Western Norway Film Commission

Western Norway provided Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince with snow secure areas, dramatic landscape and the spectacular Rauma Line railway. The Harry Potter crew stayed at Bjorligard Hotel for 1 1/2 week shooting snow and landscape scenes for the Galtwort Express.

"The filming which took place at Bjorli last winter, is, as far as we are aware, the only time that any of the Harry Potter series has been filmed outside of the UK", says Jarle Namtvedt, the press officer of Sandrew Metronome Norge AS.

It was the Norwegian Railway Club's veteran train that was used during the filming on the line near Bjorli between Dombås and Lesja. "Bjorli is 574 metres above sea level while Åndalsnes is situated right down on the Romsdalsfjord. The hour-long journey plunges down the valley. Talk about contrasts. One could almost believe they waved a sorcerer's wand when they built the railway", says Tove Sylte, the manager for the line. The Rauma Line is one of Norway's most beautiful and wildest railways. It starts at Dombås and ends 114 kilometres further west at Åndalsnes down on the Romsdalsfjord. The area which the Rauma Line runs through includes some of Norway's most spectacular locations, the most famous of which are Trollstigen (the Troll Ladder), Trollveggen (the Troll Wall), Romsdalshorn and the Rauma river.