Homansbyen Depot
Encyclopedia
The Homansbyen Depot officially named Kristiania Sporveisanlæg (Kristiania Tramway Installation) was a tram depot
in Oslo
, Norway
. It featured an administrative office, a horse stable
, a forge
, a workshop, a weighing shed and a wagon depot. The installations were constructed by Kristiania Sporveisselskab
in 1874. Designed by Henrik Thrap-Meyer
, it was located in Sporveisgata 8 near Bislett
. It was the first tram depot in Norway, and had place for 28 horse wagons, 16 sleds and 116 horses. The administrative office was built in brick and housed apartments, offices and a laboriatorium for the veterinarian
. The depot was reconstructed several times, and taken out of use in 1966. It was demolished three years later, and replaced with residential apartment blocks.
The tramway operating company Kristiania Sporveisselskab was established on October 2, 1874, and started scheduled horse tram services on October 6, 1875. The network comprised a line from Homansbyen
over Stortorvet
to Gamlebyen, with a branch line to Oslo West Station
. In the same month as the company was established, Kristiania Sporveisselskap bought 12 square kilometres (4.6 sq mi) of the square Underhaug near Bislett
at the end of the Homansbyen Line, where the depot was put up. It was constructed with a building housing the company's administrative office, horse stables, a wagon depot, a forge and a weighing shed. These installations were all designed by the Norwegian architect Henrik Thrap-Meyer
. All installations but the head office—which had address to Underhaugsveien—were addressed to Sporveisgata 8.
When the Oslo Tramway was electrified in 1899, a large reorganization of Homansbyen Depot took place. The horse stables were rebuilt to serve as tramway depots, and needed thus more space. The workshop was also extended with additional rooms in the surrounding buildings. There were plans for building a steam power station at the depot, but these never materialised.
In 1905, when Kristiania Sporveisselskab acquired Kristiania Kommunale Sporveie
, additional extensions of the depot took place. The administrative office was completely rebuilt two years later, and an additional 60 metres (196.9 ft) long tram depot was constructed the same year in Pilestredet. When Oslo Sporveier
acquired all the city's private tram companies in 1924, Homansbyen became its major head office. Its payroll office was also located there.
During the Second World War, on August 29, 1944, two armed men entered the payroll office in Underhaugsveien and stole 120,000 Norwegian krone
(NOK), while demanding the local treasurer Knut Holmstøen and his assistant to hold their hands lifted. It is not known who the two men were, but it is suspected that they came from Milorg
, which had a deficit of money during the war.
When the Etterstad Depot was taken into use in 1966, the Homansbyen Depot was closed and the property sold. The tramway installations were demolished in 1969, and replaced with apartment blocks, local schools and offices. The only visible remaining of the depot is the street name, Sporveisgata ("The Tramway Street").
. The second floor stored apartments for the stable keeper and depot inspector, as well as a laboratory
for the horse veterinarian.
The stable stored originally stalls for 116 healthy and 12 ill horses. The stable was insured for 12,000 Norwegian speciedaler
, twice as much as for the head office building. The wagon depot had place for 28 trams and 16 sleds. The 16 sleds were bought between 1875 and 1879, and replaced the horsecar
s during the winter. The forge had place for two smiths, and featured a small room where the horses were shoed
.
–Sporveisgata. The street Sporveisgata was originally a branch from Pilestredet, but it changed name to Sporveisgata in 1879 after the tramway installations were put up. While it was located in a branch to Pilestredet, the address of the depot was Pilestredet 75, but after the branch changed named to Sporveisgata, the address was relocated to Sporveisgata 8.
Originally, the depot was located in the very end of the Homansbyen Line, where trams traveling to the depot ran from the terminus Hygea
in a curve from Josefines gate over Bislett and Pilestredet to Sporveisgata 8. Sporveisgata stretches from Bogstadveien in the south-east to Thereses gate in the north-west. , The nearest tram stops from the depot are Bislett on the Ullevål Hageby Line
and Rosenborg on the Briskeby Line
.
Motive power depot
Motive power depot, usually abbreviated to MPD, is a name given to places where locomotives are stored when not being used, and also repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds", or, for short, just sheds. Facilities are provided for refuelling and...
in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. It featured an administrative office, a horse stable
Stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...
, a forge
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
, a workshop, a weighing shed and a wagon depot. The installations were constructed by Kristiania Sporveisselskab
Kristiania Sporveisselskab
AS Kristiania Sporveisselskab or KSS, nicknamed the Green Tram , was the first tram operator in Oslo, Norway. Founded in 1874, it started operation of horsecar services the following year and electric tram services in 1899...
in 1874. Designed by Henrik Thrap-Meyer
Henrik Thrap-Meyer
Henrik Thrap-Meyer was a Norwegian architect.-Career:Henrik Thrap-Meyer was born in Bergen, Norway. He was educated at Polytechnicum in Hannover and Zurich between the years 1855-1860. He was a teacher at Bergen's Drawing School from 1860 to 1863...
, it was located in Sporveisgata 8 near Bislett
Bislett
Bislett is a neighbourhood in the St. Hanshaugen borough in north-central Oslo, Norway. It is internationally famous for the Bislett Games, held at Bislett stadion....
. It was the first tram depot in Norway, and had place for 28 horse wagons, 16 sleds and 116 horses. The administrative office was built in brick and housed apartments, offices and a laboriatorium for the veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
. The depot was reconstructed several times, and taken out of use in 1966. It was demolished three years later, and replaced with residential apartment blocks.
History
Homansbyen (station)
Homansbyen is a tram station located at Homansbyen in Frogner borough of Oslo, Norway. It is on a connection line that connect the Briskeby Line and Ullevål Hageby Line of Oslo Tramway, and is served by line 11 using SL79 trams...
over Stortorvet
Stortorvet (station)
Stortorvet is a station on the Oslo Tramway in Oslo, Norway. The station is located on the square Stortorvet in the city centre.It is served by the lines 11, 17 and 18. In 2009, it was decided to improve the square, the station and the tram tracks in the street.-References:...
to Gamlebyen, with a branch line to Oslo West Station
Oslo Vestbanestasjon
Oslo West Station or Oslo V, is a former railway station located in Vika in Oslo, Norway. It was the terminus of the Drammen Line between 1872 and 1980, until the Oslo Tunnel opened. The station remained in use until 1989, when all traffic was moved to the new Oslo Central Station...
. In the same month as the company was established, Kristiania Sporveisselskap bought 12 square kilometres (4.6 sq mi) of the square Underhaug near Bislett
Bislett
Bislett is a neighbourhood in the St. Hanshaugen borough in north-central Oslo, Norway. It is internationally famous for the Bislett Games, held at Bislett stadion....
at the end of the Homansbyen Line, where the depot was put up. It was constructed with a building housing the company's administrative office, horse stables, a wagon depot, a forge and a weighing shed. These installations were all designed by the Norwegian architect Henrik Thrap-Meyer
Henrik Thrap-Meyer
Henrik Thrap-Meyer was a Norwegian architect.-Career:Henrik Thrap-Meyer was born in Bergen, Norway. He was educated at Polytechnicum in Hannover and Zurich between the years 1855-1860. He was a teacher at Bergen's Drawing School from 1860 to 1863...
. All installations but the head office—which had address to Underhaugsveien—were addressed to Sporveisgata 8.
When the Oslo Tramway was electrified in 1899, a large reorganization of Homansbyen Depot took place. The horse stables were rebuilt to serve as tramway depots, and needed thus more space. The workshop was also extended with additional rooms in the surrounding buildings. There were plans for building a steam power station at the depot, but these never materialised.
In 1905, when Kristiania Sporveisselskab acquired Kristiania Kommunale Sporveie
Kristiania Kommunale Sporveie
Kristiania Kommunale Sporveie or KKS was a municipal owned company that operated parts of the Oslo Tramway from 1899 to 1905. It had 20 tramcars that served the three branch lines Rodeløkka Line, Vippetangen Line and Sagene Ring...
, additional extensions of the depot took place. The administrative office was completely rebuilt two years later, and an additional 60 metres (196.9 ft) long tram depot was constructed the same year in Pilestredet. When Oslo Sporveier
Oslo Sporveier
Kollektivtransportproduksjon AS is a municipal owned public transport operator of Oslo, Norway, the name meaning simply "public transportation producer". It operates the trackage and maintains the stock of the Oslo Metro and Oslo Tramway, as well as owning eight operating subsidiaries...
acquired all the city's private tram companies in 1924, Homansbyen became its major head office. Its payroll office was also located there.
During the Second World War, on August 29, 1944, two armed men entered the payroll office in Underhaugsveien and stole 120,000 Norwegian krone
Norwegian krone
The krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
(NOK), while demanding the local treasurer Knut Holmstøen and his assistant to hold their hands lifted. It is not known who the two men were, but it is suspected that they came from Milorg
Milorg
Milorg was the main Norwegian resistance movement in World War II....
, which had a deficit of money during the war.
When the Etterstad Depot was taken into use in 1966, the Homansbyen Depot was closed and the property sold. The tramway installations were demolished in 1969, and replaced with apartment blocks, local schools and offices. The only visible remaining of the depot is the street name, Sporveisgata ("The Tramway Street").
Facilities
The installations of the depot were all built in brick and rebuilt many times. The head office had two floors; the ground floor featured six rooms, four which stored offices and two which stored stablemen and coachesStagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
. The second floor stored apartments for the stable keeper and depot inspector, as well as a laboratory
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
for the horse veterinarian.
The stable stored originally stalls for 116 healthy and 12 ill horses. The stable was insured for 12,000 Norwegian speciedaler
Norwegian speciedaler
The speciedaler was the currency of Norway between 1816 and 1875. It replaced the rigsdaler specie at par and was subdivided into 120 skilling . It was replaced by the Norwegian krone when Norway joined the Scandinavian Monetary Union...
, twice as much as for the head office building. The wagon depot had place for 28 trams and 16 sleds. The 16 sleds were bought between 1875 and 1879, and replaced the horsecar
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...
s during the winter. The forge had place for two smiths, and featured a small room where the horses were shoed
Horseshoe
A horseshoe, is a fabricated product, normally made of metal, although sometimes made partially or wholly of modern synthetic materials, designed to protect a horse's hoof from wear and tear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall...
.
Location
The depot was located in Sporveisgata, between Bergsliens gate and the street junction PilestredetPilestredet
Pilestredet is a street in Oslo, Norway which begins in the city center and runs through the boroughs of St. Hanshaugen and Frogner.The street was originally called Rakkerstrædet in reference to the city dump being located along the road at today's Pilestredet Park. It was renamed in 1820 to...
–Sporveisgata. The street Sporveisgata was originally a branch from Pilestredet, but it changed name to Sporveisgata in 1879 after the tramway installations were put up. While it was located in a branch to Pilestredet, the address of the depot was Pilestredet 75, but after the branch changed named to Sporveisgata, the address was relocated to Sporveisgata 8.
Originally, the depot was located in the very end of the Homansbyen Line, where trams traveling to the depot ran from the terminus Hygea
Homansbyen (station)
Homansbyen is a tram station located at Homansbyen in Frogner borough of Oslo, Norway. It is on a connection line that connect the Briskeby Line and Ullevål Hageby Line of Oslo Tramway, and is served by line 11 using SL79 trams...
in a curve from Josefines gate over Bislett and Pilestredet to Sporveisgata 8. Sporveisgata stretches from Bogstadveien in the south-east to Thereses gate in the north-west. , The nearest tram stops from the depot are Bislett on the Ullevål Hageby Line
Ullevål Hageby Line
The Ullevål Hageby Line is a light rail section of the Oslo Tramway. It runs from Stortorvet in the city center of Oslo, Norway to Rikshospitalet. It passes through the areas of St. Hanshaugen, Ullevål Hageby and Blindern before reaching Gaustad...
and Rosenborg on the Briskeby Line
Briskeby Line
The Briskeby Line is a section of the Oslo Tramway which runs between Jernbanetorget, through the neighborhoods of Briskeby and Uranienborg, before arriving at Majorstuen...
.