Thamshavn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thamshavn is a location just north of Orkanger, in Orkdal, Norway. It is the site of the port for Orkanger and the ferrosilicon plant Elkem Thamshavn. It is located right on European route E39 and is the terminus of the railway Thamshavnbanen.

[edit] History

Thamshavn came into being in 1867 when the local farmer Wilhelm Thams established a sawmill on the area that was named after him. He and his son Christian Thams bought the Løkken Mine at Løkken Verk in 1904 and decided to build a railway from the mine to Thamshavn where they could ship out the pyrites to continental Europe. At the same time the steam ship D/S Orkla started operating between Thamshavn and Trondheim.

In 1931 Orkla Metall (now Elkem Thamshavn) was etabslished by the Orkla Mining Company to smelt the pyrites to sulfur and copper. During World War II Thamshavn was one of the targets for the Thamshavnbanen sabotage. Today the mine is abandoned, the railway converted to a heritage, but the smelter and port sill live on.