Just a tiny clue to start with; this is 900mm gauge...



[Apologies to anyone who can't see the image. I don't know why that is. For those of you watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green]

 
Reykjavik?

 
Good shout, eightonedee!

From wikipedia, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Iceland#/media/File:RHR-Minor.JPG 

 

Someone's nicked the locomotive!!

 

More staff than usual needing brennivín.

 
Yup, well done eightonedee!

This is, as I understand it, all that remains of Iceland's once less-than-comprehensive rail network. Now even Minør has disappeared!

Perhaps it's not in keeping with Iceland's ambition to become carbon-neutral. It has the greenest electrical grid in the world - more than 99% geothermal or hydro - and it's doing quite well rolling out EVs too. Mind you, it's probably easier for them to achieve all this given their abundancy of free energy, in a country smaller than England with a population size similar to Bristol's...

[P.S. Yes we did see the Northern Lights. Mrs Squirrel very happy to tick it off on her bucket list]

 

I've been there twice and not seen them, although it didn't go dark at all on my first visit.

There have been plans for a light rail link from the airport at Keflavik to Reykjavik for a while. I don't think it is lack of ambition, just the logistics and a downturn in visitor numbers as the Faeroes gained in kudos. The free energy was at one time used to make hydrogen for a bus service. That was meant to become island wide, but proved troublesome even in the capital, so was quietly abandoned.

 
When I'd read that far I was expecting something about a railway to move surplus aurora from wherever it was to somewhere else that had none ...

 
From June ... here is the track with locomotive



In the absence of any conventions railways, here is what the Islanders came up with as a track for a rollercoaster



And there is the local transport that runs where trains never have

 


More locomotives than usual undergoing repair?

 

Their ship building designs leave a bit to be desired too................

 
I wonder what Finn would make of those two metal sculptures - bearing in mind his reaction to the Kelpies ...



 

 

He's more of a rail enthusiast. Appreciative of those who gave us the best of iron horses and their infrastructure.




He also has time for a fellow rail enthusiast.


And as you know from our avatar he's also a fan of comedy legends.

 
Brilliant pictures - thanks, Finn! 

CfN. 

 

Well - both of the steam locomotives used on this railway are preserved, but the other one has duties to perform as a static exhibit at another museum. So it looks like they have the same issues as GWR....

 

Do you have any further information about this? I searched online but failed to find anything.

 
Hi Tim

My source is Wikipedia - there's quite a good concise history of the Reykjavik harbour railway here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Iceland) and a picture of the second locomotive on the page relating to the museum where it is kept here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81rb%C3%A6jarsafn). That second link may not work as it includes an "a" and "e" run together - and don't ask me how the museum's name is pronounced. If it doesn't, there's a link in the other entry.

It's probably quite sensible not to keep Minor outside at Reykjavik during the Icelandic winter. I had three winter trips there between 2011 and 2013 and never saw it in situ.

 

The second link worked for me - including a lesson in the correct pronunciation. 

The other engine is pictured there:



CfN. 

 

Ah, OK, thanks. That explains the absence. I wasn't disappointed not to see Minør; foolishly I thought it would make for a more challenging 'Where was Red Squirrel'!

 

Me neither. I spent part of a flight from Keflavik to Vancouver learning how to say "Eyjafjallajökull"* but didn't have time enough for any other Icelandic names.

(Much of the rest was spent watching Spongebob Squarepants, my first encounter with the yellow absorbent and porous chap.)

 
Seeing grahame's picture of a bus scuttling off into the Icelandic landscape reminds me that the country's transport system is more interesting than you might think.

Strætó operates 27 routes in the capital, and 18 routes outside Reykjavik, Most of the population lives around Rejkjavik and Keflavik, with the rest largely scattered in small communities around the coast. These rural routes have a pretty thin service, as you might expect, with often 1 to 3 buses per day. It would be interesting to 'do' Iceland by Strætó bus one day...

In the tourist-intense areas such as the Blue Lagoon and the Golden Circle, it sometimes seems like the most common vehicles on the road are Gray Line and Rejkjavik Excursions coaches, with 70 and 80 vehicles respectively. The logistics of these operators, who coordinate with multiple minibuses to pick people up and drop them off at the city's dispersed hotels, must give the operators a serious headache every single day!