When Bergen Technical Museum (BTM) moved into the Tram Hall at Møhlenpris in 1990, the building was threatened with demolition. The planned expansion of the Puddefjord Bridge with its associated new intersection at Møhlenpris would have meant the demolition of buildings with more than 150 apartments. These were to be replaced with new housing on the site of the tram hall.
The first important task for the newly established technical museum was to stop the demolition of the hall. Since new homes on the site were one of the arguments for carrying out the controversial demolition of centrally located apartment buildings in the upcoming new Møhlenpriskrysset, Bergen Municipality did not want to reverse the decision. BTM therefore requested the Norwegian Ministry of Cultural Heritage to protect the building. This was successful and in 1994, and almost at the last second, the protection decision came.
A technical museum in an old tram hall naturally had to have a representative exhibition of trams. When the last tram line in Bergen was closed in 1965, all remaining trams, except for number 10 from 1897, were sold to a scrap dealer. In parallel with preserving the hall from posterity, an old Oslo tram was acquired, an SS carriage (Siemens Schuckert) from 1913. In Bergen it was given the number 47 and painted in Bergens Sporveis yellow.
This was not without historical precedent. In 1941, Bergen Sporvei received a similar carriage from Oslo, the so-called Oslo Princess.
In 1994, NSB Bane granted permission to run vintage trams. In the early years, the tram, mostly carriage 47 (the new Osloprinsessen), ran on the short stretch down to the intersection of Thormøhlens gate and Wolfsgate. Once in a while, the old no. 10 was also out and about.
In the same year, Bergens Elektriske Sporvei (BES) was founded, an association that within Bergens Tekniske Museum was to look after the interests of the tram. BES set itself the goal of recreating the old tram line 3, which was closed in 1950, over Nygårdshøyden to Engen. Two years later, an application for this was sent to what had in the meantime passed from NSB Bane to the Norwegian Railway Authority. In 1998, this was granted with the requirement that the rails had to be laid according to the old track drawings from 1911. It was not until 2004 that the extension was approved by the city council.
In 1997, BES purchased three motor cars and three trailers, so-called Rekowagen, from Berlin for 1 Deutsche Mark each. The cars are a two-axle GDR product from 1969, but technologically the cars could have been built in the 1930s. These trams gave BES a necessary expansion of the fleet with a view to future vintage tram operations.
In 1998, the line was extended through Wolfsgate and up towards the cave. Approximately 100 meters of old rails were excavated. From now on, the line was extended and approved in stages. The old buried rails were replaced by new rails on the further section. The overhead line was partly suspended from newly erected masts and partly from the old intact wall rosettes that still hung on the house walls. On large parts of the section, we were only able to lay rails when the municipality was carrying out other excavation work in the streets.
The work of both extending the line and maintaining the carriages has been done on a voluntary basis by enthusiasts. A key person in this work has been Atle Ingebrigtsen for all these years. Without him, the project would not have been possible. The carriage drivers also work voluntarily and for free.
The costs of purchasing materials and equipment are financed through donations and public support. The project has received support from Bergen Municipality, the Cultural Heritage Fund, Vestland County Municipality, Sparebanken Vest, Det Nyttige Selskap, Vestenfjeldske bykreditt and many, many others.
The line from Engen to Møhlenpris was officially opened by Minister of Culture Lubna Jaffery on September 28, 2024. The museum tram runs regularly from 12:00 to 16:00 during the opening hours of the Bergen Technical Museum. It can also be rented for charter trips.
The jewel in the carriage fleet is old carriage no. 10 from 1897, the only preserved original Bergenstrikk and one of the world's oldest running trams. In 1992, students at the Norwegian School of Economics raised money to restore the carriage. The work was carried out with support from Bergen Sporvei at the workshop at Mannsverk. In 1993, the carriage was test-run on rails outside the carriage hall at Møhlenpris. As a result of several mergers, the carriage eventually ended up in the ownership of TIDE A/S. In order to obtain ownership of the carriage, the Bergens Elektriske Sporvei Foundation was established in 2012, as the manager of the assets.
