norwegianrailwaystories

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Happy birthday to our dear Setskogen!

Happy Birthday, Setskogen!

Today I would like to congratulate a stern, old lady on her 115 years! UHB No.4 Setskogen has kept it going through 2 world wars, a fire, several pandemics, the great depression, closures and new beginnings ... and still she chugs around as if she is a young locomotive with her entire life ahead of her. Although she snorts a bit of the younger engines occasionally, she thrives well among them and the people on the railway. To do what she is built for is the best thing she knows; to work! This is a locomotive that has grown very much on me this summer as we got many services together. The days alone with her at the Railway Museum gave me valuable experiences and lots of learning that I take with me further as I eventually become a drivers trainee. She probably was a little bored at the museum and could get a little grumpy at the end of the day up there. The trip was over as soon as she stared! A little push on the regulator, and then she had to stop! Outrageous! This is a locomotive who knows what she wants and if she doesn't get it the way she wants it, then you won't get what you want either. Then you just have to apologize and try again from the start. No messing around and compromise like with Høland and the others! It has to be done properly! We do not know exactly when she came to our railway, but on December 21 1909 she is mentioned in the newspaper for the first time, so we set it as her "birthday", it is reasonable to assume she came a few days before this, but December 21 is a date as good as any other. Happy birthday, your old troll! Looking forward to a new season in your "kitchen" next year!

Steam and shiny paint!

It's not Setskogen's fault her fire(wo)man is a little mentally challenged...

Peeking out of the shed at the Railway Museum at Hamar.

She reluctantly tolerated that I dried my clothes on her firebox one rainy day...

On summer vacation at the Norwegian Railway Museum in Hamar.

Setskogen has an aura of pride and dignity that the other locomotives lack. I can't describe it... she's just special.

She loves being reminded of how old she is...

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Granfos is now officially a member of the "family" at the Norwegian Railway Museum. ❤️ Here is a little welcome video they have made using my photos from the rescue mission. Granfos has finally come to a loving home. I just can't wait to get started on his repairs, it's going to be so much fun! I'm gonna spoil him rotten! Translation of the info on the page:

"New" locomotive to the Norwegian Railway Museum

On Monday December 9th we got a new member of the narrowgauge family at the park railway at Martodden. The locomotive Granfos travelled by trailer from Lommedalsbanen (the Lommedal Line) in Bærum.

The idea of getting the locomotive to Hamar instead of it being scrapped and melted to nails came from the museum's Vasco T. Duarte and the Urskog-Høland Line's Linda Cecilie Malum-Soløst this summer. Linda joined the transport from Lommedalsbanen to Hamar and made sure to bring nameplates and factoryplates.

Granfos will be restored. The plan is to use the locomotive at the Tertitten railway for shunting, back-up and snowplowing.

This is the third time this locomotive is saved from scrap, so all good things are three.

More about the locomotive's background story

The locomotive was built by Levahn Mek. Verksted A/S in Oslo and delivered to Granfos Brug as a standardgauge shunting locomotive. Granfos Brug Ltd./A/S Granfoss Bruk was a paper factory by the Lysaker River at Lysaker in Bærum.

In the mid 80's the locomotive was found in a scrapyard by volunteers from the Urskog-Høland Line (UHB). They were looking for scrap metal to make parts for the steam locomotives. Vidar Skilnand bought it for his own savings and brought it to UHB's workshop. There the locomotive was restored and re-gauged to 750mm narrow gauge. In 1987, Granfos was put to work at UHB alongside "Odda" (a Levahn locomotive from Odda Smelteverk (Odda Smelters)).

After the locomotive Bingsfos was built at UHB in the mid 90's, Granfos was taken out of commission and stored in a field, along with Odda. The locomotive was considered scrapped in 2002, but luckily it ended up at Lommedalsbanen in Bærum.

For the third time, in 2024, Granfos again faced the danger of being harvested for parts and being scrapped. But no. The story continues at the Norwegian Railway Museum in Hamar.

Before Granfos is ready to work for us, a lot of work needs to be done, mainly the engine and gearbox among other things. Granfos is one of the last diesel locomotives in Norway to be re-gauged to 750mm gauge, and the Norwegian Railway Museum was lucky to get hold of it!

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I'm not sure if this is out of character for him, but I can imagine Granfos tearing of joy, happiness, relief - all of that after being saved from scrap and going to a new home. I'm really happy that this happened!

Oh and Granfos, not a question, but I really hope you're going to have a fantastic and wonderful Christmas and that you're extremely looking forward for the new year!

"It's definitely not out of character for me to be happy about being saved from scrap for the third time! Maybe not the crying, but all the other emotion is definitely something I have gone through today! Even if I have to stand outside, Christmas this year will be awesome, because now I know that good things are waiting for me! And the people at the museum were a lot kinder than I had expected, I can tell that this is a good place to be! Some lady even called me pretty... despite all the rust and decay!"

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He is safe now! <3

Today, we fetched Granfos from LB (the Lommedal Line) where he has been rotting under a tarp for 22 years, giving him a new home at the Norwegian Railway Museum in Hamar, where we will restore him to his former glory and put his to work alongside Urskog in the park. I went as the museum representative and followed the transport all the way from he was loaded onto the truck at LB until he was unloaded outside the museum workshop in Hamar. Almost every staffmember at the museum showed up to see him! And he seemed to gain quite a few admirers among the female staff who swooned over how pretty he is… 😂 Even now that he looks like hell… Then Vasco and I went to the office to lay some plans for the restoration project which will start next summer. It was just a tad urgent to get him as LB was about to start harvesting him for parts, which would have been a death-sentence… So when we finally got the thumbs up, we wasted no time hiring transport to bring him to safety. This is the third time this locomotive has been saved from scrap… so let's hope this will be his final and forever home now.

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My fourth publication, and the second of 2024. I am a little bit proud, I admit. :-) My kid will go wild when she wakes up tomorrow and finds these!

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Hi Høland, hope my favourite clothing iron (you) is doing okay while getting repaired. In serious, how has the Christmas season been for you and your friends? Looking forward to receiving a huge sack full of coal for Christmas?

"The Christmas season hasn't been fun at all given that our trains has been cancelled due to maintenance of our line. I had a small run with passengers, just driving a bit back and forth in the yard, but it's not the same. Also my generator got fried, so they need to repair or maybe replace it, I trust the crew here to know what they're doing. Both me and Setskogen need repairs now, so maybe this break is for the best after all. Even Bingsfos needs fixing as he has a fuel leak. The only engine not having major issues here right now is Tinfos and she is stuck at her station due to the line repairs... But... we do look forward to getting our stockings filled with coal! I've been naughty all year to make sure we get it!"

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When life gives you lemons....?

"When life gives you lemons, squeeze them in your eyes and stare at the sun!"

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Aaaaand with that the last illustration for "Bingsfos and Santa's sleigh" is done!

I will send it to editing and print this week.

That makes it two books published in 2024. ;-) Well... this one is a booklet though, less than 30 pages.

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Arent you sometimes board when there is less workload (queston is for all engines)

"I still get to work almost every day as the line needs maintenance, and I get easily bored, so I don't know how the steamers cope with having to stand inside for so long..."

"We're so old we have learned ways of entertaining ourselves, and even if we don't have work our shed is always busy. The mechanics work on things and the volunteers are currently building a new freight wagon, so there are things to listen to and look at all the time. And we also have each other to talk to. It's hardly quiet here. I'm more worried about those who stay at Bingsfoss station as there isn't a busy workshop there..."

"At Bingsfoss station we are four to keep each other entertained, so don't worry. Having Kvabben, Tinfos and Granfos as my shed mates keeps me from feeling lonely. We have each other!"

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Okay…. nevermind! i actually kinda prefer when Setskogen isn’t smiling, because the way she looks when she is smiling feels really unsettling!

"When she smiles it looks like she is plotting homicide, so... let's just be grateful she doesn't smile that often."

"That's just because you have never seen her real smiles. But those are reserved for those she loves, so nobody else gets to see them. Like a certain diesel... or Høland back in her younger days."

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Cool! Setskogen has a "resting bitchface", she's just like me fr fr.

"I am NOT like you... and you are NOT anywhere near being like me.... You might wish you were, but you are not even close."

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Is Setskogen in a bad mood often, or does she just… look grumpy by default?

"So you want to see me smile?? Here is a smile for you!" *eye-twitch*

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I think that the person who said “Granfos is a king” is just using slang to say that they think Granfos is really awesome.

"Granis IS really awesome! That's a fact we all know about."

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GRANFOS IS A KING DONT LET ANYONE TELL HIM OTHERWISE

"He's cool, but I don't think he is royal..? Unless he has a hidden past we don't know about..."

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Do the engines have favorite sports? I know it is kind of hard to play normal people sports, but do they like watching any?

"Not really, we don't get to watch a lot of it as most people don't perform sports on the railway... But anything that looks goofy and funny, I guess. We mostly see people crosscountry skiing in the fields around here in winter, that's not super interesting, but it is the most common sport in Norway."

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Is it true that Granfos lets kid put make up on him? That's kinda gay. Nothing a true alpha male would allow! Alphas are masculine and would not let anyone ruin that! Granfos is a loser if he tolerates being put make up on!

"If your masculinity is so easily shattered it will be ruined by a little make up... are you really an Alpha...? I can't care less what others think about me or my gender identity. I don't mind kids having fun putting make-up on me I am confident with who I am and I am pretty sure it won't make me feel attracted to men. And if I was gay... so what? We live in 2024, not 1824. The only bad thing about wearing make-up is that Setskogen thinks I look gross... and some of the cheaper stuff can be really itchy. But hey, if you ever need any make-up tips, let me know, okay? I am quite the connoisseur by now! I am sorry it can't cover up an ugly personality though."

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Where to find us

Official webpage: Read more about the characters, the books and look at photos and fanart. Norwegian: https://www.norske-jernbanehistorier.com/ English: https://norwegian-railway-stories.webnode.com/

Facebook: Updates on the books and other railway related things we find worth posting. https://www.facebook.com/norskejernbanehistorier

Discord: For access to the fandom server, send us a dm. We’ll send you a link that will expire within a certain time-window. We have to do it this way as our server was recently raided, and we want to keep it a safe place for everyone.

DeviantArt:

https://www.deviantart.com/norwegian-r-s

Twitter:

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