Century-Old Signal System Still Running on a Main Line in Norway

Imagine a railway system that has remained virtually unchanged for a century, connecting towns and regions with its human-centered operation. On Norway's Solør Line, one of the few remaining railways where trains are dispatched manually using traditional train orders, history, and technology are woven together in a way that is rare in today's automated world.
At the heart of this system are the train dispatchers, or "togekspeditører," stationed in small offices along the line.
Using hand signals and communication devices, they coordinate the passage of trains, a practice that has been a crucial part of Norway's rail infrastructure since its early days.
These men and women embody a living link to a bygone era, ensuring trains travel safely on their routes, signaling them in and out of stations.
However, the era of train dispatching by hand is drawing to a close. The introduction of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) will soon replace these manual operations with automated systems. With that, the lights at many of these stations will dim for the last time.

For the past several years, I’ve worked closely with the Norwegian Railway Museum to capture this vanishing piece of history.
Through a series of videos, I’ve documented the dispatchers’ daily routines, the unique train-order signals, and the atmosphere of stations like Braskereidfoss, where freight trains still rumble through under the watchful eye of their dispatchers.
This footage not only captures the trains themselves but preserves the human aspect of a system that has been in place for over a hundred years with minimal changes.
Despite its significance, this part of Norway’s railway history has been little talked about or preserved—until now.
This particular video from September 2022 shows freight trains passing through Braskereidfoss station, a snapshot of a soon-to-be-lost chapter in Norway’s transportation history.
A heartfelt thank you goes out to BaneNOR Traffic for their support in making this documentation possible.
Through this project, we hope to give due recognition to a system that has quietly powered Norway’s railways for generations.
Petter Nyborg.

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