 1874 the railroad Lidköping - Skara - Stenstorps Järnväg (LSSJ) was opened for traffic and connected the two towns with the main line.

Three years later, 1877, the railroad between Lidköping and Håkantorp was opened which connected Lidköping to Vara and Herrljunga.

Despite this, Mariestad, Skara and Lidköping was without a railroad connction for a very long time. First on the 15^th of December 1887 the railroad Skara - Kinnekulle - Vänerns Järnväg (SKVJ) opened and two years later the railroad to Mariestad (Mariestad - Kinnekulle Järnväg, MKJ) was opened. The building of railroads was completed when the railroad between Lidköping through Kinnekulle (Råbäck) to Forshem was opened in 1898. Finally, in the end of the 1890-ies could you travel by train between Mariestad, Skara and Lidköping.

Narrow gauge
All of those branch line railroads was narrow gauge. Standard gauge is 1 435 mm, but the railroads in Västergötland was built with 891 mm, or three Swedish feets. One Swedish foott and one English foot was not the same. One exception was UVHJ, the railroad was built with the very odd gauge of 1 217 mm. The railroad was soon rebuilt into standard gauge.

The cause of using the narrow gauge was financial. It was cheaper to build with narrow gauge compared to standard gauge. The so called "trefotabanorna" (three feet rairoads) was the most common narrow gauge in Sweden. But there were railroad with, for example, 1067 mm and 600 mm.