#norske jernbanehistorier

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Bingsfos is getting some good news. From the story "Drought" (second book). Høland pledges not guilty to vandalism… 😅

[little-red-toyota]

A new chance in life? Granfos has been stored under a tarp since 2002, when he was sent from UHB to Lommedalsbanen (LB) as UHB no longer needed him and Odda… Sadly LB has a different gauge, and Granfos couldn't be regauged any smaller as he had already been regauged from 1435mm to 750mm. But they didn't want to scrap him, so they stored him instead. Last fall… we visited LB with the railway club and my daughter begged the staff to have a peek under the tarp to see her favorite locomotive… and she was allowed! She was the first person to enter his cab in 21 years… A few weeks ago I was working at the Norwegian Railway Museum and had a few beers with a staffmember there after work. He mentioned that the museum needs a narrow gauge diesel for light work on the line, and he asked me about it since he had seen photos of my daughter in the cab, knowing I had seen the locomotive up close. And then the ball started rolling from there… Today, we went to LB to have a closer look at Granfos, the volunteers there had removed the tarp, cut down some shrubs and even used a leafblower to clean him up a little bit. I was the first to arrive, so I examined the electric wiring closely and was surprised to find it in good condition despite all these years outside. The cables were still intact and there weren't many loose ends and damages. Then the team from the museum arrived and took a closer look at the engine, gearbox and overall condition of the machinery. We were pleasantly surprised to find the locomotive to be in such a condition restoration is highly possible. Now we just need to get the admins at the museum to say yes… 😉 So… maybe after all these years, Granfos will get a new life at the museum at Hamar?

And it all started with a little girl who wanted to lift the tarp to meet her favorite locomotive…

[norskejernbanehistorier]

UHB Nr.3 Høland. Hølands (No.6) forgjenger. Det eneste amerikanske loket som noensinne har gått på UHB. Jeg hadde bare et svart-hvitt foto å se etter, så jeg og UHB har gjort en del research for å finne ut av fargene hans, vi fant til slutt et dokument som slo fast at han var “olivengrønn med staffeleringer og detaljer i bladgull og blankpusset messing”. Han ble bygget på Baldwin verket i Philadelphia i 1898. Skrotet i 1925. 

[little-red-toyota]

“Can’t they make some at the workshop? They make all sorts of weird stuff!” Bingsfos stated.

“Yeah, they made YOU!” Setskogen just couldn’t resist teasing him.

"Very funny…" Bingsfos stuck out his tongue to her.

(What do you think of their wall art...? 🤓)

Illustration for the story "Drought" (second book).

[little-red-toyota]

The second book is finally in sale!

The challenge isn't writing them... but illustrate them. XD That is really time consuming and is the reason why it takes that long between each book... But here it is!

Kiddo was so stoked when I came home with these today. XD

[little-red-toyota]

I'm not going to give any context… You'll have to read the book, but which of these gets her point across better?

[little-red-toyota]

We found her! Last stop on our vacation, was the small industrial town of Odda, where our dear No.11 Odda originally came from. I know that Odda's twin sister, Nautilus, still exists… and that there are plans of putting her on display (which has'nt happened yet), so my daughter was curious if it was possible to find her and see her. So we set out to look for her… walking around the old smelters (which is HUGE by the way), looking around. I admit I wasn't too optimistic as I suspected that she would be stored indoors if not put on display… but when I walked past this building I caught something blue in the corner of my eye, and peeked into a dirty window… and there she was! I couldn't get better photos, sorry. The window was quite dirty and I wasn't tall enough to hold the camera higher. ^^' But here she is! Nautilus, Odda's twin sister, who earned her name in a spectacular way. I won't say more as I don't want to spoil the third book…

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Illustration for "Wild West" from the second book. High resolution version available on the author's Patreon.

"Do you want us to tell you a funny story, perhaps?" Prydz suggested. "I know one that might knock Høland down a few notches…" Setskogen smiled mischievously. "No! Not that one! Please…" Høland pleaded. "Oh yes! Tell us!" Bingsfos and Prydz cheered in unison. .

"Of course, I'll tell when you are all asking so nicely." Setskogen smiled and winked at Høland, who didn't look excited at all.

[little-red-toyota]

The Setesdal Line No.6. The locomotive I have been firing for the past week. :-) Fairly easy to handle, but the line itself was a challenge with some really steep climbs. It sure tested my skills as a fireman!

[little-red-toyota]

There was this discussion about model-railways in a Discord server involving Di.3s and smoke... and my brain interpreted it as "smoking Di.3"... So... I sketched this...

I regret nothing!

He is a NSB Di.3, built by Nohab. He will show up in the books most likely, but he won't be smoking... XD

And no, this isn't an American F-unit or what the heck they are called. This is a Swedish built locomotive well-known in Europe for the durability and quality: Nohab. The type name varies between countries; In Norway they are called Di.3, in Denmark they are called MY, in Sweden: TMY, while in Hungary they are called MAV.

[little-red-toyota]

It is always fun when you can sneak in some really old OCs into the official illustrations… I have removed his livery, but this is an OC I made back in 1995, his name was Premiair, named after the airline with the same name. He is among one of my oldest OCs that has stood the test of time, I haven't drawn him in… at least 20 years, so this was a interesting comeback. 😂

[little-red-toyota]

It's done! Having a meeting with a publisher on Thursday, time will show which publisher I choose to go with in the end. Either way, the second book of the Norwegian Railway Stories will be published this summer!

I also aim to publish the English translation of the first book this year.

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Illustration for "The Ghost Train" (second book).

Bingsfos meets the "ghost" for the first time and as usual he has a lot of questions...

[norwegianrailwaystories]

How did this series first start? If you dont mind me asking that

A/N:

That's a very long story, but you can read about it here:

And here:

[norwegianrailwaystories]

What size gauge to you all run on?

"UHB is 750mm narrow gauge. But I used to run on 1435mm standard gauge when I worked at the factory at Granfos Brug. I was regauged to 750mm when I arrived at UHB. I was very small for a standard gauge engine, so it was nice coming here and not feel so small anymore."

[little-red-toyota]

This is an NRS OC made for my longtime patron, Javier. Having been a patron of mine for years, I decided to give him a little extra price, that is usually a higher tier award.

This, little yellow Levahn diesel is named Sulis after the mines they worked in. After the mine shut down in 1991, they were stuck underground along with several other mining engines until 2011 when it was decided that they were going to be brought to the surface and repaired. They are now among the engines that pulls tourists and visitors inside the mines during tourist season. Sulis is non-binary. They are also fairly small and has a few dents and imperfections after a rough life inside the mines. Questions about personality and other things needs to be directed to Javier as it is up to him to decide. Hope you like it, Javier! If not, you can give it to someone else, just make sure they get a nice, loving home. ;-)

NB: All NRS OCs runs a risk of getting a cameo in the books... especially if based on real engines at Norwegian railways, like this one. There will be a mention of the Sulitjelma mines in book 4, so who knows... maybe Sulis will peek in? ;-)

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