Since the aluminium industry saw the light of day at the end of the 19th century, the transport sector has been among its most important markets. The reduced energy use the light material offered, have especially been valued when oil prices have been high. Strong alloys such as duralumin made it possible to build self-supporting structures, that more than halved the weight of trams, buses and trains, and made it possible to reach higher speeds.
The top picture shows the "Goldfish"-tram, that was a characteristic part of Oslo's cityscape from the 1930s to they were taken out of service in 1984. Holmestrand was an early supplier of car parts and duralumin alloys for self-supporting structures in buses, trams, trains and aircraft.
In the picture in the middle, you can see the express train “Lyntoget” (The Lightning Train ). It was produced at Strømmens' Verksted north of Oslo, and entered regular service in 1945. The ability to supply duralumin led the factory into this production. Photo: Alf Steinar Grønvold.
Lower picture show that one of the main focuses in the 1970s, was to produce for the automotive industry. In the 1970s, the plant was part of the state-owned concern Årdal and Sunndal Verk (ÅSV), which focused on developing aluminum car parts. This was part of a national focus on increased industrial processing. Holmestrand was a research centre in ÅSV at the time, and collaborated with the automotive industry and Norwegian industrial players and research environments to develop new products. The automotive market continued to be important after the factory became part of Hydro in the mid-1980s, but then it was all about prefabrication.