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The first railway in Majorca, the FC de Mallorca, was
opened in February 1875, between Palma and Inca. It was built with
mostly British equipment to 3ft gauge, allowing the use of readily
available British-made steam locomotives and rolling stock, thus keeping
down costs. Over the next few years further routes and extensions were
built to Arta, via Manacor; La Puebla (now called Sa Pobla); Felanitx
(from Santa Maria on the Palma-Inca line) and Santanyi. None of these,
with the exception of the original Palma-Inca line which has been
modernised and converted to metre-gauge using diesel powered multiple
units, remains in service and most have all but disappeared but the
route from Inca to La Puebla was re-opened in 2001 after having
been closed since 1981. It has also been re-laid to metre-gauge and it
is planned to be extended to Alcudia on the North-East coast. The
Majorcan government has also a re-opened the
route to Manacor, which has subsequently been closed following the collapse
of an embankment wall and is also considering a possible new railway or metro to link
Palma with the airport. There is also talk of a tramway linking Palma and Arenal
Much of this information
was gleaned from Giles Barnabe's excellent book "The Railways and
Tramways of Majorca", published by Plateway Press ISBN 1 1871980 13 5
which is unfortunately out of print but can sometimes be got second-hand
from the better
railway book dealers. I cannot recommend this book too highly and am
grateful to Giles Barnabe for the inspiration his book has given me. Barry
Emmott |
The other railway system in Majorca is the Sóller Railway
which was constructed between Sóller on the North coast and Palma with
the intention of facilitating the transport of the agricultural produce
of the Sóller area to the markets of Palma. Previously this produce had
to be transported over the Sierra de Alfabia mountain range by cart or
shipped round the island by sea from Puerto de Sóller. This railway,
which has several tunnels and an impressive five-arch viaduct, was also
built to 3ft gauge and opened to the public in April 1912, using steam
locomotive power. A 3ft gauge electric tramway from Sóller to Puerto de
Sóller was connected to the railway and opened the following year. In
1929 the main line had been converted to electric traction and to this
day uses the original rolling stock which features an attractive "old
west" appearance, being all wooden-clad. The motor coaches and the
nature of the track are reminiscent of the early days of the Swiss
Rhaetian Railway but with a definitely Mediterranean
influence.
© Barry Emmott, January 2005, minor adjustments 12th April, 2009