Some Norwegian Trains

[steinjr]

Hi guys --

Thought you might enjoy to see some rail (train and subway) pictures from over here in SE Norway, where I live:

My local railroad station (Sorumsand on the Oslo-Kongsvinger RR line):


High school kids disembarking from an old Type 69 commuter EMU (Electric Motor Unit):



Our town has a small museum narrow gauge (750 mm) railroad. This was originally a "tertiary railroad" - an about feeder line with very little traffic, built mostly to transport lumber and closed down in the 1960s as being uneconomical. Today about 2.5 miles of the original 35 miles has been restored to service, and the tourist trains are run by volunteers on summer Sundays, before Christmas and a few such times. The engine shown - no 7 "Prydz" - was built by German engine builder Henschel in 1950.


Rear end of a Type 71 Airport Express Train EMU (more pix here: http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/no/elec...1/pix.html):


My commuter train home at sunset - a type 72 commuter EMU - built by Italian builders Ansaldobreda, styled by Pininfarina


More type 72 pix here: http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/no/elec...2/pix.html

MOW train hired from the Swedish railroads for ballast cleaning/replacement work - engine is an MaK diesel - line is normally electrified, but they cut the power when working on the line with stuff that get fairly close to the catenary wire when operated:





Underground subway station in Oslo:


Above ground station on the subway net in Oslo - old subway trains - haven't had a chance to take a picture of the new subways trains yet:


Here are some more railroad pix from my local RR line by a far better photographer - Roy Olsen:
http://trips.rool.no/kongsvingerbanen_190508
http://trips.rool.no/kongsvingerbanen_300407
http://trips.rool.no/kongsvingerbanen_210305

This guy's photo page is at: http://trips.rool.no/

Smile,
Stein

[TinGoat]

Thanks!

Love that Vossloh MaK!!!

[Ralph]

Thank you Stein for creating the first thread in the International forum! One of the best features of a forum like this is having an international membership that can share information and pictures of railroading from around the world! Some very picturesque scenes here!!!

Ralph

[nkp_174]

wow, 35 miles is a great chunk of track for a museum! I can only think of a handful of American tourist/heritage lines of that scale...Cumbras & Toltec, Durango & Silverton, White Pass & Yukon, and perhaps the new ones out of Alamosa.

Nice to see some Norwegian railroads!

[steinjr]

wow, 35 miles is a great chunk of track for a museum! I can only think of a handful of American tourist/heritage lines of that scale...Cumbras & Toltec, Durango & Silverton, White Pass & Yukon, and perhaps the new ones out of Alamosa.

Nice to see some Norwegian railroads!

Alas - only 2 1/2 miles of the narrow gauge railroad is in service, and it doesn't look like any more will be put into service anytime soon - the old right of way has mostly been put into use for other purposes. Still - it is a nice little trip - from the depot to a park at the midway point - right next to the normal gauge mainline, and then up to the endpoint at the end of a field, where the train is met by horses and sleds (in wintertime) or horses and carts (in summertime). I have never taken the sled/cart ride - much more fun to watch the engine run around the train and get ready to back down the hill pulling the cars back to the original starting point, after everybody has reboarded the train

Longest museum railroad in Norway is Kroderbanen - which is about 16 miles of normal gauge track - about an hour northwest of Oslo. Trivia factoid: their signature song is a Norwegian version of "Take the A-train".

Grin,
Stein

[nkp_174]

Oh, I see where I missed that in the original post. 16mi, sounds like some of the nice lines in Britain.

Are there any wonderful rail journey's in Norway? Being that you have lots of my favorite two elements for railroading: mountains & snow...and with cities being spread out a bit...I'd suspect there are some fantastic lines.

I like the idea of enjoying that little tank engine...while the family rides the sleigh...talk about a great Christmas treat!

I think I'll look up Norway's entry on steamlocomotive.info as I'm not as familiar with Norwegian railways as your western and southern neighbors.
I'm all for taking the Steam train

Edit: there aren't enough pictures on that website...but here are three that stuck out to me...
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<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=7021">http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive ... splay=7021</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=7027">http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive ... splay=7027</a><!-- m -->

The last is great. Love the setting. Looks like a Kreigslok to me...in a beautiful place.

[steinjr]

Oh, I see where I missed that in the original post. 16mi, sounds like some of the nice lines in Britain.

Are there any wonderful rail journey's in Norway? Being that you have lots of my favorite two elements for railroading: mountains & snow...and with cities being spread out a bit...I'd suspect there are some fantastic lines.

I like the idea of enjoying that little tank engine...while the family rides the sleigh...talk about a great Christmas treat!

I think I'll look up Norway's entry on steamlocomotive.info as I'm not as familiar with Norwegian railways as your western and southern neighbors.
I'm all for taking the Steam train

Edit: there aren't enough pictures on that website...but here are three that stuck out to me...
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=5880">http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive ... splay=5880</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=7021">http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive ... splay=7021</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=7027">http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive ... splay=7027</a><!-- m -->

The last is great. Love the setting. Looks like a Kreigslok to me...in a beautiful place.

Yup. Looks like a "big German" from WW2.

Here are some pictures of Norwegian Steam Engines: http://www.jernbane.net/norge/damp/damp.htm

Good places for spectacular RR rides - from Dombaas to Aandalsnes in mid-central Norway, and the steep downhill from Myrdal to Flaam east of Bergen on the west coast. Or just taking any train across "the keel" (the mountainous north-south spine of Norway) in a winter storm - past Finse, where they recorded some of the Ice Planet Hoth scenes for the Star Wars movie "The empire strikes back".

Smile,
Stein

[steinjr]

We are having pretty bad weather right now - quite a bit of heavy wet snow that causes trouble with switches and the need for frequent plowing.

But never so bad that it is not good for something - it is perfect weather for testing new train sets of Electric Motor Units that the Norwegian State Railroads are buying from the Swiss company Stadler.

A new Stadler FLIRT (Fast Light Innovative Regional Train) five car electric motor unit set is apparently being tested under winter conditions over here right now - a fellow railroad enthusiast caught this picture in the town of Drammen today (from http://mjforum.no/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6954:



Smile,
Stein

[Fluesheet]

Interesting thread, thanks for posting.

I saw some models of Norwegian Steam at the toy fair, and was struck by the fact that they wore the same "eye brow snowplows" (for lack of a better term.. :p) as pictured on the MOW diesel. I guess you stick with what works!

Matt

[steinjr]

Interesting thread, thanks for posting.

I saw some models of Norwegian Steam at the toy fair, and was struck by the fact that they wore the same "eye brow snowplows" (for lack of a better term.. :p) as pictured on the MOW diesel. I guess you stick with what works!

Matt

The V-shaped plow works pretty well, and is used on pretty much all regular engines. We also have several types of dedicated snow plows - rotary or otherwise - nice to have when snow gets 10-12 feet deep across the mountains and you have to cut a trench through the snow for the trains to get through

Here is a link to a page that shows various MOW rolling stock: http://www.home.no/eyolf/Hobby/Jernbaneb...anlegg.htm

There is two series of pictures of rotary plows in there.

Smile,
Stein