Flåmsbana was planned and begun as a Norwegian state railway project long before the German occupation. Its history is a sequence of parliamentary decisions, two decades of difficult construction, wartime pressure to begin traffic and later preservation at the fjord terminus.
Rail heritage · Vestland
Flåm Railway Museum
A compact museum beside Flåm station tells the remarkable engineering and human story behind Flåmsbana.
PlaceFlåm
ExperienceRailway museum
On the railsMountain railway · Electric traction
The place
A railway story you can step into
Flåm Railway Museum follows the line from a difficult construction project to one of Norway's best-known railways. Photographs, documents and objects explain how the steep route between the fjord and Myrdal was built and how it has been worked through changing railway eras.
The museum sits next to the working railway, so the historical material has an immediate connection to the trains and landscape outside. Original vehicles and railway equipment give the exhibition a physical scale that photographs alone cannot provide.
What you can experience
Look closer
- 01
Exhibitions about the navvies, engineering and construction of Flåmsbana
The construction display explains the steep gradient, the hand-driven tunnels and the long period of work required to connect Flåm with Bergensbanen at Myrdal.
- 02
Historic railway vehicles including an El 9 locomotive and an electric shunter
The full-size El 9 locomotive and electric shunter show the specialised traction used on the branch, while draisines and tools bring smaller everyday railway work into view.
- 03
Draisines, tools, photographs and other material from the working railway
Photographs, video and cultural objects connect the line to Flåm itself. The railway appears as a workplace and a part of village life, not only as a spectacular train journey.
History
The long construction of Flåmsbana
Second World War
Occupation accelerated an existing Norwegian project
When Germany occupied Norway in April 1940, construction had already been under way since 1923. The occupation authorities pressed for faster completion because the line could move materials connected with planned aluminium production at Årdal. Temporary full-line freight traffic began on 1 August 1940. 23
Passenger traffic followed in February 1941, the quay connection in 1942 and electrification in 1944. These dates belong to the occupation history of the railway, but they do not make Flåmsbana a German-origin project: the Norwegian parliamentary decision came in 1908 and construction began seventeen years before the invasion. 234
Sources
Read the original history
- 01Flåm Railway Museum / Norway's Best
Flåm Railway Museum
- 02Flåmsbana
The history of Flåmsbana
- 03Vestland county encyclopaedia
Flåmsbana — built 1923–1940
- 04Norwegian Railway Directorate
Flåmsbana
Rail heritage placeOpen the marker for the detailed map
Location & journey
Place it in your route
Getting there
The museum is in the centre of Flåm beside the railway station and close to the fjord terminal. It fits naturally before or after a journey on Flåmsbana.
Planning context
Because the museum and the working railway share the same setting, the visit is especially useful as context for the line outside. The exhibition is compact, but it rewards time spent with the construction photographs and vehicles.
Plan your visit
Check before you travel
The museum is next to Flåm station and is easy to combine with time in the village or a journey on Flåmsbana. Use the official page for current access information.