Mågelibanen was a

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

with double track line arranged on a timber

trestle ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Laborato ...

work in Skjeggedal in

Odda Odda () is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1913 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county. It was located in southeastern Hordaland c ...

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. From the station close to the

Ringedals Dam Ringedals Dam is a gravity dam by Ringedalsvatnet at Tyssedal in Odda municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. The dam was built in stages between 1909 and 1918 in connection with the hydroelectric power plant in Tyssedal and the factories ...

and the lake Vetlavatn, the funicular ascended to the top station Mågelitopp,

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. The Mågelibanen was part of an industrial landscape connected to the listed hydroelectric power station in

Tyssedal Tyssedal is a village in Ullensvang municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the shore of the Sørfjorden (Hardanger), Sørfjorden about north of the town of Odda (town), Odda. Tyssedal is located in an environment in ...

and the industry in the city of Odda.

History

Mågelibanen was built 1911-1912 by AS Tyssefaldene for transportation of workers and equipment to the mountains in connection with the building of a long transfer

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

between the lakes Øvre and Nedre Bersåvatnet in the Tyssedalsfjellene mountains. The funicular was later used for supervision and maintenance of mountain installations. The funicular has also been used for new hydroelectric constructions in the area.

Upgrading

In connection to the 50th anniversary of AS Tyssefaldene in 1956 the funicular was upgraded and given as gift from the company to the people of Tyssedal. When the funicular opened, it made the spectacular rock formation

Trolltunga Trolltunga ("Troll tongue") is a rock formation situated about above sea level in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The cliff juts horizontally out from the mountain, about above the north side of the lake Ringedalsvatnet. Po ...

and the attractive mountain plateau of

Hardangervidda Hardangervidda ( en, Hardanger Plateau) is a mountain plateau (Norwegian: ''vidde'') in central southern Norway, covering parts of Vestland, Vestfold og Telemark, and Viken counties. It is the largest plateau of its kind in Europe, with a cold ye ...

accessible to the public.

Recent history

The funicular was modernized in 1988. From the late 1990s to the beginning of the 2000s the funicular was also used for tourist transportation. A road to Mågelitopp was planned which conflicted with the track line of Mågelibanen. The transportation license ended in 2010 and the funicular closed permanently. The middle section of track has been removed and the remainder is in a poor state of repair. The road consists of a series of switchbacks, several of which cross the former location of the rails.

Technical data

*Track length: ' *Height: ' *Horizontal length: ' *Maximum

steepness In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is use ...

: ''42°'' *Configuration: '' Two parallel straight tracks '' *Journey time: ''12 minutes'' *Speed: '' '' *Cars: ''2'' *Car weight: '' '' *Capacity: ''9 passengers or per car'' *

Track gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many d ...

: ' *Traction: ''Electricity''

External links

Mågelibanen - Roller coaster from wilderness

Movie

Statkraft
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magelibanen Odda 1912 establishments in Norway 800 mm gauge railways in Norway Funicular railways in Norway Railway lines opened in 1912

History

Upgrading

Recent history

Technical data

See also

External links