After the winter war ended, the Soviet Union forced Finland to build a railway Eastwards from Kemijärvi. Their master plan probably was, that they could easily transport troops and equipment to Finland when they would attack anyway. After the continuation war, the railway was rebuilt. There never was any cross border traffic, and there wasContinue reading “There Never Was Much Traffic Anyway”
Tag Archives: rail
One Of Many
If you travel by train in rural Finland, these are common sights. Back when the Finnish railroad network was built, it was meant to be a faster and more comfortable alternative to horses, not for cars. There was an intensive local network of stations. Often these stations brought inhabitants and prosperity to these villages, someContinue reading “One Of Many”
A Midsummer Date Part XV
The last time I visited this railway station closed back in 1989, I didn’t predict a very long future for it. Yet here it still stands. It’s been two years since my previous visit. Everything remains closed and locked. Or has been closed and locked again. The name plates of the station have been blurredContinue reading “A Midsummer Date Part XV”
Views From A Dying Station
So here I am waiting for a train home at the local railway station. And I suddenly realized, that this was the first and only time when I would wait a train here. Back in the 1960’s somebody in control of the state railroad company got a magnificent idea. Railway stations would no longer beContinue reading “Views From A Dying Station”
I Would Like A Ticket Out Of Here Part II
This could as well be renamed the house of wrecked ovens. Even the one in the pink room had been smashed. There were so many rooms, that I think that in addition to the postal room, office room and waiting room there might have been an apartment in here. The floor was interesting. I couldn’tContinue reading “I Would Like A Ticket Out Of Here Part II”
I Would Like A Ticket Out Of Here Part I
At the end of an overgrown small road was a badly bashed building, the railway station of Noormarkku. It was built in 1933, when a railroad was built between Pori and Haapamäki in Central Finland. Haapamäki we’ve of course already been to. According to public sources the station contained a waiting room, an office roomContinue reading “I Would Like A Ticket Out Of Here Part I”
Behind The Scenes Part II
There definitely was something orange back here, and not just anything orange. This is a DM8/9 – ‘The Carrot’, hence the livery. These are the last surviving examples of this train built around 1965 and abandoned around 1990. A restoration project has begun, but it has been interrupted due to issues between the members ofContinue reading “Behind The Scenes Part II”
Behind The Scenes Part I
As I said in my previous post, I’m a sort of a railroad nerd, but not very interested in the steam era. What interests me the most is the post war era from the early 1950’s all the way to the 1980’s before my birth. What really intrigued me in Haapamäki was not the steamContinue reading “Behind The Scenes Part I”
The Killer Locomotive Memorial
When things start going badly wrong, they go even worse wrong. And this was why I decided to find my way to yet another place in the middle of nowhere in the former municipality of Kalvola in the Tavastia Proper region. Back in one spring morning in 1957, the night train from Lapland to HelsinkiContinue reading “The Killer Locomotive Memorial”