Kristiania Sporveisselskab

Kristiania Sporveisselskab
Legend Ullevål Hageby Line Vestbanen Line Vippetangen Line Stortorvet Oslo Line Vålerenga Line Kampen Line Sagene Ring Sinsen Line Grünerløkka–Torshov Line

AS Kristiania Sporveisselskab or KSS, nicknamed the Green Tram (Norwegian: Grønntrikken), was the first tram operator in Oslo, Norway.^[1] Founded in 1874, it started operation of horsecar services the following year and electric tram services in 1899. The company took over the municipally owned Kristiania Kommunale Sporveie in 1905, only to be discontinued in 1924 when it was merged with its main competitor, Kristiania Elektriske Sporvei, to form the municipally owned Kristiania Sporveier.

The company operated 57 horsecars and 102 trams, with the network consisting of the Vestbane Line, Ullevål Hageby Line, Oslo Line, Vippetangen Line, Vålerenga Line, Kampen Line, Grünerløkka–Torshov Line, Sagene Ring and Sinsen Line.

History

The first attempts at running horsecar operations in Oslo (at the time called Christiania) were in 1868, when the engineer Jens Theodor Pauldan Vogt and the architect Paul Due applied for a concession. They were rejected—based on the argument that the city streets were too narrow. When they made a second attempt in April 1874, they gained permission start services; and on 26 August 1874 they established AS Christiania Sporveisselskab. Twenty-two cars were delivered from the United States manufacturer John Stephenson & Co, arriving in Christiania on 31 August 1875, with the official opening occurring on 6 October.^[1][2] Two years after the foundation of the company, the city and company changed the spelling of the name Christiania to Kristiania.^[3]

Trams at Athenæum

Initial routes and services

The system started out with four lines: three originated at Stortorvet, running to Oslo (today Gamlebyen), the Western Railway Station (Vestbanen), and Homansbyen—where the depot was located. In addition, there was a direct line from Homansbyen to the railway station, but services were terminated on 19 October. The two lines connecting to the station only ran services to correspond with train arrivals, while the other two lines had fixed fifteen minute headways—increasing to ten minutes from 22 June 1876. During the winter the company attempted to use sleds instead of wagons; and took delivery of seventeen units, but these were not as suitable and the company instead chose to salt the rail tracks.^[2]

The head office, Kristiania Sporveisanlæg, was located at Homansbyen. It initially had a depot with place for 28 trams, 16 sleds and stables for 116 horses.^[4] A second depot and stable for 50 horses was located at Olaf Ryes plass.^[5] The company was also a major retailer of used horses, and they were sought after due to the good treatment they received at the company.^[6] During the winter, the company replaced the horsecars with sleds, of which 17 were bought between 1875 and 1879. But sleds were heavier to haul and often two horses were needed where only one was needed for the horsecar lines. This caused the headway to be increased because of lack of horses.^[5]

The initial price was 10 øre (NOK 0.10), although an additional 3 øre was charged for the longest routes. From 1878, the fare increased to 15 øre for all routes.^[3] The headway was five minutes.^[4] Profits were made immediately, and in 1877 an additional seven cars were delivered. In 1876, a new line from Stortorvet to Grünerløkka was built—the start of the current Grünerløkka–Torshov Line—along with a new depot. On 2 December 1878, the Oslo Line (now the Gamleby Line) was extended to St. Halvards Plass, the Grünerløkka Line to Thorvald Mayers Gate on 12 April 1879 and the Vestbanen Line to Munkedamsveien on 5 May 1879. The following year the lines were rearranged into two through lines; Homansbyen–Oslo and Vestbanen–Grünerløkka. After this the company concentrated their investments into rebuilding the single track system into double track.^[2] From 1887 to 1892, the company took delivery of fourteen additional cars from Skabo Jernbanevognfabrikk, the same 4.1-metre (13 ft) length as the Stephenson cars. The last horsecar delivery was fifteen cars from Falkenried in 1897, which were intended to be rebuilt to trailers. These were 6.6-metre (22 ft) long and remained in service until 1939.^[7]

Electrification

Kristiania Sporveisselskab #70, built by Falkenried, was in service 1913–68.

On 2 March 1894 KSS got a competitor in Kristiania Elektriske Sporvei (KES), nicknamed the Blue Tram. Instead of horsecars, they used electric trams, and KSS was forced to convert their system to electric traction to be able to compete with KES.^[8] The first electric trams ran on 29 September 1899, and the conversion was completed 15 January 1900.^[9] At the time of electrification the company had 57 horsecars; 38 of these were later converted to trailers, while 20 were decommissioned. The John Stephenson & Co and Skabo Jernbanevognfabrikk trailers were taken out of service in 1917–18, and sixteen of these were sold to the Bergen Tramway and Trondheim Tramway—the latter rebuilt to meter gauge. One of the original Stephenson cars has been preserved at the Oslo Tramway Museum.

The electrification happened as part of the extension of the Vestbane Line on 21 December 1898 and 23 June 1899, as well as the extension of the Oslo Line 17 November 1899. On 3 May 1900, an all-new line opened to Vålerenga, and on 6 June, to Kampen. The first line out of the municipality of Kristiania into Aker occurred in three municipality steps financed by the municipality, on 29 September 1899, 2 October 1901 and finally to Grefsen on 28 November 1902.^[9] For the electrification KSS ordered 47 new trams, from Falkenried and LHB—these remained in service until 1967. The electrical equipment was delivered by Union, giving the trams 36 kW and a length of 7.8 metres (26 ft) and 9.8 tonnes.^[10]

Consolidation

Tram at Stortinget in 1912

The second competitor was the municipal owned Kristiania Kommunale Sporveie (KKS) who operated in part of KSS track in the city center. They built their system to Sagene (the Sagene Ring); on 27 March 1900, they opened to Rodeløkka, and on 28 August 1900, from Tollbu Street to Vippetangen. These three lines were not connected to each other, using KSS or KES track to connected. From 26 January 1901 additional track was built to avoid having to run on KES track, but despite this KKS was not profitable, and was taken over by KSS in 1905.^[11] With the take-over KSS took over 20 trams built by Busch.^[10]

After the take-over in 1905, the company was operating the routes Homansbyen–Oslo, Homansbyen–Sannergata, Munkedamsveien–Sannergata–Grefsen, Munkedamsveien–Vålerenga, Sagene–St. Hanshaugen–Kampen, St. Hanshaugen–Rodeløkka and Stortorvet–Vippetangen. This was supplemented through the extension of the Vippetangen Line on 8 November 1905, and from Homansbyen to Adamstuen on 24 September 1909. An agreement with Kristiania Elektriske Sporvei was reached about connecting the two networks, and connection lines were made at Rosenborg on 1 May 1912, with an extension of the Vestbanen Line to Skillebekk on 2 November 1911 with the systems connecting in 1912, and from Østbanen to Grønland.^[12]

Tram at Carl Johans Gate and Egertorget in 1907

This expansion caused the need for more rolling stock, and KSS took delivery of 42 trams Falkenried and Skabo in 1912–14; these were somewhat longer at 10.5 metres (34 ft) and with 84 kW.^[10] The new lines allowed the two companies to operate on each other's lines, and at the same time introduced a numbering scheme without overlap. KSS retained seven of their own lines from 1915;

• (4) Grefsen–Stortorvet–Vestbanen–Nobels gate
• (5) Kampen–Stortorvet–Vestbanen–Nobels gate
• (7) Sagene–Torshov–Stortorvet–Adamsstuen
• (8) Vålerenga–Stortorvet–St. Hanshaugen–Sagene
• (10) Stortorvet–Vippetangen
• (11) Stortorvet–Rodeløkka
• (X) Stortorvet–Sandaker.

Several of the lines were combined lines where lines were serviced by two numbers, each leading to different lines on the other side of the center—a system that remains today.^[12]

In 1921–23 the company bought additional 22 trams, at 102 kW and 11.2 metres (37 ft), from HaWa, Brill, and Busch.^[10] Both street tram companies in Oslo had concessions that lasted until 1924; due to the profits they were making the city council decided to purchase both companies, and in 1924 Kristiania Sporveier, that changed its name the next year to Oslo Sporveier, took over all street tram operations in the city.^[12]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Aspenberg, Nils Carl (1994). Trikker og forstadsbaner i Oslo. Oslo: Baneforlaget. ISBN 82-91448-03-5. 
• Fristad, Hans Andreas (1987). Oslo-trikken: Storbysjel på skinner (in Norwegian). Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. ISBN 82-05-17358-3.