Ferries on lake Tinnsjøen

Imagine a warm summer’s day, the birds are tweeting, in the distance, you can hear a rumbling humming sound. Thick black smoke is rising into the sky, and you can smell exhaust fumes. People are beginning to gather on the pier. The year is 1915 and you are about to board the 174-foot-long D/F Hydro, at that point the biggest steam ship seen on Lake Tinnsjøen. You are dressed in your finest clothes and are looking forward to being a passenger on one of the first trips on Lake Tinnsjøen. Industry in Rjukan grew at a phenomenal rate and there was an increasing need to export goods to the whole world from the harbour in Skien. The railway ferry the D/F Hydro mainly transported fertilizer from Mæl to Tinnoset where it was transported further south. Today, there is no ferry activity on Lake Tinnsjøen. But at Mæl you can visit the D/F Ammonia, which was built in 1929, and you can also learn more about the Rjukan railway. If you are lucky you might get to see the M/S Storegut sailing past Sandviken. On the bottom of Lake Tinnsjøen lies the wreck of the D/F Hydro, it has laid there since the heavy water sabotage in 1944. If you want to learn more about that historic sabotage action, then take a trip to Rjukan and visit Vemork.