Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

348 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. mor© section, is not yet completed ; but already trains run. between Gulsvik—which at present is reached from Kristiania by a rail journey via Drammen and Vikesund, and a steamboat trip along the lake —and Bergen. The central section—-Gulsvik to Vossevangen, or Voss— opened in 1907, demands most attention, as it crosses thø great water-shed of the Lang Mountains, passing through some of the wildest mountain tracts in Norway, far above the tree limit, in the region of eternal snow. As regards the greatest elevation attained—4,268 feet at Tauge vand—the railway is surpassed in Europe by the Brenner Pass and Arlberg routes, and in America by several trans- continental railways. But it should be pointed out that even the Southern Pacific crossing in the Sierra Nevada, with its maximum elevation of about 8,200 feet, does not rise above the level at which firs, the hardiest of trees, cease to occur; whereas the Bergen railway, owing to its much latitude, leaves trees behind at an elevation of about 2,000 feet. The extreme severity of the winters, which cover Elevation compared with that of other Railways. the country with a thick blanket of fine hard snow, packed tightly into every hollow and crevice by violent gales, rendered the con- struction of the railway, especially at the higher altitudes, a very difficult task indeed. In the mountains snow falls even in June, and during a cold summer the snowdrifts and the ice covering the lakes do not melt at all. In laying the line, however, the engineers were careful to raise the road-bed, where possible, above the general level of the ground, so that the winds might assist in the task of keeping it free from snow. For 12J miles the moun- tain section of the line has been covered in with snow-sheds, and 28 more miles are shel- tered by snow-screens. The section is only 62 miles long, so that if the 9| miles of tunnel also be deducted, it becomes evident that only a very small proportion of this section is left entirely unprotected. As long ago as 1870 a scheme was put forward for running a railway across the “ Great Mountain.” At that time the sea afforded the only History, means of communication between Bergen and Kristiania. Not even'the roughest of roads MAP OF THE BERGEN-KRISTIANIA RAILWAY. The section between Gulsvik end Roa will be opened this year.