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Trondheim Trams
Gråkallbanen - Page 1
This page is devoted to photographs of the metre gauge Trondheim tramways - including interurban Gråkallbanen (GB) route.
Gråkallbanen - Page 2
shows the route from St Olav's Gate to the suburb of Lian. This is the most northerly surviving tramway in the world. The information below relies heavily on an article by Rune Kjenstad (who has also written books on the subject) which appeared in the August 2005 issue of Modern Tramway.
Tramways in Trondheim consisted of city routes operated by Trondheim Sporvei from 1901, plus the Gråkallbanen running from 1924 between St Olav's Gate in the centre to the suburb of Lian, a distance of 8.8 km. The two were combined as Trondheim Trafikkselskap (TT) in 1974. In post-war years the city routes had consisted of three lines numbered 1 to 3, and the Gråkallbanen, which ran along city route 1 from Ila to St Olav's Gate. In 1982 it was decided to retain the most robust part of the tramway system (Lian-Lademoen) and order 11 new cars to work this. Route 2 closed in April 1983. The new depot at Munkvoll was built to house the new fleet. In 1984/85, the 11 new 6-axle articulated trams arrived from Linke-Hoffman-Busch (LHB)/Siemens, numbered 1-11. After the new cars were delivered, their first two winters in service were marred by problems with water ingress into the bogie gearboxes, which froze and disabled the cars. A lot of passengers were lost due to unreliability. The decision was taken to close the system and sell the 'new' cars, but 2.6 metre wide trams with metre-gauge bogies found no buyer. These new trams survive as 90-100 (11, 1-10). At this time rolling stock consisted of the 11 new LHB cars, 10 Strømmen 4-axles cars from 1956-58, and 3 earlier Gråkallbanen cars numbered 35-37 (ex-GB 5-7). The Strømmen cars were the survivors from a fleet of 23 vehicles (10-32) built to replace most of the original fleet, which had been destroyed in a depot fire in 1956 (including 5 similar Strømmen cars built just the year before).
Following the failure to sell the new trams, an independent Gråkallbanen was formed to operate the route to Lian. In June 1988, the last remaining urban tram route in Trondheim, was closed and the new LHB cars were passed to a new private company, AS Gråkallbanen, which was given use of the line, depot and trams, but received no other subsidy. They operated what was the old Gråkallbanen route from St Olav's Gate to Lian. An enhanced 15-minute service was introduced in August 2004, but reverted to 30 minutes for the summer holiday timetable in 2005.
AS Gråkallbanen, operated the route economically until 2005 when 67% of shares were acquired by Connex, who promised investment of NOK 10.5 million. Fares were cut, and from 8th August 2005 the service reverted from 2 per hour to the enhanced 4 per hour for most of the day. There is talk of extending the line back into the city centre, and maybe to the station and pier (where a London Docklands style regeneration is under way). Initially trams 90-93 and 96-99 were adopted by the new company. 94, 95 and 100 have subsequently been added to the available fleet, although only 6 cars, 92-96 and 100 are kept available for daily use (4 are needed to maintain the 15 minute interval service plus 2 in reserve). Cars 93 and 95 carry advertising livery. The remainder retain their maroon and cream colours, although advertising material shows cars in a new silver/blue livery. On my latest visit, cars 92, 95, 96 and 100 were in use. Two cars, 91 and 98, were involved in an accident in 1997, and may be scrapped. A substantial fleet of museum trams is maintained in the old Gråkallbanen depot at Munkvoll (adjacent to the current depot). Two museum Strømmen cars 19 and 29 are occasionally used in normal service, and were photographed on a cruise charter (for Costa Line) on my 1996 visit to Trondheim.
I last visited the line on 10th August 2005 on a
QE2
cruise, just after the increased service began. Images from this visit have been added below. I previously visited the line on an
Oriana
cruise in 1996. Unfortunately the museum at Munkvoll was closed on both my visits.
Sections on the Gråkallbanen Pages:-
Gråkallbanen Strømmen Tram 19
Gråkallbanen Strømmen Tram 29
Gråkallbanen Hasselt Trailer 71
Gråkallbanen LHB Tram 92
Gråkallbanen LHB Tram 95
Gråkallbanen LHB Tram 96
Gråkallbanen LHB Tram 98
Gråkallbanen LHB Tram 100
Gråkallbanen - The Route
Team Traffik Buses
Gråkallbanen Pages:-
Gråkallbanen - The Trams
- this page!
Gråkallbanen - The Route
Associated Pages:-
Tramways Header Page
Trondheim Trams
- this page!
Antwerp Trams
Barcelona Trams
Dublin Trams
Geneva Trams
Ghent Trams
Lisbon Trams
Naples Trams
Rome Trams
Rotterdam Trams
Simplon Postcards Home Page
References:-
Modern Tramway - Issue 812 - August 2005:
Page 308 - Article by Rune Kjenstad
På skinner i Bymarka - historien om Gråkallbanen:
Rune Kjenstad - published Baneforlaget 1995
Trondheims glemte trikker:
Rune Kjenstad - published Baneforlaget 1997
Nordisk sporveisatlas:
Nils Carl Aspenberg - published Baneforlaget 1995
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Trondheim Trams
Gråkallbanen Strømmen Tram 19
Strømmen tram 19 plus Strømmen trailer 58 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Strømmen tram 19 plus Strømmen trailer 58 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Strømmen tram 19 plus Strømmen trailer 58 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Strømmen tram 19 plus Strømmen trailer 58 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Strømmen tram 19 plus Strømmen trailer 58 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Strømmen tram 19 plus Strømmen trailer 58 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen Strømmen Tram 29
Strømmen tram 29 plus Hasselt trailer 71 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Strømmen tram 29 plus Hasselt trailer 71 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Strømmen tram 29 plus Hasselt trailer 71 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Strømmen tram 29 plus Hasselt trailer 71 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen Hasselt Trailer 71
Hasselt trailer 71 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Hasselt trailer 71 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Hasselt trailer 71 on a cruise charter.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen LHB Tram 92
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Trondheim.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Trondheim.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Munkvoll.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Munkvoll.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Munkvoll.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Munkvoll.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Munkvoll.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Munkvoll.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Lian.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Lian.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Lian.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Lian.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Lian.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Lian.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, July 1996.
Gråkallbanen tram 92 at Trondheim.
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 10th August 2005.