Sparbu Station

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Sparbu
Location
Place	Sparbu
Municipality	Steinkjer
Line(s)	Nordlandsbanen
Distance	112.93 km
Elevation	33.4 m asl
Service
Opened	1905
Architect	Paul Armin Due
Platforms	1
Owner	Jernbaneverket
Line operator(s)	Norges Statsbaner
Connections
	TrønderBilene

Sparbu is a railway station located at Sparbu in Steinkjer, Norway on Nordlandsbanen. The station serves the areas of Sparbu and Mære. The station is only served by Trønderbanen, the commuter rail service between Steinkjer and Trondheim.

[edit] History

The station was built as part of Hell-Sunnanbanen and opened November 15, 1905 along with the rest of the line north of Verdal. The original station included three tracks, the extra two 315 and 134 meters long, respectively. These tracks have since been removed and no passing is available at the station. Construction cost NOK 68,753 and was drawn by Paul Armin Due. The station was manned until 1980 and has since been sold and the station building has been converted to a private residence.

There was an extensive debate about the location of the station localy. Because the municipalities had to finance 15% of the investments in the railway, the municipal councils also got to determine important issues like the location of stations. Policy at the time was to allow one station for each municipality. The first debate was concerning the line through the municipality, where locals suggested two different lines both going further east to go via the settlement Lein where the only dairy and a local store was located. But the chief engineer of the project would not recommend either of the suggestions since it they would be up to 2 kilometers longer, cost up to NOK 30,000 more and go through more hilly terrain. So was chosen to keep the original suggestion for a line from 1893.

Instead a major debate about the location of a station surfaced, with suggestions to place the station at Kåberg (what is now called Sparbu) or at Mære. Adovacates for the Kåberg alternative felt that Kåberg was closest to the centre of the community. On the other hand the Mære advocates felt that vicinity to the new Mære Agricultural School was important. In reality people chose the alternative closest to their own doorstep. The original plans also included a station at Vist. The city council voted to support the Kåberg/Vist alternative on January 17, 1900. But by the time it had reached the legislature, Storting, an alternative to replace the two stations with one at Mære was made, and on June 5, 1900 Storting voted to only build one station in Sparbu, located at Mære. But locals pleed their members of Storting to reconsider the matter, and on April 24, 1901 Storting changes their decision to the original suggestion with stations at Kåberg and Vist. In 1904 the county engineer once again suggested moving the station to Mære of technical reasons, but the problems were overcome and two stations built, Sparbu Station and Vist Station. By 1917 Mære patriots had chosen to build the privately funded Mære Station.^[1]