Trondheim once had a proper tram network with several lines running through the city. On 10 October 1956, a fire broke out at the Dalsenget depot at four in the morning and destroyed 26 trams and 16 trailers. Three cleaners died. It was the largest fire in Trondheim since World War II. The city pulled old trams out of storage and ordered 28 new ones, but the network never fully recovered. The Singsaker line closed in 1968, the Elgeseter line in 1983, and in 1988 the municipality decided to shut down tram operations entirely.
What survived is Gråkallbanen, the line that runs from St. Olavs gate in the city centre to Lian in the hills west of Trondheim, about 9 kilometres. Two years after the shutdown, a group of enthusiasts managed to reopen it. The city had tried to sell the unused trams but found no buyers, so the group rented them for a symbolic sum. The line has been running ever since.
The first section opened on 18 July 1924 after seven years of construction. It was extended to Lian in 1933. During World War II, the tram was the only public transport still running and carried 2 million passengers a year.
Since 2004, when the tram system in Arkhangelsk, Russia was closed, Gråkallbanen holds the record as the northernmost tram in the world. It also has an unusual technical detail: it is one of only two tramways in the world, along with Cairo, to combine metre gauge with 2.6-metre-wide cars.
At Munkvoll station, about halfway along the line, there is a small tram museum in the old depot. It is open in summer and run by volunteers. The terminus at Lian is a popular starting point for walks in the hills.
What survived is Gråkallbanen, the line that runs from St. Olavs gate in the city centre to Lian in the hills west of Trondheim, about 9 kilometres. Two years after the shutdown, a group of enthusiasts managed to reopen it. The city had tried to sell the unused trams but found no buyers, so the group rented them for a symbolic sum. The line has been running ever since.
The first section opened on 18 July 1924 after seven years of construction. It was extended to Lian in 1933. During World War II, the tram was the only public transport still running and carried 2 million passengers a year.
Since 2004, when the tram system in Arkhangelsk, Russia was closed, Gråkallbanen holds the record as the northernmost tram in the world. It also has an unusual technical detail: it is one of only two tramways in the world, along with Cairo, to combine metre gauge with 2.6-metre-wide cars.
At Munkvoll station, about halfway along the line, there is a small tram museum in the old depot. It is open in summer and run by volunteers. The terminus at Lian is a popular starting point for walks in the hills.