The Arendal Line in Norway: OUTSTANDING cultural heritage

Photo, editing and comments: Guttorm Eskild Nilsen
Drone footage: Monica M. Bredsten

The Bøylefoss bridge on the Arendal railway line was put into use in 1910, the same year that people could travel by train between Arendal and Åmli for the first time.
This revolutionized travel for people in the inner rural areas of Arendal's countryside, as they could now go to the city and back in the same day! The steam locomotives could reach speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour; nobody had ever moved that fast before!
The Bøylefoss bridge station was opened in 1911, downgraded to a stop in 1966, and closed in 1997.
The small station building is special because it was built on one of the bridge's piers. This must be one of the smallest train stations in Norway in terms of area.
From here, there was a spur line to the Bøylefoss power plant, but this track did not have the same gauge as the Arendal-Treungen line, so all goods for the power plant had to be transferred using a crane.
The Bøylefoss bridge station had a post office, was staffed, and was an important traffic hub for the local community around the power plant for many years.
The Arendal-Treungen line gets its name from its terminal station in Tveitsund, later renamed Treungen. The railway line was opened to Treungen in 1913, after hundreds of men had worked on the section between Åmli and Treungen. The railway carried people, goods and supplies, timber, and iron ore from the Søftestad mines. The railway wagons went all the way to the quay in Arendal harbor, where the ore was shipped out.
The upper part of the Arendal-Treungen line did not have a long life. The Søftestad mines were closed in 1965. The lumberjacks began to send their timber by truck. The restrictions on the sale of private cars, introduced during World War II, were lifted in 1961, and people could start driving around in Ford and Volkswagen cars. In 1967, the Norwegian parliament voted to close the railway line between Nelaug and Treungen.
To avoid any last-minute opposition, work to remove the tracks began immediately. That is, the tracks between Nelaug station and Nidarå Lumber, today's Bergene Holm factory, were left in place and used for transporting timber and lumber. There were many stations and stops along the Arendal-Treungen line, which were the lifeblood and meeting points for many local communities.
The train still operates daily on the Arendal station-Nelaug station route. The train can still stop at several places, but most of the small stations and stops have been closed.
It is easy to assume that the Southland railway came first and the branch lines developed later, but it is exactly the opposite. The branch lines came first and were later connected to the Sørlandsbanen from Oslo to Stavanger.