The Atlantic Wall and a public Model Railway in Ålesund - and OHSW

I've been considering on how much 1:1-stuff I shall post on this blog, but during a recent visit to the city of Ålesund where my oldest son studies (soon finished as a Chief Mate) they opened up a German WW2 HQ bunker which are very rarely open to the public. So I thought it would be nice to share my impressions with you as people er seldom permitted there.

The Norwegian coast was a part of the Atlantic Wall during WW2, and the Germans constructed over 300 different coastal fortresses along the coast, each of them with tens of different bunkers or emplacements. Some of the larger ones even hundreds. 2 of these old coastal fortresses are located very close to where my son lives. Less than 10 minutes walking. 

Tueneset Fortress 

Tueneset Fortress is open to the public 24/7 is very much intact.

Living quarters

a larger AA position...

...with shelter...

Open gun emplacement 

German 88mm

Bofors 40mm in Norwegian service after WW2 

A "Firling", quad mounted .50 cal

Command bunker

An old mine

Living quarters 

Hessa Fortress 

Hessa Fotress is located just another 10 minutes walk away from Tueneset Fortress, but are not very intact any more. A lot of the positions and installations are demolished  and they constructed a sportsfield over part of it. Whats left of it is still open for the public though:

Open gun emplacement 

Command bunker 

Aksla HQ and Command bunker

Aksla is 'the town mountain' of Ålesund, rising over the city. 

In this mountain the German forces constructed a HQ and Command bunker. The lower parts are very seldom open to the public, but opened a couple of days last weekend in the occasion of it's 80 years since the liberation, and that's why I decided to make this post:

They had made a temporarily display:

Did the last troops have a "taco friday" before withdrawing?

Outside there is a stairs with 418 steps to take you to the top of Aksla:

Finally almost there 

On the top of mountain Aksla there are even more bunkers belonging to the HQ and Command bunker below:

This Tobruk position has a great overview of the coast of Ålesund 

At the top of Aksla I spotted the ferry going to Langevåg and a public Model Railway display at the Devold Factory located there. Let's see if I can catch it and give this blogpost a modelling alibi.

Devoldbanen Model Railway 

I did catch it (!). Danger close though.

At the Devold Factory there is a large Model Railway display open to the public every Saturday.

It's kinda unusual that a town without a (real) railway or close to one have a model railway club and a public display model railway layout. But it looks like there existed plans to extend the Rauma railway to Ålesund:

I was here last November too and then they were about to open a Gingerbread town display with G-scale trains. Then Alan asked if I would revisit the Gingerbread town. Well I didn't before now, but the Christmas Layout and Gingerbread houes was still there. I won't recommend any to have a taste of them now some 6 months later.

Another part of which was not finished when I visited in November was the Rauma railway line. It was opened to 100th year anniversary just right after my visit last year and it is quite not finished but they have trains running:

Class 63, ex-German Br52 at Åndalsnes station. NSB, the Norwegian State Railway had 74 such locomotives in service after WW2,initially brought here by the Germans. This was the most numerous Class steam locomotive in service by NSB.

Nohab Class Di.3

This is Trollveggen railway station, which I visited during a motorcycle tour in 2023.

I recognized the railway car beside the station as there was a small WW2 exhibition in it with models and artifacts portraying the fighting in Åndalsnes and the evacuation of the Norwegian gold reserves. These 5 photos are from my motorcycle tour back in 2023:

Even if they claim to be the biggest model railway in Norway,  they are still expanding. Bergen station is coming and was only a mock up now, the Devold Factory area it self was ongoing:

A harbour area was also in progress:

They're a bunch of really friendly modellers and I was given 'the grand tour' behind the scenes too.

The Devold Factory complex also have an excellent café not serving Gingerbread from last year. I recommend you to order "Skolebolle":

As I was in Ålesund At the same time as the "VE-Day" I visited the statue of Joachim Rønneberg, one of the locals who escaped to UK to recive SOE training and returning to Norway to lead and execute sabotage actions preventing the Germans to develop nuclear weapons:

In Ålesund downtown there was even a representative from our very early navy:

Blog PostScript 

If you are visiting Ålesund at some time, and going at the top of Aksla (town mountain) to see bunkers, you also see another great peak slightly higher:

It's Sukkertoppen at only 314 metres. 

It's a nice tour and will give you an excellent view of the town:

Remember to buy 'Kvikk Lunsj' as it's a 'Norwegian tradition' and tastes really good on hiking tours. 

Blog PostScript 2

When returning home again after my trip to Ålesund I was met by another surprise as a late birthday present from my wife and kids had finally arrived by mail.

I did a wargame review on playing the One-Hour Skirmish Wargames on a budget earlier this year, and concluded that the rulebook would be necessary to fully enjoy these rules and game. Now I finally can. Still on a budget though since it was a gift from my belloweds. Thank you Titti, Jørgen and Nikolai. 

Thank you for reading!