Graakalbanen
| Private | |
| Industry | Transport |
| Founded | 6 September 1916 |
| Defunct | 1 January 1972 |
| Headquarters | Trondheim, Norway |
|
Area served
|
Trondheim |
|
Key people
|
Robert Millar (Founder) Nils Christoffer Bøckman (CEO 1916–66) Odd Hovdenak (CEO 1966–72) |
| Products | Tram operation |
| Subsidiaries | Graakalbanens Isforretning |
A/S Graakalbanen was a private company that built and operated the Gråkallen Line of the Trondheim Tramway between 1924 and 1972. Established in 1916, it bought large land areas in Byåsen, and built a tramway through these to reach the recreational areas in Bymarka. The line first reached Munkvoll in 1924, Ugla in 1925, and finally Lian in 1933. The company owned through its history seven trams and five trailers, and only in the last few years did it operate six borrowed TS Class 7 trams.
The company had financial difficulties throughout its life. Only in the 1940s and 50s was traffic sufficient to create a profit. To supplement, the company was a large land owner, and sold housing lots along the line to increase ridership and generate income. It also operated sales of ice, and the recreational area at Lian. The company was bought by the city in 1966, and merged with Trondheim Sporvei and Bynesruten in 1972 to form Trondheim Trafikkselskap.
During the 1910s, Fjellseter, close to the peak Gråkallen, had been one of the main recreational areas for Trondheim. On 20 August 1915, Millar and two friends were waiting for the bus to take them to Fjellseter where they were planning to have dinner. When the bus never came, they decided during dinner in the city center to try to establish the tramway. The same day, he sent a number of letters to people and associations, inviting them to found a private company to build and operate the tramway. When he arrived back a week later from a trip to London, all the invited people had accepted. The first meeting was held on 3 November, and Millar was appointed chair of the committee.
In March, the municipality was contacted, and the city council gave a small sum for preliminary investigations. However, they decided that the municipal tramway, Trondheim Sporvei, did not have sufficient capital to build a tramway to Byåsen, and let a private company build the line. Based on experience from the Holmenkoll Line and Ekeberg Line in Oslo, the company chose to purchase massive amounts of undeveloped real estate along the line. They could later be sold as housing lots, which would give the company additional capital, and create a basis for sufficient ridership. This would make the company the largest land owner both in Trondheim and in Strinda municipality.
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Wikipedia