Taubaneåsen

Kragerøs eneste taubane Den går fra Vafos Brug til utskipsningsstedet Strand. Taubanen påbegynt i 1910 og sto ferdig til bruk i 1911. Høsten 2005 ble taubanen stoppet for godt av de nye eierne Hellevad etter nesten 95 år. Kragerø har mistet sin eneste taubane. Vogner og kabeltrekk vil nå bli fjernet. Nå blir tremassen fraktet med lastebil til Strand.

Taubanen ble påbegynt i 1910 og sto ferdig til bruk i 1911. Det var tyskeren Hermann Pieper som sto for ledelsen av byggingen av banen, det var samme mannen som hadde ansvaret for taubanen i Fru Ankers gruve på Langøy. Nå var det mulig å få inn tømmer til Strand sjøveien. Der kunne stokkene kappes opp til kubb og sendes opp til Vafoss med taubanen og den ferdige tremassen ned til Strand. Før dette ble massen transportert med hest. I 1971 ble det krevd at Måneliheia II ble sikret mot taubanen. Det skulle settes opp gjerder. Det var ikke før 1979-80 at gjerdet kom opp, og i mellomtiden har det skjedd at tremassballer har falt ned fra banen. Det var også noen alvorlige uhell ved taubanen i 1980-81. Først røk en vaier og vogner falt i bakken og litt senere falt to vogner ned i Nøkledalen. Det var en festeanordning på en vogn som sviktet. Dermed rushet vognen nedover og kolliderte med vognen foran og begge vognene falt. I 1981 ble gangtunnellen ved jernhuset satt opp. Den skulle ha et grønt vegitasjonsdekke, men det ble det aldri noe av. November 2008 ble tunnelen fjernet. Formannen i Måneliheia Vel, Karl Huseland krevde at banen skulle stenges etter alt som hadde skjedd. Banen kom hit lenge før det ble bebyggelse her, så det var nok for mye forlangt. Det var kanskje Skretteberg som burde hatt bedre vedlikehold på banen, han var vedlikeholdssjef på Vafos. Nå er taubanen lagt ned, Kragerøs siste og eneste taubane.

Adolf Bleichert & Co var et tysk ingeniørfirma etablert i Leipzig i 1874, kjent som en verdensledende produsent av taubaner og transportanlegg i det tidlige 1900-tallet. Firmaet spesialiserte seg på industribaner for frakt av gods, spesielt i vanskelig tilgjengelige områder. I 1910 leverte Adolf Bleichert & Co. en taubane til Kragerø-området i Norge, fra Vadfoss til Strand.

Vafos Brug
Vafos Brug ble bygget i 1889 og ble satt igang den 6. oktober 1890. Frem til 1938 ble hele fabrikken drevet av vannkraft og ved vannmangel eller flom som ofte forekom, førte til reduksjoner eller full stopp i produksjonen for måneder. Den 16. juli 1952 brant hele fabrikken ned. Allerede dagen derpå besluttet styret at bedriften skulle bygges opp hurtigst mulig. I 1984 brant lageret på Strand ned med 2000 tonn tremasse. I 1985 sto det nye lageret på Strand ferdig. Det første lageret på Strand var et skipsskrog. Det var skuta “Æolus” som hadde vært benyttet til transport av fabrikkens maskineri fra Oslo til Strand.

Kragerø’s Only Aerial Ropeway
It runs from Vafos Brug to the shipping point at Strand. The ropeway was started in 1910 and was ready for use in 1911. In the autumn of 2005, the ropeway was permanently shut down by the new owners, Hellevad, after nearly 95 years. Kragerø has lost its only ropeway. The carriages and cables will now be dismantled. From now on, the wood pulp will be transported by truck to Strand.

The ropeway was started in 1910 and completed in 1911. The construction was overseen by the German Hermann Pieper, the same man who had been responsible for the ropeway in Fru Anker’s mine on Langøy. It was now possible to bring timber to Strand by sea. There, the logs could be cut into billets and sent up to Vafos by ropeway, while the finished pulp was sent down to Strand. Before this, the pulp was transported by horse. In 1971, it was required that Måneliheia II be secured against the ropeway by installing fences. The fence wasn’t erected until 1979–80, and in the meantime, there were incidents where pulp bales fell from the line. There were also some serious accidents on the ropeway in 1980–81. First, a cable snapped and carriages fell to the ground, and shortly afterward, two carriages fell into Nøkledalen. A fastening mechanism on one of the carriages failed, causing it to rush downhill and collide with the one in front, making both fall. In 1981, a pedestrian tunnel was built by the iron house. It was supposed to have a green vegetation cover, but that never materialized. In November 2008, the tunnel was removed. The chairman of Måneliheia Vel, Karl Huseland, demanded that the ropeway be shut down after all that had happened. The line had been there long before the area was developed, so this was perhaps asking too much. It might have been Skretteberg, the maintenance manager at Vafos, who should have ensured better upkeep of the ropeway. Now, the ropeway has been decommissioned — Kragerø’s last and only ropeway.

Adolf Bleichert & Co was a German engineering firm established in Leipzig in 1874, known as a world-leading manufacturer of ropeways and transport systems in the early 1900s. The company specialized in industrial lines for freight transport, particularly in hard-to-reach areas. In 1910, Adolf Bleichert & Co. delivered a ropeway to the Kragerø area in Norway, from Vadfoss to Strand.

Vafos Brug
Vafos Brug was built in 1889 and started operations on October 6, 1890. Until 1938, the entire factory was powered by water, and frequent water shortages or floods often led to production reductions or complete shutdowns for months at a time. On July 16, 1952, the entire factory burned down. The very next day, the board decided that the business should be rebuilt as quickly as possible. In 1984, the storage facility at Strand burned down with 2,000 tons of wood pulp. In 1985, the new warehouse at Strand was completed. The first warehouse at Strand was a ship hull. It was the vessel Æolus, which had been used to transport the factory’s machinery from Oslo to Strand.