A friend of mine sent me this link. Looks like some nice steam operations are still going on in Italy
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Good Afternoon Everyone,
The videos bring back memories for me. Back in the 1960's, I was stationed at San Vito Dei Normanni Air Station which was down near the heel of the boot(look at the shape of Italy) and surrounded by miles of olive trees. The local rail line ran pretty close to the our Air Station and the train station/freight depot was also only a short distance away. Back then, the everyday local mixed(passenger & freight) trains were still steam powered. From what I remember the engines were 0-6-0T or small 2-6-0 types. The trains would make numerous stops at unmarked local roads and farms so the local farmers could board the train with their goods which included olives, olive oil, grapes, wine, eggs, goats milk and goats cheese, chickens and goats. These goods were taken to the markets in the big cities of Bari, Lecce, Brindisi and a few others. Riding the train was always an adventure as occasionally the chickens and a goat or two would end up in the passenger cars. And the Italians ALWAYS had wine, cheese, and bread with them. There was also an Italian licorice flavored liquor called Sambuca that was quite potent. The barter system was in full operation on the train as we traded cigarettes and chocolate for their goods. I could go on but I'm sure you have the picture
Nice link!
We’ll be in Italy next week. Among our adventures will be a trip on the Italo high speed trainset from Rome to Firenze. Then the Italian Railway equivalent on to Venezia.
Up in Val Gardena in the Dolomites, there ran a narrow gauge line through the valley. Alas, we won’t get to ride as it ceased operations years ago.
The Rome - Florence Diretissima was the first Italian high speed line. I saw the construction work on a "railway engineering study tour" in 1976
