Tinnoset Line

Tinnoset Line
Norwegian: Tinnosbanen
The railway ferry MF Storegut at Tinnoset
Commercial operations
Built by	Norsk Hydro
Original gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Original electrification	15 kV  16.7 Hz AC
Preserved operations
Preserved gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Preserved electrification	15 kV  16.7 Hz AC
Commercial history
Opened	9 August 1909
Closed to passengers	1985
Closed	1 January 1991
Preservation history
1997	Ownership of track transferred to Stiftelsen Rjukanbanen
Route map km Rjukan Line to Rjukan Mæl Lake Tinn 175.12 Tinnoset 1909- 1991 170.45 Gransherad 1909- 1991 167.39 Rugholt 1947- 1991 Gaupesprang 164.09 Årlifoss 1914- 1991 ca. 250 m 158.70 Grønvollfoss 1909- 1991 155.67 Storemo 1945- 1991 Tinne 152.47 Håve 1951- 1991 151.02 Lisleherad 1909- 1991 ca. 250 m 149.95 Notodden New 1919- 2004 ca. 300 m 147.25 Lienvegen 1957- 2004 145.72 Notodden Old 1909- 1919 Bratsberg Line to Notodden│to Nordagutu

The Tinnoset Line (Norwegian: Tinnosbanen) was a 30-kilometer (19 mi) long Norwegian railway line that went from Tinnoset to Notodden in Vestfold og Telemark county. The railway was part of the transport chain used to transport fertilizer from Norsk Hydro's factory in Rjukan to the port in Skien. The railway opened in 1909 and was closed when the plant closed in 1991. The railway is sometimes mistakenly believed to be part of the Rjukan Line.

The railways starts in the north at the mouth of Lake Tinn where the railway ferries arrived from Mæl. The railway continued south from Notodden along the Bratsberg Line. The transport chain from Rjukan to Skien consisted of four sections:

• The Rjukan Line, railway line from Rjukan to Mæl, 16 km
• Tinnsjø railway ferry from Mæl to Tinnoset, 30 km
• The Tinnoset Line from Tinnoset to Notodden, 34 km
• Telemark Canal from Notodden to Skien, 54 km with barge
• In 1919 the canal was replaced with the Bratsberg Line from Notodden to Skien.

History

Tinnoset Station

Norsk Hydro was founded in 1905 by Sam Eyde as a Norwegian fertilizer manufacturer, and the first factory was opened in Notodden. Fertilizer factories need a lot of energy, and then it was necessary to locate the plants near hydroelectric power plants, and at Rjukan there was a large waterfall. In 1911 Rjukan Salpeterfabrikk was opened.

The Tinnoset Line was opened in 1909 as a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge railway along with the Rjukan Line and the railway ferry service, and was the second railway line in Norway, after the Thamshavn Line, to be electrified in 1911. The railway service used the Telemark Canal until 1919 when the Bratsberg Line opened from Notodden to Skien. The railway was used both to transport raw materials to the factory and to transport the finished fertilizer to the harbor at Skien. There was also passenger trains that ran.

In 1912 the state bought the Tinnos Line from Norsk Hydro, and started construction of a new railway from Notodden to Skien, to replace the canal barges, with the railway being completed in 1916. The Norwegian State Railways (NSB) took over the railway operations in 1920 when the new railway from Notodden to Kongsberg was completed.

The railway ferry service was provided by four different ships, SF Rjukanfoss, SF Hydro (1919), SF Ammonia (1929) and MF Storegut (1956). The three first were steam ships, and the latter two are still anchored at Mæl. The service was the only ever railway ferry service on a lake in Norway, and SF Ammonia is the only remaining railway ferry steam ship in the world. In 1944, during World War II, SF Hydro was the target of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage, when the ferry was sunk to 430 meters deep in Lake Tinn to prevent Nazi Germany from developing nuclear weapons.

In 1929 Norsk Hydro also establish itself at Herøya in Porsgrunn, and in 1991 the factory in Rjukan, and therefore also the railway line, was closed. The passenger trains, operated by NSB, had been discontinued already in 1985. In 1997 the ownership of the track was transferred to Stiftelsen Rjukanbanen, a foundation that started heritage operation of the line in 1999.

External links

• Web site on the Rjukan and Tinnos Lines
• Private web site with focus on ferries on Lake Tinn