European Railroad Discussion > See Finse from the train

Ever wondered what the ride from Bergen to Oslo was like? Netflix is now streaming a cab ride for that route from LOVE TV. I have watched Bergen to Finse and it is over half tunnels and snow sheds. The tunnel leading into Finse from the west is over 10 km long and there are others well over 2 km long, one at 8. It seems to have been filmed in October so we go from nice green at Bergen to deep snow at Finse.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

I've been watching this also, none too seriously.   The long tunnel sequences give me a chance to get up, make a snack, read the paper, google the various locations on the maps, etc.   My kids came in to see the black screen with train noises coming from the TV, and just left, shaking their heads, believing dad had truly lost it this time.  

I like to look up the places the train passes through as I'm watching - I found out that Hallingskeid is a middle of nowhere station, existing only to service hikers/trekkers, located in the middle of a long snowshed.   The snowsheds have burned five times, the last being in 2011.  A train was caught in the fire and destroyed, as with no-one to warn the engineer, he entered the snowshed unaware of the fire.   The train was safely stopped and evacuated, but the fire had cut the power to the catenary, and the train could not be reversed out of the snowshed, and was therefore a total loss.  The cost of the fire was 250 million Kroner, about $4,000,000 at the 2011 exchange rates.

There is a shorter (52 minute) compilation on Netflix showing Trondheim to Bodo above the Arctic Circle; this was shot 4 different times and you get some very clever transitions between seasons in some of the cab shots.  

 

I actually watched the short one first and that steered me to the long one. I was surprised at how they do not use headlights in the tunnels, thus black as pitch in there.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

It is available for a free download, or was, about a year ago. I have it.  32 GB, 7 1/2 hours.  Fascinating, for me anyway.  And yes, it took some time to download.


 

All norwegian trains have their headlights on at all times when they are moving. I
 

The videos sound like edited versions of programs which were broadcast by Norwegan TV some years ago. The Bergan-Oslo show was well over seven hours long and covered the trip in its entirity. The shorter trip was also close to real time on Norwegan TV. I can't remember if they were before or after 24 hour a day uninterrupted coverage of an ocean-going ferry trip up the west coast which lasted something like seven days live 24 hours a day.

DaleR

For the cruise of the coast, it is on Vimeo.com...  Once there, do a search using "NORWAY PASSAGE."  The seven day trip is condensed down to 57 minutes and the cameras do move around a bit.  The music Is great.

YY