the first conveying started in 1917, and the following january the city engineer started construction, but this soon ended. in june 1919, the engineering company grøndahl & kjørholt took over the work, planning to be finished to lian by 1921. however, by june 1920, the rising prices resulted in the money being used up. at the same time it turned out that the rolling stock was too much more expensive than expected; ordering of rolling stock was therefore delayed. in 1921, no construction was done on the line. not before trondhjems og stridens sparebank issued a loan of nok 1.6 million was it possible to continue construction. this was based on mortgaging all assets, as well as a nok 500,000 guarantee from the city council. while work previously had been along the whole route, it was then only concentrated on the section ila–munkvoll, where the depot would be located.