Great Western Coffee Shop

  At the Reykjavík harbor there is a tiny steam locomotive Minør made by the German company Jung
Minør now stands as a reminder of the technical railway that once connected the construction site of the Reykjavík Harbour with the quarry outside of the city. The Minør and its twin brother the Pioner were built in the late 19th century. They were then shipped to Denmark and soon came to Iceland, which was then a Danish territory.

Minør and Pioner were brought to Iceland specifically for the construction of the harbour. Piers, breakwaters and other infrastructure were built from the stones and gravel brought by these locomotives in 1913-1928. Minør and Pioner were then given a well-deserved retirement. Both locomotives have been preserved and are in good cosmetic condition. Minør and Pioner were designed to work in construction or mining, not for transporting passengers and goods over long distances. They ran on a narrow 900 mm gauge railway.

Reykjavík Harbour railway consisted of only one large ring and had only two locomotives. It operated for 15 years – what kind of train accidents can we even talk about? Pioner suffered from vandals who stretched a chain across the tracks. The small locomotive did not cut through the chain and derailed. The vandals later said that they were just playing around and did not expect such a result. They said they used to put coins and boards on the tracks and marvel at how the train crushed everythin: