BODO TO TRONDHEIM TEN HOURS ON A TRAIN

 

Tuesday 5^th July 2010

Norwegian Rail ends its northward route at Bodo. So this was my opportunity to get back onto my Eurorail pass again. One advantage of the pass is that the travel is paid for and not another drain on the budget. No doubt about it but no matter how careful you are Norwegian prices seem so high, that even with planning I am always going through the cash much more quickly than I would like too.

City Hotel was really just one block up the hill from the railway station, so getting there was not a problem. With an 11 am check out time, there was no way that I would not get to the train in time. In fact I was there about 40 minutes early. In the small station I found the waiting room full, mostly with individuals and their back packs. Some were spread out across the seats asleep.

I had to fill in travel details on my Eurorail pass, so I went to the ticket counter to ask the train number. To my surprise the attendant asked if I had a seat reservation. I didn't and I explained that this was the one train which the Eurorail counter in Helsinki could not bring up on their screen. His reply was that he was sorry but the train was full. As it was all second class I couldn't even try for an upgrade alternative.

However, in a quiet confidential tone, he suggested that I hunt the train's guard out and ask for her to find me a seat. On a full train I queried and he just grinned and nodded.

So out onto the platform or Track (Spor) as they call it here. I stood facing the direction the guard would come from the station building. I wanted to get to her first. After a while she came along and I explained my problem and could she find a seat. She thought for just a moment and said "Van four seat 29" and then added "Or if you want a window seat take number 30". Great. I thanked her and for the rest of the journey that she was in charge of we tended to have a few short chats.

This was a Norwegian Rail Regional Express. There were about six vans or carriages plus a dinning car and one which was a goods store and where passengers were storing their bicycles. Van Four was more or less empty when I got on board as there was still 20 minutes before departure. The carriage was divided in half with a glass panel with each section containing around 30 seats. My seat was in the front half and immediately in front of the dividing panel. I had a full and large window. It is always a lucky draw with window seats. The seat in front of me missed a window and just had the wall space between windows. I have had this in Germany and found it so frustrating. But seat 30 was exactly what I would have selected myself. It was comfortable too which was good, as we would be in contact for a long time.

The space between rows was generous. I could stretch my legs out and my feet would just reach the seat in front. So even if they reclined I would not feel squashed in. Ah! This is train travel as it should be.

The carriage had baggage storage space and shelves at each end so you could safely store your bag and keep watch on it.

Exactly at 12:15 pm the express pulled out of the station. It had a diesel electric locomotive. My compartment was mainly empty. So I decided that it must be going to fill up along the route; which is what happened. In the interval various folk came through and decided to sit here. The guard usually pointed out that they had other allocated seating and should return to it. One elderly couple kept reappearing and the old lady would argue with the guard about having to shift out. But sure enough at the next stop the allocated passengers would board.

My compartment had three dogs accompanying their owners. Once they had decided which of them could bark the loudest, they settled down and mostly travelled quietly.

Once again, this trip took me through a variety of landscapes. There were some stunning views with lots of people standing up to get a better view out of the window. What amused me was that while this was going on, a couple across the aisle from me never looked up from the books they were reading.

One of the moss impressive sections of the trip was were we slowly made our way up above wide, forest covered, 'U' shaped glaciated valleys with a white water river far below. This was a spectacular view.

Finally we came out onto the treeless summit tableland, where there was a great expanse of undulating landscape backed by often snow covered mountains. It did remind me a bit of the Volcanic Plateau, but with less vegetation.

It was obvious that this would be a winter ski playground and there were several small collections of cabins along beside the railway and the road which often ran parallel.

There was some dramatic lighting effects here as the sun tried to get through the clouds. Like others, I attempted to photograph it. I felt sorry for the lady in front who had her flash go off for every exposure. I do hope that she got more than just a light reflection on the window glass.

We soon stopped at a small station and had a ten minute delay while the approaching train arrived. The track was just single rail and this was the point where it was possible for it to pass on a siding.

While we were waiting I talked to the guard and commented on how busy she was during the journey. For instance, after she had collected the tickets from new passengers she would go through with a seating chart and mark in who had paid in each seat. This was a good check against her master plan, on if the seat should be filled at that stage. Interestingly, she had a small office in the Dinning Car from which she could do her paper work and make PA announcements.

Still in the mountains, we began to follow along river valleys. Some of the rivers were wide and impressive. I had never ever though about Norway and rivers and I was a little surprised to find such large ones. At some points I wasn't sure if it was a river or a fjord and then some rapids would appear and I knew it was a river.

This part of Norway is heavily forested and there are more conifers in the mix. I also was aware of how the overall height of the forest was increasing.

As we got closer to Trondheim the number of small settlements passed by increased. We began to ride alongside fjords and the size of farms was increasing. The fields were increasing in area. Everything looked prosperous. The coastal flat, but sloping seawards, land was mush greater than anything I have so far seen in Norway. I also thought that the grass had a brighter, more intensive, green colour.

We past a few factories, one with clouds of steam above it and thinking of Tokaroa, I assumed that this could be a paper mill. In one town on a fjord we passed a large ALCAN factory and I wondered if this was an aluminum factory and if it was, was it there because of cheap electricity supplies.

Trondheim Airport is alongside the rail track but is located about 40 minutes out from the city itself. So we still had a way to go yet.

Finally it was Trondheim. A busy station and lots of disembarking passengers queuing up for hot frankfurters.

Finding my way to the hostel was straight forward once I had sighted the cathedral. I had to aim at that and then cross a bridge almost beside it. The Trondheim Inter Rail Centre is a summer hostel in the independent student centre. It is not busy and there was no problem getting a bed even at 11 pm.