#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]

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!"

[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]

Hold them gently...

Pretty, little beans out of their boxes for a moment. These are the most precious models I have.

Models of the UHB locomotives are super rare and hard to come across. By sheer luck I was offered to buy all three last summer. I am only missing Bjørkelangen to have a complete set (Urskog and Eidsverket were never produced sadly), but I am not as emotionally connected to him as I am to these three. These three are the ones I work with, fire and drive... They mean a lot to me.

Of course, the models being so small, they are not 100% accurate; the striping on Høland and Setskogen isn't right, but you can't get everything right in this tiny scale.

[norwegianrailwaystories]

What are you guys prefering more passanger wagon or trucks?

"As this is now a heritage railway, we only pull passenger trains now. Back in the day we used to pull mixed trains, very rarely pure freight trains or passenger trains. For us... there is no difference to what kind of rolling stock we pull, what matters is the weight and that will vary with how many passengers and what kind of load and how much. All in all, we're quite indifferent to the type of rolling stock... as long as it's not a poudrette wagon, nobody wants to pull that, but luckily those are no longer in use."

[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

[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!"

[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… 😅