Hamar was incorporated as a town in 1849 and by 1861 had a population of 1,700. Proposals for a railway from Hamar to
Elverum were first launched in 1854. The goal was to provide train services across the valley ridge to
Østerdalen, where Elverum acted as an important node. From Hamar, the a steam ship service was proposed across the lake of
Mjøsa to
Eidsvoll, where passengers and cargo could be hauled by train to the capital and coast. The plan was approved by
Parliament on 3 September 1857. The necessity of
transshipment to steam boat meant that the station had to be located on lakefront property. The place Gammelhusstranda was chosen, but gave the unusual result that the station was situated outside the city limits until a border change in 1878. Hamar received the railway's administration and became its operational center. The station was designed by Georg Andreas Bull and construction of the wooden buildings were subcontracted to Chr. Eriksen. The line opened on 23 June 1862. The station had limited facilities with shunting being done by horse. In its original configuration the station had three tracks, a main station building, a locomotive depot and a cargo building. Two tracks received a roof. All buildings were wooden, with the two-story main building a
log house with paneling in Swiss chalet style. The upper story was used as housing. About forty people worked at the station from the opening. The water station was moved to the depot in 1863. Later a house adjacent to the station building was converted into a railway hotel. The docks received steam crane in 1864, followed by an extension three years later and a new crane in 1875. The area and traffic generated by transshipment was so extensive that a new station building was needed. Balthazar Conrad Lange had become NSB's head architect, and was issued the task of designing a new main station building. The track out of the station was moved further away from the lakeshore. The new station was taken into use in 1880. The initial station was moved across the street, where it remained until it was demolished in 1925. Design of the third station building was commissioned to Paul Due, who was working as NSB's head architect at the time. It was completed after completion of the Sel Line, being taken into use on 8 November 1897. At the same time a separate restaurant building opened. The center section of the second station was moved to the deport area, where it served as an office. An expanded depot opened in 1898. The station received electric lighting about 1900 and a new, two-track engine shed opened in 1905. Five years later a second such shed was completed, and a circular shed was finished in 1914. From 1880 to 1931 Hamar Station received a high amount of activity from its role as transshipment point between the narrow-gauge Røros Line and the standard gauge Eidsvoll–Sel Line. With increasing traffic the station area grew gradually, with an increasing number of tracks, built without any long-term plan. After having been operated by Harald Larsen, the restaurant was taken over by
Norsk Spisevognselskap on 1 January 1921, who paid NOK 87,786 for the inventory. The following year they redecorated it based on drawings by
Gudmund Hoel, with the dining room decorated by theater painter Jens Wang. He made several large
fresco paintings, including the ruins of
Hamar Cathedral, motives from Mjøsa, Åkersvika and an old settlement in Hedmark style. On the northern wall there were two large paintings, one of Høsbjør Tourist Hotel and one of a view of Mjøsa. The renovation of the restaurant cost NOK 43,000 and was taken into use on 15 December 1922. A station park was installed in front of the station in 1924. The Norwegian Railway Museum has its origins from 1896. It gathered historical items from various railways and had from the opening of the third station until 1912 a display in the upper floor of the terminus building. At that time the station ran out of place and the museum had to relocate. It lacked a venue for more than a decade while its board searched for a proper site. This issue was settled in 1925, when the museum secured a lot to the north of Hamar Station. It could open as an open-air museum in 1930. NSB took formal ownership of the museum in 1946 and the lot on was it. A new and larger museum could was opened in 1956. diesel train at Hamar, used on the
Røros Line The Dovre Line south of Hamar to Eidsvoll was electrified on 15 June 1953. Electrification further north had to wait until 1 November 1966, as part of the effort to electrify the entirety of the Dovre Line.
Class 86 diesel
multiple units were introduced on the Røros Line in 1956, and a shed was built for them that year. NSB therefore decided to demolish the cargo and electric buildings to make room for a new bus terminal. The remaining part of the station, including the restaurant building, were renovated to as close to the original plans and interior as feasible, largely undoing the work of the 1970s. The work involved building an underpass and an overpass to tracks 2 and 3. The project was funded as a joint project between NSB,
Hamar Municipality,
Hedmark County Municipality and the
Norwegian Public Roads Administration. Staffed ticket sales by NSB were terminated on 19 January 2002 and taken over by
Narvesen. ==Architecture==