Sesam Stasjon

Sesam stasjon
The railway station in Sesam stasjon
Starring	Sverre Holm Sidsel Ryen
Voices of	Harald Mæle
Country of origin	Norway
Original language(s)	Norwegian
No. of episodes	198
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	NRK
Picture format	PAL (576i)
Original release	22 February 1991 – 6 May 1999
Chronology
Related shows	Sesame Street

Sesam stasjon (English: Sesame Station) was a Norwegian children's television series that ran on NRK1 based on Sesame Street. It quickly became the most popular children's show in Norway after its début in 1991, and 198 episodes were made until 1998. Unlike their predecessors from all over the world it is set in a railway station near a town instead of the traditional Sesame Street neighbourhood. Each episode is 30 minutes, of which 15–20 are from the Norwegian production and 10–15 is dubbed from Sesame Street.

In 1987, NRK approached Children's Television Workshop about the possibility to make a Norwegian co-production of Sesame Street. In 1989, an agreement was reached between NRK and CTW, and the production of Sesam Stasjon began in September 1990. As part of the preparation for the show, Kermit Love traveled to Norway in June 1990 to teach the Norwegian puppeteers.

The first episode aired on NRK on 4 February 1991. In the beginning, the plan was to produce 77 episodes all written by Eyvind Skeie. In 1992, Skeie left the production after finishing his contract of 77 episodes. At the same time, NRK told that they wanted to make another 250 episodes to run through 2006. However, the series would not survive that long. NRK decided that the resources used to produce Sesam Stasjon could be used better elsewhere, so NRK decided to pay CTW to get out of the contract, that would end in 2001. The last scene was recorded on 28 April 1999, bringing the total to 198 episodes. However, Sesam Stasjon stayed on the air in reruns until 2004.

The exterior set was built around Lørenskog Train Station, that was provided from the Norwegian railroads (NSB). The station was built in 1901 by architect Paul Due. A tower was added to the building. The station was modified again in August 1991. This time, the inside of the station was changed and opened for the public, so that kids could walk around inside the station. There were also live appearances by the cast and walk-around characters. In 2003 it was decided to change the station back to the original look.

NSB provided two modified train engines from 1940 of the type EL.10. (El10.2504 and El10.2508), these engines was used on the show. Two other and more powerful train engines (Di2.827 and DI2.839) were also painted with the Sesam Stasjon colors. These trains were not used on the show but was used as passenger trains around Norway. The passenger cars were painted BFV1 cars, restored Donnerbüchse (Thunderbox) cars that had been abandoned in Norway by the German army after the second world war. There were also some open passenger cars that were used during the summers, these cars were made out of cargo cars also called Gs cars.