Travel Tips

Some of you might already know that I am crazy about trains. Crazy enough to have bought an abandoned railway station named Brøsjø. Abandoned meaning that the trains do not stop here anymore, but they do pass by, 11 meters from my livingroom windows :-)

Position: 58.56.50 N - 09.08.15 E
87 meters above sea level

I live in Stavanger most of the time, but travel to Brøsjø as often as possible. When going to there I have to get off at the next station, 4,5 km away, and go back by bus. Once, when the train was delayed and the bus had left, they were kind enough to stop and let me off at my own station :-)

The first thing I started doing, before I even bought the station (01.01.1999), was restoring windows. It would have been a lot quicker to change them, to install insulated, triple glased, modern ones. But I want to keep the building intact, with its old hinged windows. There are a lot of them, and I have still not finished!

The area north of Brøsjø has undergone major changes the last couple of years. There was literally nothing there, except clay and rock. The first couple of things I did, was to plant three rhododendrons (2001) and to build a fireplace (2002). I mix the soil myself, from home made compost, turf, sand etc. Every stone on this pictures I have dug out from the site myself :-)

I was instructed by the railway company to put up a fence, and they sent a guard to supervise and for safety reasons.

My brother, who moved in at the station in 2003 and takes care of it for me while I am not there, dug the holes for the the fence.

This summer (2005) my brother and I will celebrate our 110th birthday, that is, I will be 50, he will be 60. We have invited the whole family, more than 30 people! The party is going to be held on the terrace, which we have to build first! This weekend (may 6 - 8) I have laid out a membrane to prevent plants from growing under the terrace, while my brother has done all the things you need a machine to do :-)

The railway line is to the right of the truck and the fence.

Day 1, june 19th. 5 days until the big party!

Day 3, 3 days to go. Will the terrace be finished in time?

Almost finished ;-)