European Railroad Discussion > Trip to Italy, Part 3 - Bolzano and the Ritten-Renon Meter Gauge

Here are some pics from Bolzano, in the Domomite Region.
The town is also known as Bozen, its German name, and German was spoken much more often that Italian in this region.

1. The yard at Bolzano; judging by the number of tracks this area had much more rail activity in the past
2. Facing south; engine is from the train we had ridden
3. Yard, as seen from seilbahn (sky tram)

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On the other side of town, a much larger skyway takes passengers to Soprabolzano/Oberbozen. The skyway replaced a meter gauge rack train that ran from the town center when it was built in the 60s; the hillside portion of the meter gauge line still runs and has been substantially rebuilt and restored.

4, Another aerial view of the yard.
5. Meter gauge carbarn at Soprabolzano
6. View through the cab

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7. A view of the Ritten-Renon meter gauge right of way
8. Modern crossing gates being lowered; in all places I saw these they blocked the entire road.
9. A stop along the route


To be continued



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/17 18:17 by casco17.

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10. The meter gauge line is single track, except for this passing siding near the midpoint
11. End of the line at Collalbo; tour buses on right
12. Another view of the train

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Back in Bolzano proper...
13. Another view of the freight yard, with a lonely flatcar in the weeds...
14. The yard as seen from the station platform, while waiting for an intercity train

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Wonderful, thank you for sharing.
Some European acronyms don't come across too well when read by English speaking people.
You showed us SAD.
Over at Locarno in Italy is the system known as FART. (really, I tried to find a picture of a station sign from a 2008 trip but all I have is trains, also electric meter gauge passengers.

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> Wonderful, thank you for sharing.
> Some European acronyms don't come across too well
> when read by English speaking people.
> You showed us SAD.

Società Automobilistica Dolomiti S.p.A.


> Over at Locarno in Italy is the system known as
> FART. (really, I tried to find a picture of a
> station sign from a 2008 trip but all I have is
> trains, also electric meter gauge passengers.

Oops, Locarno is in Switzerland, the Italian speaking Canton of Ticino.


Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi SA

Thanks, SOO6617, I needed some credibility with that story about FART.

It is of course an international route, in that Locarno is in Switzerland while Domodossola at the other end is most definitely in Italy.

No further justification is needed for the name, if you have had the experience of riding it.

Lovely pictures many thanks.

spflow Wrote:
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> No further justification is needed for the name,
> if you have had the experience of riding it.

Of course no justification is needed, but the trains from Domodossola to the Swiss border are operated by an Italian company. SSIF(Società Subalpina di Imprese Ferroviarie), the trains run through only the staff change.

Here's a close up of the logo mentioned. It stands for Ferrovie Autolinee Regionali Ticinesi, This is the Swiss company that works in cooperation with Italian company SSIF (Societa Subalpina Imprese Ferroviarie) operating the Centovalli Railway, Locarno-Domodossola (Italy)

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