Trainspotting Finse, Norway

The web is great for trainspotting, making accessible unusual venues all over the world. One I discovered and got hooked on during the fall of 2010 is the Finse small station on the Bergensbanen in Norway.

 

Below the location in Google Maps.

View Larger Map

From Wiki, the Bergenbanen was a major engineering feat of the last century linking the capitol Oslo with Bergen on the North Sea coast in the west. The Bergen Line (Norwegian: Bergensbanen), also called the Bergen Railway, is a 371 kilometres (231 mi) standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway.^[1] The name is often applied for the entire route from Bergen via Drammen to Oslo, where the passenger trains go, a distance of 496 kilometres (308 mi).^[7] It is the highest mainline railway line in Northern Europe,^[8] crossing the Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237 metres (4,058 ft) above sea level.^[6].

Despite its remoteness, Finse is easily accessible and enjoyable from the comfort of ones home via the webcam that provides 24/7 real time video of good quality. The webcam can be accessed by clicking on the screengrab below. Lots of people watching too given the high traffic due to this area being a cross-country skiing mecca. An article in the Telegraph provides a lot more information about the region from a tourist standpoint. LOTS going on there including conferences....[Edit: Apparently the Hoth scenes in the 2nd Star Wars flick, the real ones not the computerized ones, were filmed in the area. Makes sense...]

Click image below to access Webcam

Finse Stasjon webcam page. Clock at bottom left counts down until departure of next passenger train. They don't stick around long. Crossing lights flash slowly (esp. when dark) increasing in frequency when a train is heading towards the station. Trains to Oslo appear from "tunnel" (man-made to protect turnouts...), trains to Bergen from the lower right.

The line is electrified and features a nice variety of modern stock, including the futuristic Class 73 emus.Also seen are various MOW trains, including plows, although the trains themselves seem to be doing most of the work and trains are seldom late, even in the worst weather. Below some images of the variety.

Class El 18 of the NSB on a dreary winter's day and heading towards Bergen.

Class El 18 of the NSB on a beautiful winter's day and heading towards Oslo.

Class 73 EMU, run as 4-car and 2x 4-car consists.

Flashes from the catenary of the night train to Oslo during a blinding blizzard. The train was on time...

CargoNet El 17

Class CE 119 of CargoNet, the Bombardier TRAXX (DB Class 185...)

Unloading the weekly supply train. There are no roads to this area...

Various MOW trains.

JBV (JernBaneVerket, the Norwegian National Rail Administration) Di3a NoHAB diesel

 

Can't wait until the longer days of spring and summer,

nevermind some nicer weather.

Enjoy!

Rheingold, THE TEE (DB Class 103)

Nice footage of the Rheingold pulled by a BR 103 between Emmerich on the Dutch/German border down to Karlsruhe.

Info zum Film hier.

Here a film about the E 03s/103s construction

and another with lots of great shots.

Far From Home – Canadian Pacific in Syracuse

Happened by the tracks at the West end of the East Syracuse Yard and noticed this Canadian Pacific (CP) powered manifest freight. Pulled into the lot and snapped a few shots on my cell. Lead unit is GE ES44AC number 8856. After a minute or two the engines revved up and the train pulled out. Fun to see something more exotic here. The last time I saw CP was when a colleague and I headed down to Binghamton, NY where CP and Norfolk Southern are plentiful. Pictures of that trip are here.

Bundesbahn in 1979/80

Replaced my broken scanner over the break, got one that can also do slides and negatives, and am now having fun (re)discovering people, places, and things I saw in my youth. Among them some railroad pics. First some black and white ones, very grainy and borderline terrible, and thus (almost) verging on artsy. Venues for the first set are between Cologne and Bonn, Germany.

Near Köln Deutz.

Class 110 448 coming into Köln Hbf.

Passenger and railway employee (conductor) at Köln Hbf.

SNCB multi-system Class 18 (here 1801, the first in the series of 60) in Köln Hbf.

Heading past the passenger car yard. Coaches on the right are DR stock,
note also the pointy-roofed Type-Y.

More passenger coaches with the Dom in the background.

The E-lok Bw of Köln. Nicely visible the Class 103 on the left and 110s on the right. Looks like
the 103 is still there based on the picture at Google Maps.

Somewhere between Köln and Bonn.

Plattenbau, Wessi-style south of Cologne in Meschenich-Kölnberg. Also called a Trabantenstadt, these
high-rises were stamped out of the fields...

Typical trackside Shrebergärten/Grabeland - garden plots for the masses, often tucked between tracks...

Love birds in Bonn.

BR 103-147 with TEE in Bonn Hbf.

BR 110 heading west from Konstanz to Radolfzell at Allensbach on the B odensee, summer 1979.

BR 403 EMU being run as coupled multiple units along the Rheintal, June 1981.

Back in Kirksville (again, and again...)

Daughter has wanted to go to taekwondo almost every day the past week or so, so I've gotten to hang out trackside in the overcast, gray twilight, gloom watching trains, just 5 minutes away.

Below two clips from yesterday and the day before. Yesterday was great with lots of action, one train following the next. As the dispatcher said, lot's of traffic, and better to be moving more slowly than not at all...

Follow an east-bound intermodal out of East Syracuse CSX yard, and then catch a west-bound manifest freight and finish off the evening with an east-bound Amtrak along Saintsville Rd. In Kirkville, NY. Thought not audible on the video, the first train with 4 engines was only powered by 3 as one was out of service...

As we drive east along the North Runner of the East Syracuse CSX yard we catch a glimpse of a waiting stacktrain, and one heading out of the yard that we chase down, only to see a manifest passing it along the 2 mile or so stretch of Saintsville Rd. Then another manifest soon follows, followed by a nice surprise in the form of a Santa Fe powered ethanol train. We finish with the only west-bound of the day, a fast auto rack.

New (Re)Construction 3

Well, almost a year to the day and I've finally gotten back to working on this corner of the layout. Didn't touch it since last January in terms of building, scenery, ... Below several shots from today with more. As always, still more detailing to do and then off to other areas... Also swapped out my DR stock for DB stock late last summer... Not much else happening here as I seem to have been focusing on my binding/book arts work for the past year and a half or so. Still, use lots of cardboard/paper in both.

Street front view

Detail with view of the Bude (kiosk) where we used to get the beer for my Opa and Haribo for ourselves...

Here the real thing on the Kölnerstr. in Duisburg...

Heading 'round the corner...

Hinterhof. Still some vegetable beds and other details to put in.

And pulling back a bit more to show the speeding BR94 borrrowed back from the G.B.A.G. by the DB...

Back in Kirksville

Wow, almost 3 days in a row. What gives? First train, two Dash-8s heading West that seem to have lost their load. Didn't seem to be in any hurry either.

Next train, this VERY slow intermodal leaving the yard and heading East up the grade...




As this was making its way slowly East it was overtaken by a long Amtrak consist powered by 3(!) Genesis units and ended by a private coach. Camera batteries had died by that point and I all was able to do was watch it disappear into a swirling mist of snow... Dang!

Sitting in the Cold on Saintsville Rd in Kirkville

1 hour along Saintsville Rd in Kirkville, NY. Five trains, including a surprising (because I wasn't paying attention meeting of a a westbound autorack with an eastbound mixed freight.

Click here to watch in (slightly) better quality on YouTube

West End of East Syracuse CSX Yard

Intermodal coming on the North Runner with a Dash-8 (?) still in Conrail colors, an Amtrak heading west, an ethanol train going no where slow, and a surprise UP powered reefer train heading East on this snowy, blustery day... Not my best quality in part because of no tripod, shaking hands, and shooting out of the car window... Been a real long time since I did this. Next time with a tripod and more coffee...

Click here to watch in (slightly) better quality on YouTube

Little Big Berlin: Modeling in H0 at its absolute finest...

Amazing modeling on this layout of Berlin. Faller Car system, the latest in animated figures from Viessman and Preiser with to die for scenery. Nothing comes close, not MiWuLa in Hamburg or even MWO in Oberhausen. Check it out.

SIMPLY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!


Little Big Berlin from pilpop on Vimeo.














Yes, I know it's real and not a model, but the effect is amazing. See more with tilt-shift here.

Norfolk Southern Coal Drag in Ithaca

Watch Norfolk Southerns northbound coal drag to Miliken Station on Cayuga Lake pass by the Ithaca Farmer's Market and waste treatment plant. No connection between the two. Filmed April 3, 2010.

New (Re)Construction 2

Spent more time this weekend working and got the roofs and numerous other details done. Next steps are weathering, then re-doing the sidewalks as well as the hinterhöfe (back yards). The space is tighter than I want it to be so the trick will be not overloading the scene.

That said, I'm really liking the way these are looking and how everything is falling in place.

More when everything is done.

New (Re)Construction

Making good use of time at home over Christmas, I decided to start my own reko program by beginning to reconstruct and update parts of the main layout and the switching puzzle. First area of focus was the harbor area where the Schreiber card models I built almost 10 years ago were slated for demolition to be replaced with more milieu appropriate and to scale scale structures. Below a view of the area as it existed until 1 hour ago...


And here the test placement of the new structures, also build of card. The one on the right is a heavily modified Stipp/Auhagen background model, the one on the left is entirely scratchbuilt using various sources for the facade, windows, kiosk... The kiosk (Bude) exists on the Kölner Strasse in Duisburg and is where we used to go for sweets and my Opa's Bier - König Pilsner of course, never-mind the Diebels sign above.

Here a view of the backside... The structure on the right will receive basic balconies, the one on the left still needs the windows... After that detailing the back yard (Hinterhof) with vegetable garden, rabbit stalls, and detritus... All will be walled/fenced in. After that, everything gets a good coat of grime...



Also built an air raid shelter that has been de-militarized with windows blasted through the walls. This will become a disco or some such thing, one of the current uses for the structures - VERY soundproof. Lots of grime still to be added, as well as roof details...


Concurrently, I am replacing the background models on the switching puzzle. These were damaged over the years as a result of taking to shows and loading in and out of the car. The background will also be replaced. Below a before and in progress shot...

Back to work...