#uhb no. 6 høland

[milos15gameplays-blog]

Norwegian Railway Srories - Fanart

These six fanarts of one book series based on the actual railway in Norway, weren't posted all together.

All rights to the characters and NRS (Norwegian Railway Stories for short) belong to @little-red-toyota and the UHB/Urskog–Høland Line railway.

[norwegianrailwaystories]

What are some of the biggest challenges that have to be faced to keep a railroad operating?

"This will be the most boring answer ever.... The biggest challenge is economy. Money. Hard cash."

[little-red-toyota]

If I add a little motion blur to the valvegear, this could look like a badass showdown! XD

[mathewharris7703]

Myself and my friend, Hakai Shedo visits the Urskog–Hølandsbanen, taking photos with Høland, Bingsfos and Setskogen. The latter wasn't too pleased to see me and Hakai, heh...

Hakai and Setskogen's face drawn by @sonisis

Characters by @little-red-toyota / @norwegianrailwaystories

[norskejernbanehistorier]

UHB Nr.5 Bjørkelangen har veltet på svingskiven på Bjørkelangen. Årsaken var teleløsning; kongesteinen hadde endret posisjon. UHB Nr.6 Høland til høyre på provisorisk spor som ble bygget utenom svingskiven.

[norwegianrailwaystories]

don't some people ship there ocs with holand? did they kiss him?

"How should we know? If Høland doesn't want to tell, he doesn't want to tell! I would give one of my glow plugs for someone to ask us something else... Preferably something railway related, not just about Høland's love life or hating on Granfos... It's been a lot of that lately."

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Humanized UHB family picture! This really captures their family dynamic really well!

From left to right: Odda, Granfos, Bingsfos, Høland, Prydz, Tinfos and Setskogen.

Drawn by the amazing Dilemmaart! Go give her lots of love!

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Sending some positive vibes to everyone at the UHB. Keep up with the great work you're doing over there.

"Thank you, Mathewharris7703! Høland is still chewing at the wooden buffer at the end of the track like a traumatized horse, but he will get over it soon. Driving season starts soon too and he will get a lot of distraction and positive experiences then."

[little-red-toyota]

How dare you speak of his friends like that.....

Make a beauty and the beast story with Holand and Boo!

you don’t want that.

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Don't know who to ask exactly, but, did the UHB, or Norwegian NG Railways in general, use any form of transporter wagons? (Transporter wagons were narrow gauge wagons(often 750mm gauge) which could carry standard gauge wagons, for easier transfer of cargo)

"Yes... and I had an embarrassing accident with one back in the day, uhh... I don't want to talk about that. But, yes, we do have them. We did reload cargo from the standard gauge to the narrow gauge here a lot, and those were meant to make it easier, but also... wasn't very stable due to all the curves and ups and downs of our railway. They weren't used a lot, as usually it was us carrying cargo to be transferred to the standard gauge. When it was the other way around... it was usually poudrette... Ahem... Enough about that! After the railway shut down, they disappeared, and we thought they were lost forever. But when the Norwegian Railway Museum at Hamar was being rebuilt, they tore up the floor... and one of UHB's tranporter wagons were there! Nobody knows why or how it ended up so far from our railway... but there it was! So we got it back, and it is actually one of the projects the volunteers are working at this winter: restoring it, so we can test run it with a standard gauge goods wagon they restored last year. In the photo below, you can see them trying to loosen some very rusted bolts so they can be cleaned."

[little-red-toyota]

Tsk tsk, Setskogen.... This isn't yours, now is it? XD

[little-red-toyota]

A lot is happening at UHB these days... Bingsfos is getting his newly refreshed nameplates fitted.

Høland is getting his funnel replaced as part pf one of our mechanic's exam. It has been long over due, so it is good to finally get it done before it falls off due to rust and decay. So they have built a platform to be able to work safely. We'll probably also pull Høland outside to try his abilities as a sun terrasse before removing it... XD Having lunch up there in the sun sounds nice, doesn't it?

And since the numbers on his funnel had to be removed, I was tasked to polish them. Here is some before and after pics. The tags are just identification, to know where to fit them back to the new funnel.

Our coach Co10 (the Sulitjelma coach) has been undergoing repairs for two years now. Last season we fixed the outside paneling, now we're working on the windows and the insides. The floor has gotten some much needed repairs and a few coats of paint.

Inside the workshop we're still working on the windows, window frames and the ventilation shafts. It is long and tedious work, but the results are turning out very good!

So... that was a little update on what we're doing at UHB between driving seasons.

[norwegianrailwaystories]

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

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Are you guys going to participate in trick or treating? Or stealing some sweet treats? (Looks at Holand)

"Why are you looking at me like that...? I'm innocent!"

[norwegianrailwaystories]

Since most Norwegians are fluent in both Norwegian and English, which do you find it easier to speak?

"Naturally we find our mother tongue easier to speak, even if we're fluent in English."

[norwegianrailwaystories]

How long does it take for one of the steam engines to get started from a 'cold' boiler?

"We CAN technically be ready in 1 1/2 hour if they fire us really hard, but that's not healthy for the engine at all... It stresses the metal in our boiler and firebox. So they usually spend around 4 hours before we are at "work pressure" so to say. They start gently with a little bonfire using regular firewood. When we reach a certain pressure, usually around 4 kilos (~4000 bar), they start feeding us coal instead and from there the pressure rises fast. While waiting for our pressure to build, the crew take their time to oil and lube us, fill up with water and oil, give us an overall check that everything is okay and in place, tighten bolts and nuts if necessary and maybe clean and polish us a little. When we have reached 10 kilos (~10000 bar), we're ready to work, but we can move already at 2, we just don't have a lot of brakeforce yet, so we need to be handbraked at such low pressure. The safety valve goes off at 12 kilos, so the firemen aim to keep us around 10."