Flam train in Norway
 

Brochure shows photo of this thing going apparently straight up a mountain. How scarey is this? I am assuming it is safe, but any info on what it would be like would be appreciated.

it's not scary at all; i think most of the time you would be too busy snapping away at the scenary/waterfall than attending to the height (which is steep)..since we were traveling down, i don't think anyone really appreciated the steepness until you are winding down the tracks.

though the rail system is 'old' (bjorn probably knows the inception date), the trains are very well maintained- as are all norweigan trains!

Thanks - it is part of trip m y daughter is going on next week and I was running out of things to worry about until I thought of this. I think she will love it.

I believe that in each coach there are 5 independent braking systems, each capable of stopping the whole train. I liked it so much that I dashed the nutshell trip in order to do this and the car ferry both ways. NOT scary.

Actually, looking out of the window of the train, you're looking sideways (as opposed to straight down or straight up the mountain), so you don't get height fright at all. Also, a lot of it involves going through wooden tunnels, so you don't even see anything from the window either, unless you strain yourself to look through the cracks in the wood. Coming out of each tunnel, though, you get these wild views of the most gorgeous landscape in the world. The train stops at the huge waterfall, and you can get out and take photos.

If you want scary, go on the train up Zermatt or Mt. Pilatus or even a cable car in San Francisco! There's no scare factor on this one!

Hi,
The Flåm railway was opened in 1940. It took 20 years to build!
There is a lot of information and beautiful pictures on the web page for Flåm: http://www.flaamsbana.no/eng/
http://www.visitflam.com/