A Son of the Rock

The Flåmsbana Museum is more or less on the dock side at Flåm. The railway’s story is fascinating. They had to dig the line, which has lots of tunnels, out of solid rock by hand, using hand tools and horse driven carts. Construction was started in 1924 and the line did not open till 1940 by which time the Germans were in control of Norway.

It’s the steepest standard gauge railway in Europe. The information card said that because of the safety considerations required by the railway’s steep gradients and no rack and pinion back-up this early locomotive had six different braking systems:-

A more modern locomotive, no longer used, outside the museum building:-

Another obsolete locomotive, a bit further away:-

Old railway poster, showing a stavkirke, or wooden church. These can be almost Russian Orthodox in appearance:-