Flam Railroad Show Segment

Traveling east from Bergen, the fjords beckon to us, as we cross the Hardanger Fjord. Our first stop of the day is at the Dale of Norway outlet for our woolen shopping.

Dale - a little village in Western Norway is encircled by towering mountains. In 1870 Peter Jebsen saw the possibilities given here by the natural waterfall from the Dale river, and founded a textile mill later known as “Dale of Norway”.

Ever since 1879 Dale of Norway has been producing first class quality products and today is the largest manufacturer of traditional Norwegian knitwear.

At the outlet our group heads for the bargains both inside and outside the store. Woolens of all colors, sizes and shapes fill the store with the traditional Norwegian patterns and designs. In addition there are skeins of wool and instruction booklets for the more creative of the group. Back on the road we begin counting the waterfalls as we cross the picture perfect land. The early morning mist adds to the beauty. Countryside homes dot the landscape with their colorful trim and beautiful gardens.

Stopping at Alvik, we see the impressive the twin waterfalls. We discover that there are actually three falls from the top of this glacier. The unusual heavy amount of water adds to the charm for the visitor, yet remains a threat to the locals. We all stop to take pictures and enjoy some time to walk around.

Once again we are on the road and headed on Route E to Stalheim. Our bus travels up the Klevva with it’s 11 hairpin turns. The narrow road leads up to the Stalheim hotel. A quiet and secluded first class hotel renowned for its spectacular scenorama and its impressive museum.

The first hotel on the site was founded in 1885. Since before 1700 there has been an Inn at Stalheim. From 1647 until 1909, the Royal Mail between Copenhagen and Oslo and Bergen changed horses here on each tour.

During the first decades of this century Stalheim became a favorite holiday resort for the nobility of Europe, including the German Emperor, who made 25 consecutive visits.

The hotel has been in the same family for over 60 years. including during World War II when the German occupation forces took over the hotel to use as a R&R for their troops.

The present hotel was built in 1960 and is the fourth in succession. The terrace of the hotel provides a magnificent view over three valleys, the Sivle and Stalheim waterfalls and the conical peak of Jordalsnuten.

In addition to the hotel there is a museum, restaurant and lounge area. This is a great spot to stop for lunch and enjoy the beauty that surrounds you and snap a few photos for the folks back home to see.

Leaving Stalheim we head toward Gudvangen traveling along the riverbanks where salmon fishing is a popular sport. Licenses are both limited to a short period of time and expensive. But the end product makes the cost worthwhile to these Nordic fishermen. The many waterfalls, uncommon for this time of year, create an impressive view of the majesty of this tranquil area. How many is that, Bob? Flam and Gudvangen are connected by one of the most spirited pieces of tunneling display in the fjords. There are two separate stretches slicing through the mountainside to connect the two villages. The sections span 4 kilometers and 11 kilometers, the longest section in Norway and the fifth longest in the world. The new road through the mountain makes the journey much quicker than the alternate route around the mountains, used until only recently.

During the Ice Age, around three million years ago, Scandinavia was wholly covered in ice, which was extremely thick inland but thinner toward the coast. Under the weight of the ice the river valleys grew deeper, leaving basins when the ice retreated that filled with sea water and became the fjords. Due to the salt water and the warm Gulf Stream, the fjords remained largely ice free and because the ice was thinner at the coast, were often deeper than the sea itself.

Cutting 180 kilometers inland, the Sognefjord is the most dramatic of Norway’s great fjords. Flam at the southern end of one of its tiny arms, at the mouth of the Flamdal and surrounded by mountains is its most touted tourist spot. This is the terminal for railway line of the Bergen Railway which runs down the Flamdal from Myrdal.

From Myrdal a 20 kilometer branch line of the Bergen railway plummets 900 meters down into the Flam valley- a fifty minute ride. The track which took four years to lay, spirals down the mountainside through had dug tunnels, and at one point traveling through a reverse tunnel to drop nearly a thousand feet. The gradient of the line is one of the steepest anywhere in the world, and as the train screeches its way down the mountain, past cascading waterfalls and breathtaking scenery.

Here we stopped to board the Flam railroad. Looking around at the terrain, you begin to wonder how anyone could imagine building a railway here.

The story begins in 1871, during the union between Sweden and Norway when there was a desire to link the two most important trading towns in the double kingdom, Stockholm and Bergen, by the railway. This is how the Bergen railway came into being, and in order to ensure transport to places around the Hardanger Fjord and Sogne Fjord, branch lines were built and the Flam was one of them. The Bergen railway was finished in 1909 and the Flam railway 35 years later. Together these two lines illustrate what is best and most challenging in Norwegian railroad history. Today the two lines represent major challenges to the staff and equipment. The Flam railway is a high mountain railway, which means it has been built to tackle step inclines and sharp bends. The trains require this because they travel up and down steep slopes, along narrow mountain ledges and tight hairpin bends.

The Flam railway is included on the list of the world’s most beautiful railway journeys and has therefore become and international destination for many tourists.

This 20 kilometer long track offers just about everything wild and beautiful mountain scenery, fertile heritage landscape and historical traditions going back to the pagan times. All this as you descend 2,600 feet down to sea level at the Aurland Fjord. Down in the valley the climate is nice and mild, with some of Norway’s most fertile orchards.

80% of the Flam railway has a gradient of 55%. At the same time, there are 20 tunnels with a total length of 6 kilometers, evidence of the most daring and skillful engineering feats in the history of Norwegian railways. Some of the tunnels are constructed as loops which wind in and out of the mountains. In order to ensure safety on this unusual stretch of track, all carriages are equipped with five different brakes, each of which can stop the train.

Along the way is wild, changing scenery, the mild, fertile heritage land and the skilled engineers. But the most remarkable feature is the tunnels. Most of these were hewn out of the rock by hand. Each meter of these tunnels cost the workers a month’s toil. It also took over 20 years to finish the work, an incredible accomplishment.

For many people who travel on the Flam railway, the stretch between Myrdal to Blomheller is the most memorable. The first spiral comes at Vatnahalsen. After a few sudden turns the train slowly travels past an open “Window” in the tunnel wall before emerging at a place called Baklia. Here there’s a delightful view out over the Flam valley before the train enters the Balki tunnel. At the end of this tunnel you can see the Kjosfossen waterfall and the power station there. Kjosfossen waterfall comes from the Reinungavtnet lake a little further up, where the river is fed into a water tunnel under the r railway line down by the power station. If you look out towards the opposite mountain wall when you emerge from the Kjosfoss tunnel you can see the Flam railroad on three levels: the Myrdal stretch, the Hylla “window” and, furthest up Baklia. Here you can also see the road up toward Myrdal with its 21 hairpin bends.

After this the train enters the Nali tunnel, the longest on the Flam railway. It travels out of the tunnel toward Blomheller, after which it crosses the road and the river down in the valley and on to the Berkvam station.

From Berelvam the railway line goes a little higher than the road but falls slowly as the train travels to Dalsbotn. After Dalsbotn it travels through two tunnels and the train is on the same level as the river before the train reaches Hareina. After that, the rate of descent falls significantly down toward Lunden and Flam. The Flam valley is a typical west Norwegian fjord valley. It is cut into ancient mountains and glaciers and rivers carved out both the Aurland Fjord and the Flam valley.

The oldest settlements in Flam valley date back to 4900 BC. Until 1834, 17 pagan hanging stones stood on the plain just in front of the Flam church, a sign of a living culture from 2500 years ago, These stones gave Fretheim its name: the way to Fretta-the place where you ask the gods for advice. Today the hanging stones are benches in a small park at Lunden.

Later on the Sagas tell how the rebellious King Sverre fled from his rival Magnus over the mountains from Raundalen to Flam in 1177. The route King Sverre took is still called Sverresgong. Shortly after Sverre died in 1202, Vangskirken church was built in Aurland. There are grounds for believing it was consecrated in honor of the King.

On the journey from the high mountain at Myrdal you can see the green shades change reflecting a cross-section of Norwegian landscape and vegetation. More than 500 types of plants have been found in this area, more than half the mountain plants found in all of Norway.

Our trip was more than satisfactory. And as we wait to board the bus, we have a chance to check out the Gift Shop. Our next destination and place to spent the night is Gudvangen.

When we remember this day, we will remember; the wonderful woolen goods at the factory outlet, waterfalls, the death defying ride up to Stalheim, and the amazing train ride with the picture perfect wonderland surounding us with mountains, and waterfalls .

Join us next time as we spend time at the Fjordtell in Gudvangen and then take a trip on the boat Fjords.

On the road to visit four countries in 14 days.