Thamshavn Railway, Norway

The metre-gauge Thamshavn Railway is in central Norway south west of Trondheim. It opened in 1908 with British equipment to carry pyrite, a valuable source of sulphur as well as copper and other non-ferrous metals, from mines at Lokken to the port of Thamshavn for smelting and shipment. The railway also carried passengers and general freight. All traffic finished by 1974, but since 1983 it has operated as a heritage line.

The line has always been electrified, at 6.6kV 25Hz AC, and has the world's oldest alternating current loco, built by Bagnall. It was the scene of several sabotage operations by the Norwegian resistance during the Second World War, when Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany.

Here are 58 photos taken in 2015.

https://andrewstransport.smugmug.com/Norwegiantrains/Thamshavn-Railway-2015/

Andrew N

 

A little trivia about the Thamshavn Railway: it is believed to be Norway's only instance ever -- for lines having had a public common-carrier role, at any rate -- of the metre gauge.

The Thamshavn Railway gets a brief mention and "thumbnail sketch" description in the Northern Norway and Sweden book, by H. A Vallance, in the David & Charles "Railway Holiday" series. The author's recounted tour in those regions was in summer 1963, too late "by a whisker" to travel on the Thamshavn, whose passenger service had been withdrawn earlier that year -- mineral and general freight traffic, continued. Vallance had at least travelled on the line in the course of an earlier visit to Norway.