Setesdalsbanen

The Setesdal Line was built to the narrow gauge of 1,067 millimetres and opened in 1896, running 78 kilometres up the valley of the Otra from Kristiansand to Byglandsfjord. Around 1850, the journey from Hovden at the top of Setesdal down to the city took about two weeks. The railway carried timber, coal for the mills at Vennesla and nickel from Evje, and it ran for sixty-six years.

The last regular train ran on 1 September 1962, and the track was being lifted the next day. Enthusiasts from the Danish Railway Club proposed leaving the first four or five kilometres from Grovane in place. A club was formed in 1963, the first museum train ran in 1964, and that made Setesdalsbanen Norway's first museum railway.

Today the line runs 8 kilometres from Grovane, in Vennesla, to Røyknes. The steam engines were built for its sharp curves; the teak carriages came from narrow-gauge lines all over Norway, and some are still lit by paraffin lamps; and Sulitelma, a red railcar, came south from the Arctic. Vest-Agder-museet runs the railway, and members of Setesdalsbanens Venner, the friends' association, crew the trains as volunteers.

Trains leave from track 3 at Grovane, a timber station of 1895 in the dragon style, with carved gable ornaments. Tracks 1 and 2 belong to the Sørlandsbanen, the main line between Oslo and Stavanger, and before each departure the museum's staff ask the train controller in Kristiansand to close them, so that passengers can walk across to the narrow-gauge train.

Up the Otra

From Grovane the line climbs north beside the Otra, at no more than 30 km/h, on curves as tight as 100 metres and gradients up to 20 in 1,000. It crosses the steel bridge at Paulen, where the line's foreman lived, and passes Kringsjå, where the first power station on the Otra stood from 1900. For most of the way the old Steinsfoss timber flume runs alongside, a wooden channel built in the 1950s to carry logs down to Steinsfoss once the power station there had taken the river's water.

Beyond the Løyning snow shed the train reaches Beihøldalen, a passing loop by the water, and then Røyknes, 26 minutes from Grovane. The station building here came from Svenkerud on the Bergen Line and was put back together piece by piece; the water tower and the privy were rebuilt from drawings, photographs and the memories of people who knew the place. The locomotive takes water, the café opens, and after about 45 minutes the train returns to Grovane.

North of Røyknes the rails stop. The trackbed carries on towards Byglandsfjord, about 50 kilometres further up the valley.

The trains

The steam engines are Lok 2, built by Dübs & Co of Glasgow in 1894 and back in service since 2024, and Lok 5 and Lok 6, built by Thunes in 1901 and 1902 and both away for overhaul. The Wednesday evening trains in July are worked by Sulitelma, a diesel railcar of 1957. Behind the engines run teak-panelled carriages from 1893 to 1913, with open end platforms on some.

Setesdalsbanen runs in summer only. Every train leaves from Grovane, takes about 26 minutes to Røyknes, waits there for about 45 minutes while the café is open, and returns to Grovane.

The 2026 season

On the way back the train will stop at Beihøldalen or Paulen if you ask the conductor, so you can walk the timber flume down to Grovane. On a few special days there are extra trains: on the line's own day at Røyknes, Sunday 30 August 2026, trains ran all day on a ticket valid for any of them, and on Sunday 11 October 2026 there was an autumn trip.

The 2027 dates are not yet published. Times as of October 2026, from Setesdalsbanen (opens in a new tab) and Vest-Agder-museet (opens in a new tab).

Getting to Grovane

Bus 30 runs from the centre of Kristiansand to the stop Grovane stasjon, about 100 metres from the station, every hour on Sundays and more often on weekdays; the ride takes about 40 minutes. Some Go-Ahead trains between Oslo and Stavanger stop at Vennesla, a 14-minute bus ride away. There is free parking at Grovane. Bus times from Entur (opens in a new tab), October 2026.

Tickets are sold online through Setesdalsbanen's booking page, and the museum advises buying ahead, because trains are often full. A return to Røyknes is NOK 240 for an adult and NOK 120 for a child; a family ticket for two adults and up to three children is NOK 595. A single costs half the return, bicycles travel free, and dogs are welcome on board.

Members of Setesdalsbanens Venner ride free all season, and Vest-Agder-museet's annual pass halves the return fare. Companions of disabled travellers with a companion card travel free. 2026 fares, checked October 2026.

No rail pass covers Setesdalsbanen. It is a museum railway with its own fares, and it appears nowhere among the Norwegian railway companies whose trains Interrail and Eurail cover. Everyone pays the museum's fare.

A pass can still bring you most of the way. Go-Ahead's regional trains on the Sørlandsbanen from Oslo to Kristiansand are covered by an Interrail Norway Pass or a Global Pass, with a compulsory seat reservation; a few of them stop at Vennesla, a short bus ride from Grovane. For this trip alone a pass is not worth buying — it pays only when southern Norway is one stop on a longer journey.

Checked October 2026 against Interrail's table of railway companies (opens in a new tab).

The railway is a half-day out from Kristiansand, and these three are the city it started from, the museum that runs it, and the far end of the line it used to be.

There is little to stay in at Grovane itself, and the trains run only by day. Kristiansand, forty minutes away on bus 30, is the place to sleep; both hotels below are in the city centre, a short walk from the bus.

Planning this trip and stuck on something, or spotted a time, fare or detail that has changed? Send us a message about Setesdalsbanen. We read every one, and we update this page when something has changed.