Flekkefjord Line

The Flekkefjordbane (German Flekkefjordbahn ) is a Norwegian railway line from Sira Flekkefjord. It is 17 km long and has 13 tunnels. Originally Flekkefjordbane was an extension of the Jærbane from Egersund to Flekkefjord.

History

The construction of the line began in 1897. It was designed as a narrow gauge railway is 1067 mm gauge. The first scheduled train ran on October 1, 1904 by Flekkefjord to Egersund gamle.

When the track was opened in 1904, the old station was not located on the main route between Stavanger and Egersund in Sira. The branch was in Eia pens. There was at that time no train station, only a front branching point. Therefore, the coming of Stavanger trains had to retract into the head station. To proceed to Flekkefjord the trains had to be pushed back to Eia pens and were able to take continued the ride. The same procedure applied to the trains in the other direction. Eia pens was occupied by a flagman. With the track reconstruction in 1944 and the construction of the new railway station in Egersund allocable Sägefahrten.

Especially in the section between Flekkefjord and Sirnes the topography is difficult. The track has a slope of up to 19 ‰, and of 14,3 km run 5.4 km (38%) in tunnels. The Ravnejuvet tunnel, which is 1,174 m is the longest of the track was, for two years until the completion of Gravhalstunnels at the cableway also the longest tunnel in Norway and was built by hand.

At the beginning of the track had two railway stations, Flekkefjord and Sirnes. The breakpoint Flikkeid 1912 upgraded to a train station. All the buildings along the route were designed by Paul Due. The station building in Flekkefjord in 1967 demolished the Sirnes in 1977 and in Flikkeid 1988.

Connection to Sørlandsbane

1940 began with the work of connecting the Flekkefjordbanen with the Sørlandsbane. From Sirnes by Sira the route had to be realigned. At the same time the railway was converted to standard gauge. From 1941 to 1944 wrong trains with two gauges, the trains Flekkefjord Egersund drove in narrow gauge. The work trains Flekkefjord Sira drove in standard gauge. From 1 May 1944, the Flekkefjordbane was a branch line from the Sørlandsbane and is frequented only in standard gauge.

1946, the old railway line between Sirnes and Moi was taken as the road route to the main road between Kristiansand and Stavanger in use and replaced the route via Tronåsen and the Bakke Bridge over the River Sira of 1844.

In 1990, the daily operation of the railway has been set. Since 1990, the web is used partly for tourist purposes, such as for trolley rides.

Vehicle use

At the time when the track was narrow gauge, wrong trains with steam locomotives. During the reconstruction of the route only the track bed for the standard gauge track was widened between Sira and Flekkefjord, the existing tunnel cross sections, however, remained. This had consequences regarding the use of traction vehicles.

For passenger existed from 1941, built by Strømmens Værksted especially light vehicle type for tracks with a light superstructure. This was referred to as BMDO type 87a as Cmo type 7, from 1942 as CMDO type 7a and 1956 and named in numbering plan from 1956 NSB type 87. Due to its small external dimensions of these trains could easily operate in the restricted gauge. However ended 1969-1981 economic life, they were turned off and scrapped.

Replacement vehicles that fit for the loading gauge, was found in Sweden. The vehicles of the local motor coach series Y6 were redundant due line closures, so that in 1981 the railcar Y7 1136 (built in 1957), Y7 1202 and 1205 (both built in 1958 ) were adopted as the BM 89 01-03 of NSB. Y7 1166 and 1182 (both built in 1958 ) was followed in 1986 as a 89 BM 04 and 05

With adjustment of passenger transport vehicles were superfluous, the vehicles were delivered to the museum railway Dal- Västra Värmland Järnväg and other heritage railways.