Krøderbanen
Encyclopedia
The Krøderen Line is a heritage railway
line connecting the Krøderen
lake in Buskerud
, Norway
, to the town of Vikersund
. The 26 kilometres (16.2 mi) line was built as a narrow gauge
branch line
of the Randsfjord Line by the Norwegian State Railways (NSB) and opened in 1872. Passenger services were withdrawn in 1958, and freight traffic in 1985.
, the Krøderen Line Foundation and the Norwegian Railway Club jointly operate steam train services on the line from May to October. In addition to the termini at Vikersund
and Krøderen there are intermediate stations at Snarum
, Sysle, and Kløftefoss.
s in Krødsherad
, which were popular amongst travellers. In 1853, a committee was established, which aimed at improving the passenger transport between Drammen
and the rest of Buskerud.
Following the opening of the Randsfjord Line in 1866, railway director Carl Abraham Pihl
instructed a terrain investigation of the area between Vikersund and Krøderen. The plan was to build a line connecting Drammen
to the waterways of Hallingdalen. Pihl proposed three alternatives for a rail line to Krøderen; one which involved a 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) long route from Drolsum
, a second, 32 kilometres (19.9 mi) long route from Åmot
over Sigdal
and a third from Vikersund, at a length of 222 kilometres (137.9 mi). The latter was chosen, as it was the shortest and cheapest to construct.
The construction of the line started in the spring of 1870. The terrain was difficult for railway construction; the right-of-way had sixteen sharp curves and the gradient from Vikersund was 1:45. The line was constructed with the narrow Cape gauge
of 1067 millimetres (42 in), which cost less than the standard gauge
. The line cost 10,15 Norwegian speciedaler
per kilometre, which made it the cheapest railway line yet constructed in Norway. King Oscar II
arrived at Krøderen on 19 November 1872. He was met with a speech and a guided tour in the Krøderen Station, which was decorated for the occasion. The line was officially opened on 28 November, but without any celebration of the kind as of the week before.
There were in the beginning halts at Hære, Jemterud, Hole, Lofthus
, Gubberud and Uhla. Jemterud and Hole were replaced by Sysle in 1894; Lofthus had its name changed to Snarum in 1874. In 1891, a pulp mill was established at Ramfoss, which became connected to the line with a side track from the newly created Kløftefoss Station. There were in the first years two trains per day on the Krøderen Line, which corresponded with trains on the Randsfjord Line at Vikersund. In the first year of operation, the ridership from Vikersund to Lofthus (later Snarum) was at 11 persons per day, whilst it from Lofthus to Krøderen was 5 to 6 persons. The ridership increased in the following years, with a peak of 16.544 passengers in 1874.
The line's main traffic and the principal source of its revenue was timber
. The timber origined from the forests around the line and was either floated to paper factories in Drammen or exported to England. At Gubberud and Slettemoen, side tracks from the line were laid down to transport timber from sawmills. When the Bergen Line was constructed in the late 1910s, building materials were freighted on the Krøderen Line and on steam ships over the Krøderen lake. Following the 1908 opening of the Bergen Line to Gulsvik
, the traffic on the Krøderen Line reached its peak. Passengers were able to travel from Kristiania
to Bergen
by taking a train from Oslo West Station
to Krøderen Station, a steam ship over the Krøderen lake to Gulsvik and a direct train from Gulsvik to Bergen. On 31 October 1909, the Bergen Line was extended from Gulsvik to Hønefoss
. Passengers travelling from Kristiania to Bergen could then travel directly, and needed not take a steam ship across Krøderen. The passenger traffic on the Krøderen Line was halved in the following year.
On 5 August 1908, the Railway Committee of the Norwegian Parliament decided to upgrade the track gauge of the Krøderen Line to standard gauge. In August 1910, a train derailed approximately 1 kilometre (0.621372736649807 mi) from Sysle Station and crashed into a river. Three passengers were killed in the accident, whilst six survived. On 9 May 1948, diesel powered trains were put in operation on the Krøderen Line. The diesel powered trains were faster than the steam powered; a steam powered train travelled from Vikersund to Krøderen in 55 minutes, whilst the new diesel powered trains only used 35 minutes. Owing to low passenger traffic, passenger trains on the Krøderen Line were decided to be replaced with buses in 1956. The last passenger train travelled in 1958, and the roads around the line were improved. The freight traffic on the line continued, although the last steam powered freight train travelled on 1 November 1967, since the floating of timber in the waterways of Hallindalen was ceased in the same year. On 28 February 1985, the last diesel powered freight train travelled on the Krøderen Line.
Gathering inspiration from the Urskog–Høland Line, the Norwegian Railway Club lobbied to preserve the Krøderen Line as a heritage railway. In the autumn of 1973, the club sent a letter to the state railways' department in Drammen, in which it stated that the Krøderen Line was well-suited for tourist traffic with heritage trains. The department supported the proposal, and in September 1977 the Norwegian Railway Club invited the heritage committee of Buskerud to an inspection.
Passenger services on the line were withdrawn in 1958, and in 1985 freight traffic too was discontinued. Two years later the Norwegian Parliament resolved to retain the line as a heritage railway and to preserve Krøderen Station as a museum at Krøderen.
At Vikersund
there is a junction with the Randsfjordbane while from the station at Krøderen the steamboat
s D/S Haakon Adelsten (built in 1861), Krøderen, and Norefjeld formerly operated to Gulsvik
, taking 2½ hours to complete their journey. The last steamboat sailed in 1925.
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
line connecting the Krøderen
Krøderen (lake)
Krøderen, sometimes called Krøderfjorden, is a lake in Buskerud, Norway.The lake stretches about north from the village of Krøderen in Krødsherad on it southern end and reaches north to the village of Gulsvik in Flå municipality in the valley of Hallingdal. The lake has a surface area of 42.88...
lake in Buskerud
Buskerud
is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.-Geography:...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, to the town of Vikersund
Vikersund
Vikersund is a town of 2,448 inhabitants in the municipality capital of Modum, in the county of Buskerud, Norway.Vikersund is located 30 kilometers south of Hønefoss and 40 kilometers northwest of Drammen. The village is located at the southwestern arm of Tyrifjorden. The Drammen river enters...
. The 26 kilometres (16.2 mi) line was built as a narrow gauge
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
branch line
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
of the Randsfjord Line by the Norwegian State Railways (NSB) and opened in 1872. Passenger services were withdrawn in 1958, and freight traffic in 1985.
, the Krøderen Line Foundation and the Norwegian Railway Club jointly operate steam train services on the line from May to October. In addition to the termini at Vikersund
Vikersund Station
Vikersund Station is a railway station located at the village of Vikersund in Modum, Norway, on the railway Randsfjordbanen. The station is served by some express trains between Bergen and Oslo operated by Norges Statsbaner.-History:...
and Krøderen there are intermediate stations at Snarum
Snarum Station
Snarum Station is a railway station on the Krøder Line in Buskerud, Norway. It was opened on 28 November 1872 and located in the village Snarum. The station house was designed by Georg Andreas Bull in Swiss chalet style. On 26 November 1872, farmer Jørgen Rytterager was appointed the first station...
, Sysle, and Kløftefoss.
History
In the beginning of the 19th century, horse carriages and ships were used for passenger transport in the Buskerud area. There were three government subsidized coaching innCoaching inn
In Europe, from approximately the mid-17th century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a coaching house or staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure, as an inn serving coach travelers...
s in Krødsherad
Krødsherad
Krødsherad is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Noresund. The municipality of Krødsherad was established when it was separated from the municipality of Sigdal on 1 January 1901.-Name:The Old Norse form of the name was...
, which were popular amongst travellers. In 1853, a committee was established, which aimed at improving the passenger transport between Drammen
Drammen
Drammen is a city in Buskerud County, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the eastern and most populated part of Norway.-Location:...
and the rest of Buskerud.
Following the opening of the Randsfjord Line in 1866, railway director Carl Abraham Pihl
Carl Abraham Pihl
Carl Abraham Pihl was a Norwegian civil engineer and director of the Norwegian State Railways from 1865 until his death...
instructed a terrain investigation of the area between Vikersund and Krøderen. The plan was to build a line connecting Drammen
Drammen
Drammen is a city in Buskerud County, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the eastern and most populated part of Norway.-Location:...
to the waterways of Hallingdalen. Pihl proposed three alternatives for a rail line to Krøderen; one which involved a 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) long route from Drolsum
Drolsum
Drolsum is a village in Modum municipality, Norway.It is located on the western bank of Tyrifjorden, and has a train station on Randsfjordbanen, between Vikersund and Nakkerud....
, a second, 32 kilometres (19.9 mi) long route from Åmot
Åmot, Buskerud
Åmot is a village in Modum municipality, Norway. Located just south of Geithus, the two villages have grown closer to each other. They have a combined population of 5.694 .-References:...
over Sigdal
Sigdal
Sigdal is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Prestfoss. -Background:...
and a third from Vikersund, at a length of 222 kilometres (137.9 mi). The latter was chosen, as it was the shortest and cheapest to construct.
The construction of the line started in the spring of 1870. The terrain was difficult for railway construction; the right-of-way had sixteen sharp curves and the gradient from Vikersund was 1:45. The line was constructed with the narrow Cape gauge
Cape gauge
Cape gauge is a track gauge of between the inside of the rail heads and is classified as narrow gauge. It has installations of around .The gauge was first used by Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl and the first line was opened in 1862.- Nomenclature :...
of 1067 millimetres (42 in), which cost less than the standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
. The line cost 10,15 Norwegian speciedaler
Norwegian speciedaler
The speciedaler was the currency of Norway between 1816 and 1875. It replaced the rigsdaler specie at par and was subdivided into 120 skilling . It was replaced by the Norwegian krone when Norway joined the Scandinavian Monetary Union...
per kilometre, which made it the cheapest railway line yet constructed in Norway. King Oscar II
Oscar II of Sweden
Oscar II , baptised Oscar Fredrik was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death and King of Norway from 1872 until 1905. The third son of King Oscar I of Sweden and Josephine of Leuchtenberg, he was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden through his mother.-Early life:At his birth in Stockholm, Oscar...
arrived at Krøderen on 19 November 1872. He was met with a speech and a guided tour in the Krøderen Station, which was decorated for the occasion. The line was officially opened on 28 November, but without any celebration of the kind as of the week before.
There were in the beginning halts at Hære, Jemterud, Hole, Lofthus
Snarum Station
Snarum Station is a railway station on the Krøder Line in Buskerud, Norway. It was opened on 28 November 1872 and located in the village Snarum. The station house was designed by Georg Andreas Bull in Swiss chalet style. On 26 November 1872, farmer Jørgen Rytterager was appointed the first station...
, Gubberud and Uhla. Jemterud and Hole were replaced by Sysle in 1894; Lofthus had its name changed to Snarum in 1874. In 1891, a pulp mill was established at Ramfoss, which became connected to the line with a side track from the newly created Kløftefoss Station. There were in the first years two trains per day on the Krøderen Line, which corresponded with trains on the Randsfjord Line at Vikersund. In the first year of operation, the ridership from Vikersund to Lofthus (later Snarum) was at 11 persons per day, whilst it from Lofthus to Krøderen was 5 to 6 persons. The ridership increased in the following years, with a peak of 16.544 passengers in 1874.
The line's main traffic and the principal source of its revenue was timber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
. The timber origined from the forests around the line and was either floated to paper factories in Drammen or exported to England. At Gubberud and Slettemoen, side tracks from the line were laid down to transport timber from sawmills. When the Bergen Line was constructed in the late 1910s, building materials were freighted on the Krøderen Line and on steam ships over the Krøderen lake. Following the 1908 opening of the Bergen Line to Gulsvik
Gulsvik
Gulsvik is a village in Flå, Buskerud, Norway. The name Gulsvik is connected to the original farm of Gulsvik. The Gulsvik farm was known from the middle ages, when the owners were among the most prominent people in lower Hallingdal. Gulsvik is reckoned to be an old Norwegian folkland, which never...
, the traffic on the Krøderen Line reached its peak. Passengers were able to travel from Kristiania
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
to Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
by taking a train from Oslo West Station
Oslo Vestbanestasjon
Oslo West Station or Oslo V, is a former railway station located in Vika in Oslo, Norway. It was the terminus of the Drammen Line between 1872 and 1980, until the Oslo Tunnel opened. The station remained in use until 1989, when all traffic was moved to the new Oslo Central Station...
to Krøderen Station, a steam ship over the Krøderen lake to Gulsvik and a direct train from Gulsvik to Bergen. On 31 October 1909, the Bergen Line was extended from Gulsvik to Hønefoss
Hønefoss Station
Hønefoss Station is a railway station located at Hønefoss in Ringerike, Norway. The station is located at the intersection between the Bergen Line, the Randsfjord Line and the Roa–Hønefoss Line...
. Passengers travelling from Kristiania to Bergen could then travel directly, and needed not take a steam ship across Krøderen. The passenger traffic on the Krøderen Line was halved in the following year.
On 5 August 1908, the Railway Committee of the Norwegian Parliament decided to upgrade the track gauge of the Krøderen Line to standard gauge. In August 1910, a train derailed approximately 1 kilometre (0.621372736649807 mi) from Sysle Station and crashed into a river. Three passengers were killed in the accident, whilst six survived. On 9 May 1948, diesel powered trains were put in operation on the Krøderen Line. The diesel powered trains were faster than the steam powered; a steam powered train travelled from Vikersund to Krøderen in 55 minutes, whilst the new diesel powered trains only used 35 minutes. Owing to low passenger traffic, passenger trains on the Krøderen Line were decided to be replaced with buses in 1956. The last passenger train travelled in 1958, and the roads around the line were improved. The freight traffic on the line continued, although the last steam powered freight train travelled on 1 November 1967, since the floating of timber in the waterways of Hallindalen was ceased in the same year. On 28 February 1985, the last diesel powered freight train travelled on the Krøderen Line.
Gathering inspiration from the Urskog–Høland Line, the Norwegian Railway Club lobbied to preserve the Krøderen Line as a heritage railway. In the autumn of 1973, the club sent a letter to the state railways' department in Drammen, in which it stated that the Krøderen Line was well-suited for tourist traffic with heritage trains. The department supported the proposal, and in September 1977 the Norwegian Railway Club invited the heritage committee of Buskerud to an inspection.
Passenger services on the line were withdrawn in 1958, and in 1985 freight traffic too was discontinued. Two years later the Norwegian Parliament resolved to retain the line as a heritage railway and to preserve Krøderen Station as a museum at Krøderen.
At Vikersund
Vikersund
Vikersund is a town of 2,448 inhabitants in the municipality capital of Modum, in the county of Buskerud, Norway.Vikersund is located 30 kilometers south of Hønefoss and 40 kilometers northwest of Drammen. The village is located at the southwestern arm of Tyrifjorden. The Drammen river enters...
there is a junction with the Randsfjordbane while from the station at Krøderen the steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
s D/S Haakon Adelsten (built in 1861), Krøderen, and Norefjeld formerly operated to Gulsvik
Gulsvik
Gulsvik is a village in Flå, Buskerud, Norway. The name Gulsvik is connected to the original farm of Gulsvik. The Gulsvik farm was known from the middle ages, when the owners were among the most prominent people in lower Hallingdal. Gulsvik is reckoned to be an old Norwegian folkland, which never...
, taking 2½ hours to complete their journey. The last steamboat sailed in 1925.
External links
- Official museum web site
- Krøderbanen site at the Norwegian Railway Club
- photos from Krøderbanen