The national railway Museum of Norway is situated in Hamar. Not really the biggest of Europe, but then the railways in Norway are neither. Yet every country has its own story and development. That of Norway is very much determined by the extreme scenic and climatical conditions under which railways needed to be desgined, constructed and operated
1 The museums logo in the concrete wall of the main building
2 A carriage for the cavalry
3 64 man and 12 horses
4 Main entrance
5 The modern building houses a small exhibition. The bulk of the exhibits is located on the left side in the museum park
6 NSB steam locomotive class 2a, wheel arrangement 1B, length 11011 mm, driving wheel diameter 1448 mm, two cylinders 508*305 mm, boiler pressure 827.7 kPa, speed 50 km/h, locomotive weight 21.3 t, tender weight 7.1 t. Built 1861 as No. 1406 by R. Stephenson & Co. Engineers, Newcastle on Tyne.
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8 Exquisite lining
9 The tiny spectacle plate can make you wonder under what circumstances the locomotive staff had to work, with winter temperatures easily down to -20 C
10 A teak railcar and coach from the Drammenbanen (the railway between Oslo and Drammen). The railcar saw service from 1932 till 1971, the coach from 1921 till 1983 (!!)
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16 In the coach films were shown, this particular one about maintenance of steam locomotives. I sat there fascinated for 45 minutes. Also remarkable: the width of the coach: five seats
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18 A royal coach
19 NSB steam locomotive class 7a 25. Gauge 1435 mm, built 1875 by Manning Wardle & Co. Ltd. Leeds, suited for operation by one person. Wheel arrangement B with 965 mm driving wheels. Used for shunting and local trains. It became a museum locomotive in 1955. This locomotive used to be on display in the hall of Oslo Sentralstasjon before it came to Hamar.
20 The museum is spread over a wide are at the beach of lake Mjøsa. That alone is worth the visit. In the gardenlike arrangement many original buildings have been resurrected, displaced from there original locations. This is very similar to the customary ways of Norway's folk museums
21 Lake Mjøsa
22 The narrow gauge steam railway's track. The day of my visit was the last day of the year it was scheduled for operation
23 From top to bottom:
Main building
Dovregubben, the giant of the Dovre line, a steam locomotive
Knertitten is the designation of the small children's railway,
Locomotive hall
24 This is the locomotive hall
25 The locomotive hall houses four steam locomotives and an electric locomotive
26 An Baldwin built Norwegian (1915)
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28 NSB Type 25A, no 227. A member of a class numbering 42, built from 1909. 227 was withdrawn from service in 1970
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32 No 452 is of the rare axle arrangement 4-8-0. 27 examples of this class 31b were built between 1915 and 1926. They saw service mainly on the OSlo-Bergen line and lasted until 1970
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34 The right drive rod has gone wrong
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36 Electric lighting of the mechanism, rare in "the rest of the continent", common in Norway and Sweden
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38 An impressive lubricator
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41 A far lighter engine is this 4-6-0. Class 27A No 234. Built between 1910 and 1921. Withdrawn in 1970
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48 Electric locmotive no 2011 Class EL1, Norway's first electric locomotive in 1922. Withdrawn in 1973
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51 A mini replica of Leikvangen station, serves the children's loop train
52 The old station of Bestum
53 A sunny spell brightening thing up
54 The narrow gauge steam train making one of this year's last runs.
55 Passing the main locomotive shed
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73 A typical problem for many railway museums: a large loco that barely fits in this shoe box, though I for the world wouldn't know why space is a problem with this particular museum.
74 The NSB Class 49, nicknamed Dovregubben ("the Dovre Giant") locomotive was a 2-8-4 steam locomotive used to pull heavy trains on the Dovre Line. It is the largest steam locomotive in the history of the Norwegian State Railways. The engine came in three series, the 49a, 49b and 49c. Between 1935 and 1941 five engines were produced by Hamar and Thune, two by Krupp AG.[1] In addition to the seven engines delivered, there were seven engines which were destroyed by a bombing raid during World War II while under construction in Germany, another four were under construction at Thune but were never completed. The engines were retired on December 16, 1958.
I'm sorry this photo isn't up to standards. It is a composition of three made under very tight angles. I'm actually surprised something recognisable came out of it
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77 A sutprsingly igh positioned boiler leaves ample space between the bar frame and boiler bottom
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79 the loco cab was accessible and even after fifty years you could sense the raw power this engine housed.
80 Meanwhile
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84 Though maybe not the best of photos, this composition of six separate photos shows the sheer size of the cab and the complexity of the controls. Th cab is very spacious, you actually walk around in it, instead of moving from left to right at best.
![DSC06590-92 The NSB Class 49, nicknamed Dovregubben ("the Dovre Giant") locomotive was a 2-8-4 steam locomotive used to pull heavy trains on the Dovre Line. It is the largest steam locomotive in the history of the Norwegian State Railways. The engine came in three series, the 49a, 49b and 49c. Between 1935 and 1941 five engines were produced by Hamar and Thune, two by Krupp AG.[1] In addition to the seven engines delivered, there were seven engines which were destroyed by a bombing raid during World War II while under construction in Germany, another four were under construction at Thune but were never completed. The engines were retired on December 16, 1958. I'm sorry this photo isn't up to standards. It is a composition of three made under very tight angles. I'm actually surprised something recognisable came out of it](slides/DSC06590-92.jpg)
