, logo = , logo_width = , logo_alt = , image_name = MF-Storegut Tinnoset 2004 SRS.jpg , image_width = , image_alt = , caption = The railway ferry MF ''Storegut'' at

Tinnoset Tinnoset is a village in the municipality of Notodden in Telemark, Norway. It is located at the southernmost end of Lake Tinn (''Tinnsjå''). Tinnoset Station is the terminus of the Tinnoset Line, a 30-kilometer (19 mi) long railway line ...

, color = , locale = , terminus = , map = , map_caption = , map_alt = , mapsize = , connections = , linename = , builtby =

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world a ...

, originalopen = 9 August 1909 , originalgauge = , originalelec = , owned = , operator = , marks = , stations = , length = , preservedgauge = , preservedelec = , era = , com-years = , com-events = , com-years1 = , com-events1 = , closedpassengers = 1985 , closed = 1 January 1991 , stageyears = 1997 , stage = Ownership of track transferred to Stiftelsen Rjukanbanen , years = , events = , years1 = , events1 = , headquarters = , website = , routemap = , routemap_name = , routemap_state = The Tinnoset Line ( no, Tinnosbanen) was a long

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 ...

railway 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 pre ...

line that went from

Notodden Notodden () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Notodden. Notodden was separated from the munic ...

Vestfold og Telemark Vestfold og Telemark (; ) is a county under disestablishment in Norway. The county is the southernmost one of Eastern Norway and consists of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of Telemark and (most of) Vestfold ...

county. The railway was part of the transport chain used to transport

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

from Norsk Hydro's factory in

Rjukan Rjukan () is a town and the administrative centre of Tinn municipality in Telemark, Norway. It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Lake Tinn, and got its name after Rjukan Falls west of the town. The Tinn municipality council gra ...

to the port in

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the ...

. The railway opened in 1909 and was closed when the plant closed in 1991. The railway is sometimes mistakenly believed to be part of the Rjukan Line. The railways started in the north at the mouth of

Lake Tinn A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

where the railway ferries arrived from Mæl. The railway continued south from Notodden along the Bratsberg Line. The transport chain from Rjukan to Skien consisted of four sections: * The Rjukan Line, railway line from Rjukan to Mæl, * Tinnsjø railway ferry from Mæl to Tinnoset, * The Tinnoset Line from Tinnoset to Notodden, *

Telemark Canal The Telemark Canal connects the towns Skien and Dalen in southern Norway by linking several long lakes in the Skien watershed through a series of 18 locks. It originally consisted of two canals. The Norsjø–Skien Canal, with locks in Skien a ...

from Notodden to Skien, with

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

* In 1919 the

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

was replaced with the Bratsberg Line from Notodden to Skien.

History

Norsk Hydro was founded in 1905 by

Sam Eyde Samuel Eyde (29 October 1866 – 21 June 1940) was a Norwegian engineer and industrialist. He was the founder of both Norsk Hydro and Elkem. Personal life Eyde was born in Arendal in Aust-Agder, Norway. He was a son of ship-owner Samuel Eyde (181 ...

as a Norwegian fertilizer manufacturer, and the first factory was opened in Notodden. Fertilizer factories need a lot of energy, and then it was necessary to locate the plants near hydroelectric power plants, and at Rjukan there was a large waterfall. In 1911 Rjukan Salpeterfabrikk was opened. The Tinnoset Line was opened in 1909 as a railway along with the Rjukan Line and the railway ferry service, and was the second railway line in Norway, after the Thamshavn Line, to be electrified in 1911. The railway service used the Telemark Canal until 1919 when the Bratsberg Line opened from Notodden to Skien. The railway was used both to transport raw materials to the factory and to transport the finished fertilizer to the harbor at Skien. There was also passenger trains that ran. In 1912 the state bought the Tinnos Line from Norsk Hydro, and started construction of a new railway from Notodden to

, to replace the canal barges, with the railway being completed in 1916. The Norwegian State Railways (NSB) took over the railway operations in 1920 when the new railway from Notodden to

Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production ...

was completed. The railway ferry service was provided by four different ships, SF ''Rjukanfoss'', SF ''Hydro'' (1919), SF ''Ammonia'' (1929) and MF ''Storegut'' (1956). The three first were

steam ship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

s, and the latter two are still anchored at Mæl. The service was the only ever railway ferry service on a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in Norway, and SF ''Ammonia'' is the only remaining steam-powered railway ferry in the world. In 1944, during

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 ...

, SF Hydro was the target of the

Norwegian heavy water sabotage The Norwegian heavy water sabotage ( nb, Tungtvannsaksjonen; nn, Tungtvassaksjonen) was a series of Allied-led efforts to halt German heavy water production via hydroelectric plants in Nazi Germany-occupied Norway during World War II, involvi ...

, when the ferry was sunk to a depth of in Lake Tinn to prevent

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

from developing

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s. In 1929 Norsk Hydro also establish itself at

Herøya Herøya is a peninsula in the municipality of Porsgrunn, Norway. It is located between the fjords of Frierfjord to the west and Gunneklevfjord to the east, at the mouth of Telemarksvassdraget. The name stems from the Old Norse word "her-eyjar" m ...

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn w ...

, and in 1991 the factory in Rjukan, and therefore also the railway line, was closed. The passenger trains, operated by NSB, had already been discontinued in 1985. In 1997 the ownership of the track was transferred to Stiftelsen Rjukanbanen, a foundation that started heritage operation of the line in 1999.

References

External links

Web site on the Rjukan and Tinnos Lines

{{Coord, 59.6043, 9.2781, region:NO-38, display=title Norsk Transport Railway lines in Vestfold og Telemark Notodden Railway lines opened in 1909 Electric railways in Norway 1909 establishments in Norway