European 1 Metre Neyworks & Systems

[Teaboy1]

I am fortunate in occasionally being paid to work in Northern Italy and Northern Spain where there just happen to be 2 super "little" 1 metre gauge rail networks. The Italian one is passenger only but the Spanish is freight & passenger. Weekends off are spent line-siding......needless to say.
Has anyone visited the Spanish line recently, its featured a little on YT as " FEVE " and indeed has a website (in Spanish but Babelfish does the trick) and I was there in 2004 but had my camera nicked by a French toss pot on the last day of work, camera was replaced but "all" the shots and video were lost!!

The Italian job is proper hill railway aka a thoroughly modern Darjeeling but in the Italian Alps.
So has anyone any experience of these super networks?? The Green Line ( Northen Spain ) is some 500km long from Bilbao to Dona Sabastian, Santander and Santiago. Also handles big freight, coal, ore and finished steel!!

ps; this is how the locals do line-sideing!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RHehSLUy7I&feature=related

........enjoy!

 

[LE Greys]

I am fortunate in occasionally being paid to work in Northern Italy and Northern Spain where there just happen to be 2 super "little" 1 metre gauge rail networks. The Italian one is passenger only but the Spanish is freight & passenger. Weekends off are spent line-siding......needless to say.
Has anyone visited the Spanish line recently, its featured a little on YT as " FEVE " and indeed has a website (in Spanish but Babelfish does the trick) and I was there in 2004 but had my camera nicked by a French toss pot on the last day of work, camera was replaced but "all" the shots and video were lost!!

The Italian job is proper hill railway aka a thoroughly modern Darjeeling but in the Italian Alps.
So has anyone any experience of these super networks?? The Green Line ( Northen Spain ) is some 500km long from Bilbao to Dona Sabastian, Santander and Santiago. Also handles big freight, coal, ore and finished steel!!

I've done a few metre-gauge routes, both through the mountains in Switzerland. One was the Centovalli (which left me in Italy) the other was the Montreux-Oberland Bernois. Both are almost all tourist, but have some local passenger services. Having said that, the engineering is incredible. Hard to believe that you can get anything, even metre-gauge, around some of the curves they have, let alone the inclines (I was wondering where the rack rail was). It's interesting to see narrow gauge surviving in the modern world.

ps; this is how the locals do line-sideing!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RHehSLUy7I&feature=related

........enjoy!

Reminds me of the "Elizabethan Express". Always wanted to try that (with someone else driving of course).

 

[Teaboy1]

Basically one figures, the more mountainous the terrain / route, a smaller gauge enables smaller ground works and structures to a degree. The FEVE system is however a proper network that supports freight and handles these tonnages over single line operation. I watched these freights around Bilbao heading into the hills around some pretty tight curves, etc. It is a fully fledged railway in every aspect moving goods and people!!
Dont know how much they are subsidised, in the UK such lines would have gone long long ago but those Europeans.....pragmatic as usual!! I do however believe the subsidies will be significant. Anyone know ???

The Italian job at Trento in the Dolomite's is non-rack and it handles 1:30...maybe more.....without any trouble, but it is passenger only & with all axles fully powered.

 

[33056]

Been to the FEVE a couple of times now, love the area and the system - especially the Bilbao to Leon line and the noisy 1500 class Shameless plug!

BTW, you might be interested in this tour next year run by the PTG.

Another favourite system of mine is the RhB in Switzerland , it's got the lot; scenery, a regular train service to get you around and freight services to name just three.

For anybody who likes steam a visit to the Harz system in Germany is a must, I have recently spent three days there and thoroughly enjoyed it even though I am more of a diesel person. Other favourite lines / systems of mine include Brohltalbahn, Germany , Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn , BAM , MOB and Zentralbahn - all Switzerland.

 

[BRX]

I did the whole length of the FEVE in 2001; it was already just units running the passenger services though. Nice trip, here are a couple of (not particularly interesting) photos I took along the way -

 

[Drsatan]

If you end up in Majorca I'd highly recommend the metre gauge network radiating from Palma station located on the Placa d'Espagna. Services are operated by modern DMUs. Read more about it here: http://www.caib.es

Located in the same station complex is the Palma Metro (standard gauge) and the city's bus station.

Just down the road is the Soller Railway. Trains are hauled by wooden-bodied electric locomotives built in 1929. At Soller one can continue by vintage tram to Puerto de Soller. Read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrocarril_de_Sóller