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   NORWAY: Local booklet cover: The Flåm Line 1992-93  



 

   Above: Front cover Right: Back cover  

This booklet is not an official item issued by Norway Post and you cannot find it in the stamp catalogues. Since 1991, several local post offices in Norway have produced their own booklets using ordinary commemorative stamps in printed covers and sold as souvenir items, mostly to tourists.
On both the front page as on the back page of the cover there is a picture from the Flåm Railway showing EMU sets of the type 69. Both photos are taken from the upper part of the line, not far from Myrdal station. The Flåm Railway, opened in 1940, is a part of the Norwegian State Railway system and a branch line of the Bergen Railway. It runs between two small villages in western Norway, Myrdal and Flåm. Myrdal, situated 865 metres (2840 feet) above sea level and between two tunnels, is a junction at the Bergen Railway. Flåm, the terminal station, is only 2 m (6 feet) above sea level. The distance is only 20 km (12,5 miles), so this makes the line one of the world's steepest non-rack-operated railways. 80 per cent of the line has a gradient steeper than 1:35 [28‰], and more than 40 per cent has a 1:18 gradient [55‰]. Nearly 6 km (4 miles) has curves with a radius of less than 180 m (600 feet). The minimum curve radius is 130 m (427 feet). From the top, the line descends in long helical tunnels. There are 20 tunnels totalling 3,5 miles. In addition, large parts suffer from occasional avalanches and rock falls. The scenery is, of course, spectacular.
The Flåm line booklets are issued by the Voss Post Office (Voss is a station village at the Bergen Railway) in 3 different editions, 21.000 totally. The edition number is printed inside.

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