On the same section is another heavy piece of work of this character, the Reinunga tunnel, extending for 5,217 feet through a massive mountain shoulder. Here the country is extremely wild, and the location of the line taxed the plotters supremely. The track crawls along a narrow ledge for some distance, poised nearly 500 feet above the highroad. The situation is precarious, for landslides and avalanches are of frequent occurrence, while detached boulders rattle down the slopes at times and threaten the railway with extinction. Fortunately, as the metals are laid on a gallery of solid rock hewn in the mountain-side, the extent of the damage inflicted by these visitations is limited to the permanent way, though the presence of these untoward obstacles, and the result of their impact with the metals, may interrupt communication for a short time. [Illustration: A VIEW ON THE BERGEN RAILWAY IN WINTER, SHOWING SCREENS TO PROTECT LINE FROM DRIFTING SNOW, AND SNOWSHEDS] Seeing that a difference in level of over 4,100 feet has to be overcome in the 47 miles between Vossevangen and Taugevand, it is a teasing up-hill pull all the way. The grades are very abrupt at places, and impose a severe tax upon the locomotives. The passenger, however, has one compensation for slowness in travel. Some of the grandest scenery to be seen on the European continent is unfolded to the train as it glides in and out among the mountain rifts, and consequently, from the tourist point of view, the route possesses illimitable attractions, inasmuch as it offers facilities to gain some of the most beautiful parts of the country, which hitherto have been unapproachable, except in the face of an arduous and tedious journey by primitive means of conveyance. [Illustration: MULES CARRYING WATER IN BARRELS] [Illustration: [_See page 279_ LOAD OF RAILWAY METALS ON A MULE’S BACK RAILWAY BUILDING IN THE ANDES] After crossing the summit level the railway commences an easy descent, for the inland plateau is gently undulating, and the valleys being wider, the surveyors were assisted appreciably in their task of discovering an easy location. The downward run continues until Bromma, 205 miles west of Bergen, is gained at an altitude of some 450 feet. Then comes another rise to overcome a low range, which is accomplished through a tunnel 7,644 feet in length.