Bryn and Svartdalen, Oslo - old industries, transportation and the river

in #walkwithme5 years ago (edited)

I had Friday off from work, after the kinder garden delivery I had some time to kill before a meeting downtown. Sometimes we go to the kinder garden by train, and I've always been wondering if it's possible to go a short cut - I decided to check it up now while going to the train station without the child. Indeed, instead of following the road it's possible to follow the river - much nicer and a bit shorter as well.

I passed this old industrial building - and it seems to still be used for "industrial" purposes - a "handcraft distillery", with an entrance to a pub on the left side. Interesting.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.909263,10.821294 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:02:09 localtime - full quality

The metro line with a metro train on the hillside, and the railway service in front.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.909233,10.821135 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:02:59 localtime - full quality

I've seen this building a ton of times and always wondered ... why not to either renovate the building or tear it down? Is it used for anything? Is it at all safe to enter the building? It's possible to see the water running in the corner, it doesn't go down the water sprout, but outside it - and it was even worse on the other side of this "tower". However, in all this misery, it does indeed look like the basement has been renovated, the bottom part of the building is new planks.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.90903,10.820771 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:03:23 localtime - full quality

Googling a bit, I found this photo of the basement of the building - looks like the bottom part of the building is quite sturdy at least ...

Photo from nettavisen.no
*Source: Nettavisen, "I denne hallen bodde Sigrid-siktede"

The building is actually huge - I didn't take any good photos showing the size of the thing. This is the short side wall. One hypothesis: the building is considered to be of historical value and cannot be torn down. The current owner sees no use in such a building, they are purposefully neglecting it and they hope it will fall down soon so they can utilize the property.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908763,10.820158 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:04:20 localtime - full quality

Oups - I had apparently remembered the train schedule wrongly. That's the train I was supposed to join ... and it's at the wrong side of the river. All I need is a bridge ... and the one above me don't count. The bridge above is for a very trafficated road (E6 and Ring 3), it has 2x2 lanes. I think it's quite bad, to take the train the other direction it's needed to first go to the bridge to cross the river, then back to the steep stairs shown on the photo, those stairs are pretty bad if one has a pram or a bike, then cross the rails and get down on the other side. The road is also very noisy and dirty, it's not much pleasant. I usually avoid the other platform (by choosing bus instead of train). There are three train tracks, the middle one is used for northeastbound trains, and it's not allowed to pass the tracks by feet - so the only way to get on and off the middle platform is by that car bridge. It's horrible.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908725,10.818597 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:04:36 localtime - full quality

The first bridge is for sewage or water or electricity or all three of them, but not for people unfortunately. Behind is the bridge that I need. A bit too far away. Oh, look at that graffiti ... maybe they actually got permission for making that one, to create such an artwork it's needed to have lots of time available, it's very difficult to create good art when being in a hurry, with a risk that the police may come anytime.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908535,10.818771 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:05:29 localtime - full quality

This is taken from the train side of the river. In the middle in the bottom of the photo there is an old pipe, blocked by concrete - perhaps an old sewage pipe? Today it would be unheard of to dispose sewage into this river, but some 40-50 years ago that was probably normal. ~13 minutes until the next train. I can as well continue my walk ... nice I have plenty of time!

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908435,10.818645 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:06:52 localtime - full quality

Two metro trains passing each other on the bridge ahead. With a bit of planning this could have been a very good transportation hub, featuring easy access between buses, trains and several metro lines. Arguably, it's not really needed since there already is connection between the metro and the train at the central station. Then again, every now and then the central station is closed for rail transport due to maintenance, and passengers are asked to take the metro up here, walk quite a bit from the metro stop to the train stop, and continue by train from here.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908435,10.818645 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:07:20 localtime - full quality

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908615,10.817533 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:08:08 localtime - full quality

3 km to "Grønlandsreiret", I guess it's ~4.5 km from here to the central station. This railroad line is the oldest railroad line in Norway, and this station is both one of the first that was built and also the first station after the central station. There is a big downhill towards the central, the original purpose of this train station was not to transport humans or cargo here, but to be able to hook up a brake van on the trains going to Oslo.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908332,10.817161 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:08:14 localtime - full quality

More bridges over the river and train line. The first is an ordinary car bridge, and the second is the metro bridge. It's quite big to be a metro bridge - it carries four tracks! Remember what I wrote about maintenance on the central station? That yellow note on the bridge is a permanent sign telling "lost" railroad passengers how to find the way to the "replacement service" by metro to the central station!

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908332,10.817161 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:08:45 localtime - full quality

An old textile mill, Joh Petersen Aktieselskap, Lin & bomullsvarefabrikken (norsk wikipedia, industrimuseum.no). The mill was in use from 1889 to 1974. Today there seems to be offices inside, but for heritage reasons the old logos are preserved.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.90784,10.815395 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:09:33 localtime - full quality

The view back towards the train station.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908,10.815567 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:09:42 localtime - full quality

Of course there is no coincidence that such an industrial building is situated by the river - even above the river - they utilized hydro power.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908,10.815567 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:09:49 localtime - full quality

The side of the building, with old trademark logo. It's 10:10 in the morning, and quite dark, the artificial light is very visible. It doesn't get much brighter than this on a rainy day in the very end of November this far north - but at least, on good days the sun is still giving some light and heat. In my home town in Tromsø, arctic Norway, this is the brightest it gets on a good-weather day. At Svalbard/Spitsbergen even further north, it's dark all day around.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907749,10.814907 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:10:14 localtime - full quality

Here is the backside, with the river coming out.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907993,10.814757 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:10:57 localtime - full quality

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908042,10.814497 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:11:29 localtime - full quality

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908042,10.814497 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:11:35 localtime - full quality

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908042,10.814497 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:11:38 localtime - full quality

The sign was barely readable before I wiped away the rain with a paper towel ... this park was created in 2011, earlier there was a parking lot here. The polluted soil was replaced with "food-grade" soil.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907726,10.814079 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:12:43 localtime - full quality

There are actually five tracks on the railroad here. The two most visible ones are for the local trains (L1, to and from Lillestrøm, serving 12 stations between the central station and Lillestrøm, 7 of them in the Oslo municipality) plus some cargo traffic. Behind and a bit lower (if studying the photo well) one can see the electric overhead cables for the third track, a cargo track. Two more tracks are in a tunnel underground, for all the other passenger trains, they have Lillestrøm as their first stop. I think this is a "problem" I've seen many places - if going by public transport to a place it can be a very bad idea to choose the bus/metro/train marked with the right name. In this case it takes 30 minutes to get from the central station to Lillestrøm if choosing a train tagged with "Lillestrøm" as the destination, but only 10 minutes if taking any other train!

(Wikipedia articles: Hovedbanen, Loenga-Alnabrulinjen, Gardermobanen)

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907581,10.813632 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:13:23 localtime - full quality

Backwards photo, towards the old textile mill

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.90755,10.813652 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:13:30 localtime - full quality

Backwards photo again, the small park is on the top of the hill to the right.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907493,10.811045 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:14:36 localtime - full quality

I noticed some metal part sticking out of the water here, and I was planning to get a better photo of it when passing closer - but I forgot.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907474,10.812424 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:14:46 localtime - full quality

I found this sign a bit ... funny. It says that the forest ahead is ... "ekte urskog". A quick google search, and it seems like "urskog" can be translated into primary forest, primeval forest, virgin forest or wildwood. "Here you can feel how it looked before the city was built", "The trees are left intact without any human touch - including dead trees, which are playing an important role in the ecosystem". Right ... let's have a look at this virgin forest!

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907474,10.812424 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:14:59 localtime - full quality

Concrete bridges and graffiti. Completely natural, I suppose.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907279,10.812154 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:15:44 localtime - full quality

A side road. I didn't investigate where it's going. Notice the dead wood ... it's not quite natural, I guess they cleared the road and left the wood to rot.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907279,10.812154 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:16:24 localtime - full quality

I also doubt all those dead logs have landed in such heaps completely naturally. I guess it was cleared from the road I'm walking on.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907657,10.810308 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:17:20 localtime - full quality

This seems to be completely natural indeed; the river seems to have an overflow channel here.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.907657,10.810308 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:17:30 localtime - full quality

I have no idea what this is, but it's not something I expect to find it in "virgin forest". Ok, to be fair, according to the map "Svartdalsparken" is further downstream, perhaps that's where the "virgin forest" is to be found - although, to me "virgin forest" and "park" are two opposites.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.908489,10.808694 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:18:09 localtime - full quality

There is quite some water falls between Bryn and Oslo S, but there are also some stretches with flatland, and a bit of meandering.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.90649,10.803121 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:23:02 localtime - full quality

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.906494,10.80268 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:22:30 localtime - full quality

Passing the railroad, and a crossroad ...

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.906482,10.803124 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:23:05 localtime - full quality

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.906093,10.80303 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:23:29 localtime - full quality

The third railroad has a separate bridge. I guess the beams are stretched all the way over the river to make the walkway construction more sturdy. Further downstream, the walkway is going along the rockside by the water fall, supported at only one side.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.906093,10.80303 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:23:38 localtime - full quality

View towards Etterstad

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.906093,10.80303 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:23:44 localtime - full quality

Oups - the road is closed.

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.905693,10.802703 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:24:16 localtime - full quality

"The road has been reopened. It was closed due to risk of ... avalanche (collapse, probably?). The road has been temporarily secured and will be closed again in medio November 2018 for a permanent fix". Right ... that road was constructed just some few years ago (2012?), now it's already down for maintenance. Sorry, the photos of the water fall will have to wait for another "walkwithme"-post :-(

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.905685,10.802719 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:24:30 localtime - full quality

There was another sign for the "temporary alternative path", it got me up to the car road, but then I didn't know if I should turn right or left. Here are the three railroad tracks ...

Photo taken by tobixen
position: geo:59.905685,10.802719 (geohack) - 2018-11-30 10:24:39 localtime - full quality

I thought left probably was the shortest way to get downtown while right would be a more sceneric route. I google for public transport to the central station, and it was to the right. I've decided to make a separate #walkwithme for the trip to the bus stop :-)

Selected photos available in original quality on IPFS QmbUvBmdM5bcrgrP67moWNAiADFWPPP4c2W2HpHAbi1HAX. All photos taken available in original quality on IPFS QmVwf8MfgMCMRfEVUe4jXqVkNuFNSKQSKmypeAyk9yZBMK. The CC BY-SA 4.0 license applies on both my photos and the article


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Concrete bridges and graffiti. Completely natural, I suppose.

The concepts of completely natural and virginity seem to have been changing their meaning over time :)
Still no snow over there...from what I can see.

The temperatures are above 0 and it was raining during this walk. There will be a bit of snow on my next post :-)

That was a long walk, but I enjoyed it :)

The road has been temporarily secured and will be closed again in medio November 2018 for a permanent fix". Right ... that road was constructed just some few years ago (2012?), now it's already down for maintenance.

This doesn't sound right for Norway, not very efficient or well planned at all.

When you photograph, do you aim not to have people in the shots, or is it just that there are not many people out and about this time of year - I can't spot anyone!

I don't spend time waiting for people to disappear. It was a rainy morning, it was an ordinary weekday but past the peak hours, most of the working class people already sitting in some office, this train station is not much used (probably partly due to it being so inaccessible ... it think it's just plain stupidity, but that's an issue I may consider to take up in another post) the train had just left, and those walkways are probably mostly used for leisure purposes. Yes, it was quite deserted yesterday. Eventually there were quite a lot of people at the bus stop where I'm ending up on my next post.

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