Norway marks two railway centennials

By David Hartwig

Norway celebrates two rail anniversaries with two stamps issued Sept. 20 by Posten, Norway’s postal service.

Both nondenominated stamps pay the domestic rate (currently 23 kroner) for standard letters. The designs of the offset-printed stamps are reminiscent of engraving.

A stamp with green lines commemorates the 100th anniversary of the official opening of the Rauma Railway by King Haakon, who reigned from 1905 to 1957.

The 70-mile railway line passes under both the Trollveggen and Romsdalshorn mountains and is the only railway in the western county of More og Romsdal.

The railway served an important role in 1940 when it was used to transport Norwegian and British forces to the battles in eastern Norway. Later it was used to transport gold.

The stamp with red lines marks the 100th anniversary of the Grakallen Line, a suburban tram in Trondheim, a city about 250 miles due north of Oslo.

In 2004 the Grakallen Line was named the northernmost tram line in the world after Russia closed down lines in Arkhangelsk, a city with a latitude of just over one degree further north than Trondheim.

The Grakallen Line was the only tram service in Norway outside of Oslo until a tram service started in the city of Bergen in 2010.

The stamps were designed by Borge Bredenbekk and printed by Joh. Enschede Security Print of the Netherlands in rolls of 100 (50 of each stamp) in a run of 285,000 stamps. The stamps measure 25 millimeters by 36mm.

The stamps can be found on the Posten website. Posten also has options for presentation packs, collector sets and first-day covers.

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