Norddalen

We are now passing Norddalen, a valley shaped by the Ice Age. Here, the story changes from transport to construction. Much of the work on the railway was done by hand, using drills, hammers and explosives to carve a route through the mountainside. Moving equipment and supplies through this terrain was another challenge. Horses and carts could use Rallarveien, but in places like Norddalen, a more direct solution was needed. In 1899, a cableway was built across the valley, carrying supplies up towards Bjørnfjell. It saved a difficult four-and-a-half-kilometre journey along the construction road. Before the railway was completed, the cableway had transported around 10,000 tonnes of supplies through these mountains. As our train passes through tunnels and along the mountainside today, it is remarkable to think how much of this railway was created through manual labour more than 120 years ago.