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Little train with a big view
Ny Ålesund in Spitsbergen, Svalbard is the world's most northerly settlement inhabited all the year round. It is in the northwest of the island at a latitude of about 79 degrees. There are many “most northerlies” here including the post office, the North Pole Hotel, a disused colliery and the world’s most northerly train.
The colliery and village were founded in 1917 by a company based in Ålesund on the west coast of Norway, hence the name which is Norwegian for New Ålesund. The mines were about 1km inland from the coast and were connected to the jetty at the harbour by a 900mm gauge railway.
The surviving loco is no. 2, a 900mm gauge Borsig 0-4-0T, works number 7095 of 1909. It sits on a length of the old track next to the harbour with its train of old coal wagons . All around the village there are sleeper tracks leading to the old colliery and there’s another surviving length of track with two more wagons in the village centre.The locomotive was originally from 1909, and came to Ny-Ålesund in 1917. It was probably in operation until the 1950's and was restored in a special workshop on the Urskog-Høland railway line.
Bring shipped the 108-year-old locomotive from Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard to the Urskog-Høland railway line's workshop in Sørumsand, Norway. Here the valuable loco, which had begun to deteriorate after exposure to harsh weather and wind conditions, was restored. Ten months and about 300 work hours later, Bring was chosen again, this time to return the locomotive to Svalbard.
Little train with a big view
Ny Ålesund in Spitsbergen, Svalbard is the world's most northerly settlement inhabited all the year round. It is in the northwest of the island at a latitude of about 79 degrees. There are many “most northerlies” here including the post office, the North Pole Hotel, a disused colliery and the world’s most northerly train.
The colliery and village were founded in 1917 by a company based in Ålesund on the west coast of Norway, hence the name which is Norwegian for New Ålesund. The mines were about 1km inland from the coast and were connected to the jetty at the harbour by a 900mm gauge railway.
The surviving loco is no. 2, a 900mm gauge Borsig 0-4-0T, works number 7095 of 1909. It sits on a length of the old track next to the harbour with its train of old coal wagons . All around the village there are sleeper tracks leading to the old colliery and there’s another surviving length of track with two more wagons in the village centre.The locomotive was originally from 1909, and came to Ny-Ålesund in 1917. It was probably in operation until the 1950's and was restored in a special workshop on the Urskog-Høland railway line.
Bring shipped the 108-year-old locomotive from Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard to the Urskog-Høland railway line's workshop in Sørumsand, Norway. Here the valuable loco, which had begun to deteriorate after exposure to harsh weather and wind conditions, was restored. Ten months and about 300 work hours later, Bring was chosen again, this time to return the locomotive to Svalbard.