SS ''Bjoren'' is a wood-fuelled steamboat that travels the route between Bygland- Byglandsfjord,

Bygland Bygland is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Setesdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bygland. Other villages in the municipality include Åraksbø, Austad, ...

and Bygland- Ose on the lake

Byglandsfjorden Byglandsfjorden is a lake in Agder county, Norway. The lake lies on the river Otra, primarily in the municipality of Bygland, but the far southern tip of the lake extends into the neighboring municipality of Evje og Hornnes. The river flows ...

in the municipality of Bygland in the

Setesdal Setesdal (; older name: Sætersdal) is a valley and a traditional district in Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes. The Otra river flows through the ...

valley. She runs on Sundays in July. Using wood as fuel is a natural choice as there was, and still is, good local access to it. Using wood to fuel the steam engine contributes to make ''Bjoren'' a unique part of Norway's cultural heritage and a floating technical museum.

History

The steamer ''Bjoren'' was built at

Akers Mekaniske Verksted Akers mekaniske Verksted (often abbreviated ''Akers mek. Verksted'' or ''Akers Mek.'') was a workshop, later a shipyard which was established in Fossveien by the Aker River in Oslo in 1841. In 1854 the company moved to Holmen on the west side of ...

in 1866. She was long, had a engine and was certified for up to 92 passengers. In 1897, the boat was extended by and in 1914 she was further extended by . She had a new boiler installed and new engine that produced . Today the boat is long and weighs . She is certified for up to a maximum of 55 passengers. In the early years ''Bjoren'' was in regular use at a place called

Kilefjorden Kilefjorden is a lake on in Agder county, Norway. The lake is located on the border of the municipalities of Evje og Hornnes, Iveland, and Vennesla. The lake is part of the river Otra. The lake is located about west of the village of Birketve ...

, a part of the river

Otra The Otra is the largest river in the Sørlandet region of Norway. It begins in Setesdalsheiene mountains at the lake Breidvatnet in Bykle municipality in Agder county, just south of the border with Vinje municipality in Vestfold og Telemark co ...

. When the Setesdal Line, a

narrow gauge railroad A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struct ...

, was opened to

Byglandsfjord Station Byglandsfjord Station was a railway station in the village of Byglandsfjord in Bygland municipality in Agder county, Norway. It was the terminus station for the old Setesdal Line that traveled up the Setesdal valley from Kristiansand - Grovane ...

in 1896 and as a direct cause of this she was moved to her present location in Byglandsfjord, about north in the valley Setesdal where she was in service until 1957. In the 1920s, buses took most of the traffic in the valley and eventually, when a new road was built in the 1950s, the traffic reasons for the steamer was gone. The boat was put in storage, deterioration started and eventually she sank.

''Bjoren''s next life

In the 1970s, a group of local enthusiasts decided to make an attempt to preserve the boat. As the boat was counted as part of Norwegian history, the government saw its interests and they helped with the funding. The boat was restored at ''Drammen Shiprepairs A/S'' and in 1994 was once again ready to be used. Today, ''Bjoren'' is owned by the Bygland municipality and run by the company ''Bjoren AS''. In addition, the local group called ''Bjorens venner'' (Friends of Bjoren) put a lot of effort into preserving the technical values of the boat. ''Bjoren'' is still receiving government funding and, as the world's only existing wood-fuelled steamboat still in service, she is a unique attraction to both tourists and others.SS Bjoren
www.visitnorway.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjoren Steamships of Norway Ferries of Norway Setesdal Bygland 1866 ships Ships built in Oslo Living museums