Steinberg, Norway

Steinberg is a small village of no more than a few hundred people in Nedre Eiker municipality, Buskerud county, in the Eastern region of Norway. The village lies next to the municipal centre and town of Mjøndalen. The boundaries are few between Mjøndalen and Steinberg although the E134 highway does separate them. It is a cosy little village next to the Drammenselva river stretching west towards Loesmoen village in the neighbouring municipality of Øvre Eiker. An idyllic riverside park lies along the river where people walk and bicycle. The community is expanding and there is a local elementary school and kindergarten. High school and other students have to commute to other larger community centres in the surrounding municipalities of Nedre Eiker, Øvre Eiker or Drammen city. Most of the active work force commutes by car or train to larger cities in the region such as Drammen and Oslo.

The community has actively championed the continued survival of [http://www.jernbaneverket.no/jernbanenettet/stasjonsoversikt/Kongsberg_-_Oslo_-_Eidsvoll/index.jhtml?expanded=Steinberg#Steinberg|their small but well used railway stop] . The much larger Mjøndalen railway station draws users from the whole municipality and has facilities such as manned and automated ticket sales and a larger parking lot. The national railways have therefore, in the interest of increased efficiency and lower costs, wished to eliminate the Steinberg stop but have this far been unsuccessful.

Over time the name changed from Stenberg to Steinberg probably due to a national railway bureaucrat standardizing placenames. The difference is negligible as the words have exactly the same meaning (stone-mountain or stone-hill). Language, spelling and pronunciation are heavily debated and remains a thorny political issue even today in Norwegian culture. Today, local residents will refer to the village using the modern name and spelling.