Trains and other things: Stavanger to Kristiansand

Day 5 of my Norway trip starts in Stavanger, I'm now on my way back to Sweden, but I will make some more stops.

Stavanger is the third largest urban area in Norway, and it was rapidly growing since the 60's when Norway started to drill for offshore oil.

Stavanger City Bridge opened in 1978

Street Art

Playground outside Oil museum

Status of Admiral Cornelius Cruys, born 1655 in Stavanger

Sankt Petri kirke

Art is found almost everywhere here

Stanger Cathedral from 1100

Summer concerts

MS "Sandnes" (to the left) is a ship from 1950, was once sailing on the route to Bergen (the one I took the day before).

I'm now visiting the old town in Stavanger. From Wikipedia: "The area consists largely of restored wooden buildings which were built in the 18th century and in the beginning of the 19th century."

For some reason I could see many cats here. Here is the first

Second cat

Third cat was locked inside

Fourth cat

Sculpture by Lars Hovland Lende

"Lendegutt med Fagamatøren" by Gøril Førsund

"Gutten og andemor" by Erik Haugland

Local bus company "Kolumbus"

Stavanger Central station

Station opened in 1878 as Jæren Line to Egersund, but it was first 1944 the line named Sørlandet Line all the way to Oslo was opened.

The station is a terminus.

Jæren Line to Egersund is operated since 1992 by a commuter service, first it was BM69 and from 2002 the newer BM72 trains from Italian manufacturer Ansaldobreda

Just like in Denmark and Netherlands, there were problems with Ansaldobreda train also here in Norway. From Wikipedia: "In April 2001 it was announced that the trains were too heavy to allow standing passengers, since the trains could then exceed the permitted axle weight. To reduce the weight, the trains needed to have some steel parts replaced with aluminium. NSB stated that they had never previously spent so much time testing equipment before putting it into service, and that the Jæren Commuter Line had been chosen for the introduction because the single-line system was easier to operate than the services around Oslo."

Next stop after Stavanger is Paradis. Norwegians seems to love this name, since I could visit a station with same name in Bergen.

This is what "Paradis" looks like

Train service frequency here is 30min, so it is convenient to visit different stations along the route.

Seating is 2+3, but the seats are very comfortable. And the trains are definitely not overcrowded here

Mariero

Jåttåvågen station is one of the newer station opened 2009 at the same time as the line was upgraded to double track until Sandnes

Sandnes Sentrum

Sandnes Church built in 1882

From Wikipedia: "It is the 8th largest city in Norway and it lies immediately south of the city of Stavanger, the 4th largest city in Norway. Together, the Stavanger/Sandnes area is the 3rd largest urban area in Norway."

Street art here as well

I'm walking to the next stop which is Sandnes main station.

Despite being the main station, it is only served by local trains. Long distance trains to Oslo, stops only at Sandnes Sentrum station.

This platform looks like it could be somewhere in East Europe

Train to Stavanger

Train to Nærbø

Passing next to Ganddal Freight Terminal. Swedish Rc4 have reached all the way here

Nærbø stasjon is where one of two bihourly local trains from Stavanger are terminating

Memorial stone for operations manager Johahn Lorange at Nærbø station

Passing train message

It's the Cargonet freight train

CE 119 Traxx

Next train continues from Nærbø station further south

BM73 to Stavanger

This part of Norway is completely different from the rest of the country, being flat next to the sea

Next stop for me is Brusand

Near the station is a 7km long sand beach

I'm taking the next train from Brusand

Sirevåg

The landscape is changing from flat to hilly

Last stop for Jæren commuter train is Egersund

The station was opened in 1944

It's Easter time

Egersund

Robel 54.22 serie 41 from Norsk Jernbanedrift

My next train is a BM73

After a 2h journey I'm in Kristiansand

From Wikipedia: "The Sørlandet Line was completed by the German occupation force during World War II. It was opened for regular traffic on 1 May 1944. The line was an important communications link for transportation of troops, as well as war material. Long stretches of the Sørlandet Line railway are set away from the coast, instead of on the more densely populated coastline. One reason for this was to protect the line from invading forces, and also to prevent the line being bombarded by navy ships."

Kristiansand Station is a cul-de-sac station, requiring all trains to change direction at the station. Here the BM73 is changing its pantograph direction