Cosenza-steam-engines
Paola and Cosenza, Italy, 17 March 1980
In March 1980, when I was on a 1 month rail pass tour of Europe, regular steam operations were pretty thin on the ground in western Europe. East of the Iron Curtain, many countries still used steam, but they did not honor Eurailpass, required visas to visit and were not known for being friendly to railfan photographers.
Continental Railway Journal was the CTC Board or Flimsies of the world steam scene at the time and I'd gotten a couple of copies in the UK that described steam operations in western Europe. Spain had the Ponferada line, but that didn't seem to be accessible via RENFE, and my attempt to see the Portuguese meter gauge lines had been stymied by a rail strike in Portugal that stopped the overnight Madrid-Lisbon train at the border. The town where I awoke that morning reminded me of the place where Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katherine Ross get off the train in Bolivia in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
A passenger service that was running behind steam and was run by the state railway was on the rack line in southern Italy from Paola on the main line on the coast up into the hills to Cosenza. The day services were run by railcars that shuttled back and forth on the rack line, but there was a through overnight Rome-Paola coach attached to a train en route to Medina that was cut at Paola and pulled up the mountain by a little 0-6-0 rack tank engine. A 2nd class coach was also on the rack train, but, IIRC, that only ran Paola-Cosenza. 2nd class passengers had a middle of the night transfer. The through 1st class car was older, but not being the Arthur Dubin of FS coaching stock, I couldn't tell you how old.
I wish that I could say that I spent the night listening to the engine hard at work on the grade, but this was my 4th night in a row sleeping on trains (Amsterdam-Munich, Munich-Paris, Paris-Rome, and now Rome-Paola) and I was too tired. I'd slept across one seat of the compartment until 2 guys came into the compartment at some time in the night and I just rolled onto the floor in my sleeping bag and went back to sleep. I remember awakening to bits of stack talk, thinking that I really should stay awake and listen to it, and then falling right back asleep.
Marathon train riding has its downsides, as I was learning. A stationary bed is a good idea after a couple of nights on the train.
Anyway, we arrived in Cosenza on time and I staggered out of the train and got some photos of 981-008. The crew was friendly and posed for a photo before they took the engine to the turntable and engine house for servicing before it repeated its task that night.
However, a cop saw me and started hassling me in Italian, presumably about taking photos. Maybe I was off the platform in the yard and that is what he was upset about, but I left the station and found a place to get some breakfast,. This was the only time I was hassled about photography in 3 trips to Europe
After dealing with the cop, I didn't take any photos of the railcar that took me down the mountain. Once on the railcar, I took a couple of photos of stored steam engines as we left town, but then I fell asleep again for most of the run down the mountain and missed what was some pretty nice scenery. When I'd wake up, I'd look around, think, "Wow, this is nice." and then before that thought inspired me to pull out the camera for a shot, I was snoring again.
The railcar left the platform pretty quickly at Paola, so I ddin't get a photo of it there, either.
I read that this rack stretch has been replaced with a regular adhesion railway to Cosenza, so the rack railcars no longer run there and, of course, steam is long gone.
A nice variety of older FS electrics came through Paola during my wait for the train back to Rome. The run up the coast would be worth repeating sometime when I'm not dog tired.
The main Rome station has showers for travelers to use, so I was able to clean myself up on trips through Rome. That night I took an overnight train to Venice, then came back to Rome and saw a bit more of 2the city before taking a train to Florence in the afternoon, then getting back to Rome in time for the overnight train to Nice. Le Mistral took me to Paris, then I worked out some overnight run to Ostend, Belgium to catch a ferry to Dover and trains to Keighley, West Yorkshire for the Worth Valley's March steam fest, which saw Bulleid 4-6-2 City of Wells' return to service and, finally a place to sleep that didn't move for a couple of nights.
Cosenza-steam-engines
Paola and Cosenza, Italy, 17 March 1980
In March 1980, when I was on a 1 month rail pass tour of Europe, regular steam operations were pretty thin on the ground in western Europe. East of the Iron Curtain, many countries still used steam, but they did not honor Eurailpass, required visas to visit and were not known for being friendly to railfan photographers.
Continental Railway Journal was the CTC Board or Flimsies of the world steam scene at the time and I'd gotten a couple of copies in the UK that described steam operations in western Europe. Spain had the Ponferada line, but that didn't seem to be accessible via RENFE, and my attempt to see the Portuguese meter gauge lines had been stymied by a rail strike in Portugal that stopped the overnight Madrid-Lisbon train at the border. The town where I awoke that morning reminded me of the place where Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katherine Ross get off the train in Bolivia in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
A passenger service that was running behind steam and was run by the state railway was on the rack line in southern Italy from Paola on the main line on the coast up into the hills to Cosenza. The day services were run by railcars that shuttled back and forth on the rack line, but there was a through overnight Rome-Paola coach attached to a train en route to Medina that was cut at Paola and pulled up the mountain by a little 0-6-0 rack tank engine. A 2nd class coach was also on the rack train, but, IIRC, that only ran Paola-Cosenza. 2nd class passengers had a middle of the night transfer. The through 1st class car was older, but not being the Arthur Dubin of FS coaching stock, I couldn't tell you how old.
I wish that I could say that I spent the night listening to the engine hard at work on the grade, but this was my 4th night in a row sleeping on trains (Amsterdam-Munich, Munich-Paris, Paris-Rome, and now Rome-Paola) and I was too tired. I'd slept across one seat of the compartment until 2 guys came into the compartment at some time in the night and I just rolled onto the floor in my sleeping bag and went back to sleep. I remember awakening to bits of stack talk, thinking that I really should stay awake and listen to it, and then falling right back asleep.
Marathon train riding has its downsides, as I was learning. A stationary bed is a good idea after a couple of nights on the train.
Anyway, we arrived in Cosenza on time and I staggered out of the train and got some photos of 981-008. The crew was friendly and posed for a photo before they took the engine to the turntable and engine house for servicing before it repeated its task that night.
However, a cop saw me and started hassling me in Italian, presumably about taking photos. Maybe I was off the platform in the yard and that is what he was upset about, but I left the station and found a place to get some breakfast,. This was the only time I was hassled about photography in 3 trips to Europe
After dealing with the cop, I didn't take any photos of the railcar that took me down the mountain. Once on the railcar, I took a couple of photos of stored steam engines as we left town, but then I fell asleep again for most of the run down the mountain and missed what was some pretty nice scenery. When I'd wake up, I'd look around, think, "Wow, this is nice." and then before that thought inspired me to pull out the camera for a shot, I was snoring again.
The railcar left the platform pretty quickly at Paola, so I ddin't get a photo of it there, either.
I read that this rack stretch has been replaced with a regular adhesion railway to Cosenza, so the rack railcars no longer run there and, of course, steam is long gone.
A nice variety of older FS electrics came through Paola during my wait for the train back to Rome. The run up the coast would be worth repeating sometime when I'm not dog tired.
The main Rome station has showers for travelers to use, so I was able to clean myself up on trips through Rome. That night I took an overnight train to Venice, then came back to Rome and saw a bit more of 2the city before taking a train to Florence in the afternoon, then getting back to Rome in time for the overnight train to Nice. Le Mistral took me to Paris, then I worked out some overnight run to Ostend, Belgium to catch a ferry to Dover and trains to Keighley, West Yorkshire for the Worth Valley's March steam fest, which saw Bulleid 4-6-2 City of Wells' return to service and, finally a place to sleep that didn't move for a couple of nights.