Tinnsjø railway ferry was a Norwegian railway ferry service on Lake Tinn that connected the Rjukan Line and Tinnoset Line. The long ferry trip made it possible for

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norway, 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 th ...

to transport its

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser 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 liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

from the plant at

Rjukan Rjukan () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Tinn Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The town is also the administrative centre of Tinn Municipality. The town is located in the Vestfjorddalen valley, between the lakes Møsvatn ...

to the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

. The ferry services were operated by the company's subsidiary

Norsk Transport Hydro Transport AS was a railway company, railway- and List of ship companies, shipping company responsible for the transport of chemicals from Norsk Hydro Rjukan. A subsidiary of Norsk Hydro, the company was founded in 1907, operations ceased in ...

from 1909 to 1991, when the plant closed. One of the ferries was in 1944 the target of the

Norwegian heavy water sabotage The Norwegian heavy water sabotage (; ) was a series of Allied-led efforts to halt German heavy water (deuterium) production via hydroelectric plants in Nazi Germany-occupied Norway during World War II, involving both Norwegian commandos and Al ...

when it was sunk to depth to prevent

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

from developing

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

History

was founded in 1905 by engineer and industrialist Sam Eyde as a fertilizer manufacturer. The first factory was opened at

Notodden is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Aust-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Notodden. Other population centres include the villages of Bolkesjø, G ...

in 1907. Fertilizer factories need a lot of energy, making it beneficial to locate the plants near hydroelectric power plants. At Rjukan there was a large waterfall capable of supporting a hydroelectric plant. By 1911 Rjukan Salpeterfabrikk was opened. The Tinnsjø railway ferry service was opened in 1909 along with the Tinnoset Line and Rjukan Line. After the

Thamshavn Line The Thamshavn Line () was Norway's first electric railway, running from 1908 to 1974 in what is now Trøndelag county. Today it is operated as a heritage railway and is the world's oldest railway running on its original alternating current elec ...

, these two lines were the second railway line in Norway to be electrified in 1911. The railway service used 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 harbour at Skien. There was also passenger trains that ran. In 1929 Norsk Hydro also establish itself at Herøya in

Porsgrunn is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Porsgrunn (town), city ...

, and in 1991 the factory in Rjukan, and therefore also the railway line, was closed. The passenger trains had been discontinued already in 1970. In 1997 the ownership of the track was transferred to Stiftelsen Rjukanbanen, a foundation that started

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset A heritage asset is an item which has value because of its contribution to a nation's society, knowledge and/or culture. Such items are usually physical assets, but some countries also ...

operation of the line in 1999.

Ferries

The railway ferry service was provided by four different ships, SF ''Rjukanfoss'', SF ''Hydro'', SF ''Ammonia'' and MF ''Storegut''. 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 Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The fir ...

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

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in Norway, and D/F ''Ammonia'' is the only remaining railway ferry steam ship in the world.

SF ''Rjukanfos''

SF ''Rjukanfos'', built in 1909, was the first railway ferry on Lake Tinn. The

was long and wide and measured . It operated up to two daily departures each way, with a capacity of 120 passengers. The ship was rebuilt in 1946 to but taken out of services and

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on i ...

in 1969.

SF ''Hydro''

SF ''Hydro'' was the next ship to operate as railway ferry, entering service in 1914. It was slightly larger than ''Rjukanfoss'', at , long and with two engines. On February 20, 1944 the ship was blown up by the

Norwegian resistance movement The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the German occupation of Norway, occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms: *As ...

at Lake Tinn's deepest point, with a load of

heavy water Heavy water (deuterium oxide, , ) is a form of water (molecule), water in which hydrogen atoms are all deuterium ( or D, also known as ''heavy hydrogen'') rather than the common hydrogen-1 isotope (, also called ''protium'') that makes up most o ...

onboard heading for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is believed that 18 people were killed while 29 survived the

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

SF ''Ammonia''

In 1929 Norsk Hydro expanded their plant, and there was need for a third ferry. SF ''Ammonia'' was built the same year and was the largest of the three steam ships at , two engines and a length of . It had a capacity of 250 passengers. From 1957 it was made a reserve ferry when ''Storegut'' was for service. It was taken out of service in 1991 when the railway closed, but can still be seen docked at Mæl. It is the only remaining steam powered railway ferry in the world.

MF ''Storegut''

MF ''Storegut'' is the last ferry and the only motor ship to operate on the lake. Built in 1956, it measures , is long with three diesel engines. The passenger traffic with the ship terminated in 1985, and it was taken out of service in 1991 and is docked at Mæl.

References

External links

Web site on Rjukanbanen

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tinnsjo railway ferry Rail transport in Telemark Ferry transport in Telemark Train ferries