Thunes Mekaniske Værksted A/S, Thune for short, was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

manufacturing company that among other things built locomotives. The production facilities were last located at

Skøyen Skøyen is a neighborhood of Oslo, Norway. It is located in the western part of the city, in the borough of Ullern. The district has an increasing share of business activities, a development started in the 80s. Skøyen is the site of Skøyenpar ...

History

Thune traced its roots to a workshop founded by Anders Paulsen Thune in 1815 in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konne ...

. Anders Paulsen Thune was a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

by profession. His son took over the enterprise,"Branntakster forteller industrihistorie"
Leif Thingsrud. Oslo municipality. and in 1851 they moved to Christiania. By 1870 the production facilities were located in the street ''Ruseløkkveien''. In 1871

Andreas Lauritz Thune Andreas Lauritz Thune (9 April 1848 – 20 April 1920) was a Norwegian engineer and businessman. He was associated with the company Thunes Mekaniske Værksted. Biography He was born at Drammen in Buskerud, Norway. His grandfather, Anders Pau ...

, grandson of the founder, took over. The facilities were almost immediately moved to the nearby street ''Munkedamsveien''. He started production of

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that ...

and steam engines. Locomotive production began in the 1890s. Eventually, the locale in ''Munkedamsveien'' became too small for large-scale industrial production. Located in the centre of the city, it was difficult to expand. Instead, Thune bought the property Kjellebekk at

in Aker, a more rural municipality that surrounded Kristiania. In addition, Skøyen was served by a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

. Thune moved to Skøyen in 1901, and all activity in ''Munkedamsveien'' was ceased by 1903. After moving to Skøyen, production of

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...

s was started. Around the turn of the century Thune had become the most important locomotive manufacturer in Norway, along with Hamar Jernstøberi og Mekaniske Verksted. Between 1901 and 1920 these two manufacturers delivered about 250 locomotives to the

Norwegian State Railways Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train services and many bus services in Norway. The company is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Its sub-brands include Vy Buss coach s ...

. Locomotives built for the Norwegian State Railways (alone or in partnership) included

NSB Di 2 NSB Di 2 was a class of 54 diesel-hydraulic locomotives operated by the Norwegian State Railways (NSB). Six units were built by Maschinenbau Kiel (MaK) of Kiel, Germany, and the remaining by Thune in Oslo. The locomotives were used for shuntin ...

NSB El 1 NSB El 1 is the first electric locomotive series used by the Norwegian State Railways, from 1922 until 1973. Twenty-four engines were delivered from ASEA and Thune, twenty-two in 1922 and two in 1930. Based on the German DB E 71 and Swedish SJ O ...

NSB El 2 NSB El 2 was a series of two electric locomotives built by Norsk Elektrisk & Brown Boveri and Thune for the Norwegian State Railways Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train service ...

NSB El 3 NSB El 3 was an electric locomotive used by the Norwegian State Railways (NSB) to transport iron ore on the Ofoten Line. Five twin-locomotive sets were in service from 1925 to 1967. History The Swedish part of the ore line, the Iron Ore Lin ...

NSB El 4 NSB El 4 was a class of electric locomotive used by the Norwegian State Railways (NSB) to transport iron ore on the Ofoten Line. NSB had a total of five triple-locomotive sets. History In 1923, Ofoten Line and the Swedish Iron Ore Line were e ...

NSB El 5 NSB El 5 was an electric locomotive built by AEG, Norsk Elektrisk & Brown Boveri, Siemens, Hamar Jernstøperi and Thune between 1927 and 1936, with a total of 12 units being delivered to the Norwegian State Railways. They were capable of 1,044 ...

NSB El 8 The NSB El 8 was a Norwegian electric locomotive which was built between 1940 and 1949. Although fast, the El 8 did not have bogies, making it rather stiff in the turns, a problem which was remedied with the introduction of the NSB El 11 and NSB ...

NSB El 11 The NSB El 11 was an electric locomotive which was operated for both passenger and freight trains by NSB. It was the third type of Norwegian electric locomotive with bogies, after the NSB El 7 and NSB El 9. They were manufactured by Norsk Elek ...

and

NSB El 13 NSB El 13 is a Norwegian electric locomotive which was used by Norwegian State Railways (NSB) for both passenger and freight trains. The locomotive is a heavier and upgraded version of the NSB El 11 which was popular among its crew but unsuitabl ...

. In 1935 it built the

NSB Class 49 The NSB Class 49, nicknamed (''"the Dovre Giant"''), locomotives were 2-8-4 steam locomotives used to pull heavy trains on the Dovre Line. It is the largest type of steam locomotive in the history of the Norwegian State Railways. The engines ca ...

locomotive, nicknamed Dovregubben, together with Hamar Jernstøberi. Thune and Hamar delivered five engines between 1935 and 1941. However, with the hardships of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the production of the Class 49 was stalled. Four engines under construction at Thune were never completed.Jernbane.net entry on Class 49
Thune was acquired by the owners of

Kværner Brug Kværner was a Norwegian engineering and construction services company that existed between 1853 and 2005. In 2004, it was amalgamated to the newly formed subsidiary of Aker ASA - Aker Kværner, which was renamed Aker Solutions on 3 April 200 ...

. Thune resumed activity after the war, peaking at a number of about six hundred laborers during the 1950s. However, in 1969 the company was merged with Eureka Mekaniske Værksted to form Thune-Eureka. It relocated to

Tranby Tranby is a village in Lier municipality in Viken, Norway. The village consists mainly of three residential areas located in a semi-circle around a small forest area. Tranby is a part of a greater urban area which also encompasses the village o ...

in 1976. The Thune name ultimately disappeared as Thune-Eureka was acquired by the

Kværner Kværner was a Norwegian engineering and construction services company that existed between 1853 and 2005. In 2004, it was amalgamated to the newly formed subsidiary of Aker ASA - Aker Kværner, which was renamed Aker Solutions on 3 April 2008 ...

corporation, continuing under the name

Kværner Eureka Kværner was a Norwegian engineering and construction services company that existed between 1853 and 2005. In 2004, it was amalgamated to the newly formed subsidiary of Aker ASA - Aker Kværner, which was renamed Aker Solutions on 3 April 2008 ...

. The old production facilities have been rebuilt to house shops, offices and restaurants. Locally, the area is still known as Thune, the name lent to the

Oslo Tramway The Oslo tram network ( no, Trikken i Oslo, short from ', 'electric') is the tram system in Oslo, Norway. It consists of six lines with 99 stops and has a daily ridership of 132,000. It is operated by , a subsidiary of the municipally-owned who ...

station east of Skøyen.

References

External links

{{commons category, Thunes mekaniske verksted Manufacturing companies based in Oslo Locomotive manufacturers of Norway * Manufacturing companies established in 1815 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1969 Defunct manufacturing companies of Norway Companies based in Drammen Norwegian companies established in 1815