The farms among the hills thin out before a tunnel that
brings the railway on to a shelf of rock high above Lake Krøderen, followed
after Flåm by a dramatic stretch above the forested Hallingdalselva River. Past
Ål, the frequent river crossings are marked by a metallic roar as the train
crosses a bridge in its climb through the beautiful Hallingdal Valley towards
Norway’s best-known winter sports centre, Geilo, boasting 39 downhill slopes
and nearly 350 miles of cross-country trails.
During the many months of snow, the trains are full of
skiers and their gear. Holiday cabins dot the hills as the train leaves the
last trees behind and heads for the north shore of Lake Ustevatn, which can be
frozen for three quarters of the year. The train burrows through the first of
many snowsheds, vital to keep the line open year-round but an irritation when
you are enjoying the view.
The handsome wooden station building at Haugastøl , in a
cross between the National Romantic and Jugendstil styles, is the start of
hiking routes through the shallow valleys of the high plateau and the beginning
of the Rallar Road, named after the navvies who used it during construction of
the railway. Now regarded as a historic monument, it’s much used by mountain
bikers; some even take advantage of the altitude to freewheel all the way to
the sea at Bergen. Bikes can be hired at Haugastøl and also at Finse.
The course of the railway is surprisingly straight across
the plateau, enabling a turn of speed that whips up the snow into eddying
wraiths. There are few places as bleak and remote on a railway in Europe as
roadless Finse, the highest station on Norway’s railways, at just over 4,000ft.
The men on Scott’s fateful 1912 expedition trained here, and in 1979 George
Lucas used the area for the ice planet Hoth in Star Wars. Near the station is a
museum about the navvies, and there is a single, lonely hotel with its own
bakery.
Teams of straining huskies may be spotted carving a trail as
the summit of the line is reached at Taugevann, at 4,270ft. The unstaffed
station at Hallingskeid station is actually inside a snow shelter. As a taster
for those breaking the journey to to descend to Flåm, there are glimpses
2,000ft down a precipice into Flåmsdal and Sognefjord. Isolated in a great bowl
of mountains, the junction station of Myrdal oscillates between utter quiet and
manic activity as passengers from a cruise ship reach the summit of the climb
from Flåm and flock into the large café and gift shop.
The railway returns to the tree line and descends steeply
through Mjølfjell station and a scattering of holiday cabins to pick its way
along a ledge high above the River Raundal as it flows through a spectacular
canyon. Upland farming country provides a striking contrast to the barren
plateau as the train arrives at the large town and ski resort of Voss. It was
here that King Haakon VII at the formal opening of the line in 1909, described
it as “the greatest feat of our generation”.
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