Lagonegro – Spezzano Albanese railway line

Lagonegro – Spezzano Albanese
Route profile: blue: adhesion sections, red: rack
Route length:	104.746 km
Gauge :	950 mm ( Italian meter gauge )
Maximum slope :	Adhesion 60  ‰ rack 100  ‰
Minimum radius :	100 m
Rack system :	Strub
Legend FS from Sicignano 0.000 Lagonegro 599 m slm Serra Viaduct 2.589 Rivello 783 m slm 7.759 Nemoli 802 m slm 11.639 Bivio Latronico 779 m slm 15.262 Pastorella 617 m slm Lauria Viaduct 16.254 Lauria 20,487 Galdo 24.293 Prestieri culminating point 835 m slm 28,351 Castelluccio Superiore 614 m slm Castelluccio screw tunnel (485 m) 31,800 Castelluccio Inferiore 451 m slm Basilicata - Calabria border 36,432 Rotonda - Viggianello 330 m slm 39.858 Laino Borgo 290 m slm 42.503 Laino Castello 421 m slm 46.383 Pietragrossa 618 m slm 48,568 Papasidero 640 m slm Battendiero bridge 51.892 Mormanno 781 m slm 60.023 Campotenese 960 m slm 62.886 Pavone culminating point 1000 m slm 67.838 Carbonaro 755 m slm 72.113 Morano Calabro 531 m slm 76.387 Crocifisso 520 m slm 79.490 Castrovillari 380 m slm Frascineto Pietà 371 m slm 85.521 Frascineto Ferrocino 370 m slm 87.1     Frascineto Ferrocino-Eianina 384 m slm 89.7     Civita 351 m slm 92.0     Madonna della Catena 232 m slm 94,804 Cassano all'Ionio 193 m slm Bridge Eiano 98.6     Garda 88 m slm Chidichimo 65 m slm FS from Sibari Bivio Castrovillari Three-rail track 104.746 Spezzano Albanese 46 m slm Forest railway Zoccalia FS to Cosenza Source: Ferrovie abbandonate

The Lagonegro – Spezzano Albanese railway was a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 950 mm from Lagonegro in the Basilicata region to Spezzano Albanese in the Calabria region in southern Italy , which was partially equipped with the Strub rack and pinion system .

history

Lauria station with the impressive retaining wall shortly before completion

When operations began, class 370 FS locomotives were used.

Impeller , symbol of Ferrovie Calabro Lucane, on the bus terminal in Castrovillari

Already in 1882, the city applied for Cosenza in the Kingdom of Italy to build a standard gauge railway of Spezzano Albanese to Lagonegro by the Vallo di Diano . It took until September 15, 1915, that the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) built railway line Spezzano Albanese - Castrovillari could be opened. The builder can still be recognized today by the railway buildings, which are similar to the Paola – Cosenza rack railway built by the FS and differ from the buildings of the Mediterranea-Calabro-Lucane (MCL). Contrary to the original plans, the line was built in Italian meter gauge.

At the end of the 1920s, the Mediterranea-Calabro-Lucane started work on the extension to Lagonegro. On October 30, 1929 the section Lagonegro - Laino Borgo was opened, on June 23, 1930 the section Morano Calabro - Castrovillari and on July 1, 1931 the gap from Laino Borgo to Morano Calabro was opened.

In August 1943, the Castrovillari station was bombed and destroyed three times: The same happened to the viaduct near Lauria, which meant that the line could only be opened to traffic on March 15, 1944. Bradyseismos destroyed the second arch of the Serra Viaduct, so that operations between Lagonegro and Rivello have been suspended since 1952 . In 1970, damage to the Eiano Bridge near Cassano all'Ionio led to the closure of the Castrovillari – Spezzano Albanese section. After the accident on the Fiumarella Viaduct in 1961, the MCL's license was withdrawn and operations were transferred to Ferrovie Calabro Lucane (FCL). On June 18, 1978, the FCL stopped the traffic on the remainder and on September 20, 1979 the line was officially closed. In 1984 the tracks were dismantled.

While the rails were largely dismantled, many station buildings and station keeper's houses are now in good condition and often inhabited. In addition, locomotive number 503 , which is erected as a memorial on the square in front of the former Castrovillari station, reminds of the cog railway.

Route description

Serra Viaduct near Lagonegro in the 1930s

Lauria station and viaduct shortly before the start of operations

The mountainous terrain forced a route with curve radii of 100 meters, gradients of up to 60 per thousand on the adhesion sections and three rack sections with gradients of 75 to 100 per thousand of almost 6 kilometers in length.

After the Lagonegro train station , the first rack section to Rivello began , which led over the 200 meter long Serra viaduct with a gradient of 85 per thousand. The damage that occurred after the Second World War is still clearly visible today. From Rivello, the largely still existing route to the Calabrian border follows Strada Statale 19 - and to Galdo also today's A3 autostrada . Immediately in front of the Lauria station , the railroad track led from a tunnel directly onto the imposing viaduct of the same name. In Prestieri, the railway reached its first culmination point. Between Castelluccio Superiore and Castelluccio Inferiore , the railway lost 163 meters of altitude , for which the help of the 485 meter long Castelluccio spiral tunnel was used. Shortly after the Rotonda - Viggianello station , a bend served to prevent the gradient from rising above 60 per thousand. In Laino Borgo the route begins to climb again and before Mormanno another bend helped to keep the slope within limits. In Pavone the railway had reached its highest point at exactly 1,000 meters above sea level . On a steep slope, a third bend shortly after Carbonaro down to Morano Calabro and on to Castrovillari , where there was a depot . As far as Civita , the route was initially flat. The steep drive down to Garda led over two rack sections. On the last section from Bivio Castrovillari to the end point in Spezzano Albanese , the narrow-gauge railway used the FS track , which was equipped with a third rail for this purpose . At that time the forest railway Zoccalia ran from Spezzano Albanese to the neighboring village of Firmo and on to the terminus Lungro .

Rolling stock

The steam locomotives of the 500 series with adhesion and gear drive proved their worth between Lagonegro and Spezzano.

The rail buses with rack-and-pinion drive allowed passenger transport to be accelerated and made cheaper.

The first locomotives used by MCL were class 370 rack-and-pinion locomotives from Ferrovie dello Stato. MCL procured its own locomotives in the 200 , 260 , 350 and 500 series . Passenger traffic was later accelerated with the M1c series of rail buses .

Trivia

Lauria station with the viaduct in the background in 2014, location of the film Basilicata coast to coast

Model of the Lauria station with a series M1 “Emmina” rail bus in nominal size H0 at the Hobby Model Expo 2012

Lauria station was the location for the 2010 film Basilicata coast to coast by local director Rocco Papaleo .

literature

• Vittorio Cappelli: Tra Sibari e il Pollino - La percezione del paesaggio negli ultimi due secoli. Antologia degli scritti di viaggiatori, studiosi e narratori ("Between Sibari and Pollino - The perception of the landscape in the last two centuries. Anthology of the writings of travelers, scholars and storytellers"). Verlag Rubettino, Soveria Mannelli , 2003. ISBN 978-88-498-0881-0 (Italian)
• Pietro Marra, Calabro Lucane: Piccole ferrovie tra Puglia, Basilicata e Calabria ("Little Railway between Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria"). Bagnacavallo , PGM Publishing House, 2016, ISBN 978-88-909824-1-5 (Italian)
• Dario Pisani: Lagonegro – Spezzano, l'unica “calabro – lucana” (“Lagonegro – Spezzano, the only 'Calabrian-Lucan'”). On: Ferrovie.it, July 7, 1997 (Italian)
• Gianfranco Oliva: La galleria elicoidale di Castelluccio delle FCL ("The spiral tunnel Castelluccio of the FCL"). On: Faronotizie.it. Web magazine international d'informazione. Accessed January 1, 2018 (PDF; 1.8 MB, Italian)
• Davide Nesi: La ferrovia tradita ("The betrayed railway"). On: l'Eco, December 2005 (Viewer Calaméo)
• Ferrovia Lagonegro (FCL) - Spezzano Albanese Terme (FCL) . On: Ferrovie abbandonate, accessed January 1, 2018 (Italian)

Web links

• Nuovo tronco ferroviario Lagonegro – Calabria (“New Lagonegro – Calabria Railway”). Cinecittà Luce film from 1929, on YouTube , accessed January 1, 2018 (Italian)
• Roberto Troiano: Linee Calabro Lucane: (Atena Lucana-Marsico Nuovo / Lagonegro-Spezzano Albanese). On: www.webalice.it, accessed on January 1, 2018, with pictures from the construction and operating times and the present (Italian)
• Roberto Troiano: Linee Calabro Lucane: (Atena Lucana-Marsico Nuovo / Lagonegro-Spezzano Albanese). From: www.webalice.it, accessed January 1, 2018, with images from 1953 (Italian)
• La ferrovia del Vallo di Diano fra Sicignano e Lagonegro ("The railway in Vallo di Diano between Sicignano and Lagonegro"). On: LeStradeFerrate.it, accessed January 1, 2018, with pictures (Italian)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bibliografia Ferroviaria Italiana. Italian railway bibliography . Chronological overview of the railway lines opened from 1839 to December 31, 1926, February 6, 2014 (Italian)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Dario Pisani: Lagonegro – Spezzano, l'unica “calabro – lucana”.
3. ^ Roberto Troiano: Elenco delle linee. List of routes. From: www.webalice.it, accessed January 1, 2018, with images from 1953 (Italian)