Nidareid train disaster

The inaugural train had on 17 September transported King Haakon VII and a retinue of followers including prominent politicians from the Norwegian government.

Between there and Trondheim the inaugural train stopped at every station to give the king an opportunity to greet visitors and well-wishers.

Although the king would spend a few days in Trondheim, most of the participants at the festivities had business and duties to attend to in Kristiania (now Oslo).

In order to get the honored guests home a few minutes earlier, the schedule was altered slightly, leaving Trondheim at 23:45, with the intention of meeting and passing no.

361, and it was 20 minutes behind schedule when it pulled out of Støren, but with the improved track the driver hoped to make up the lost time.

Marienborg Station was little more than a short stretch of double track to allow trains to pass each other (the facilities for passenger service was not opened before 1999).

[1] The only building at the location was a guards' cabin where the man in charge was to set the points and signal the trains in and out.

361 had not realized that the green signal which would have marked an "all clear" out of Marienborg was missing, and that the semaphore had been set at "danger".

The train manager in the first carriage was also supposed to look out for a manual signal by the station guard as they passed through Marienborg, but he had some trouble with opening and closing the window, and in the seconds lost fumbling with it, he failed to notice that there was no guardsman there.

The driver did notice a jolt as the train drove against the points as they left the station, and slowed slightly to figure out what was going on.

The King, who remained in Trondheim and also visited the site that night, stayed there until half past four the following morning.

361, as well as Peter Wiig who had manned Marienborg station and was supposed to manage the meeting of the trains there.

361 were informed in the bulletin briefings at Tynset that there was an extra train scheduled to leave Trondheim, the wording used was "night to Monday".

Although this phrasing is common in Norway today (it means "night between Sunday and Monday"), the term was new and rather unusual in 1921, and had never been used for trains leaving before midnight.

The passengers on the extra train were generally well-insured and most of them eventually received compensation from their insurance companies.

Many of the survivors of the crash were members of the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget), and were more than willing to grant funding for improved safety.

The rail schedule provided to the crew started to include the normal track which the train would enter.