Monte Generoso Railway
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The Monte Generoso Railway or Ferrovia Monte Generoso (MG) is a mountain railway line inaugurated the 5 June 1890 in the Italian speaking canton of Ticino, in south-east Switzerland. The line runs from Capolago, on Lake Lugano, to a terminus near the summit of Monte Generoso. The summit (1701 m, 5590 ft) offers extensive views over the Lombardy Plain and towards the Alps.
The line is 9 km (5.6 mi) long and has a rail gauge of 800 mm (2 ft 7 in). It is a rack railway, with a maximum gradient of 22%, using the Abt design. Originally steam operated and later diesel operated, the line was electrified in 1982 using an 800 volt dc overhead line. The line is principally operated by four two-car electric trains, built by SLM in 1981-2, and numbered 11-14. Steam locomotive 2 still exists and is occasionally operated.
The line commences at Capolago Lago, where trains connect with steamers on Lake Lugano. However most trains start 300 m up the line at Capolago station, at an altitude of 273 m (895 ft), where they connect with Swiss Federal Railways trains on the line from Lugano to Milan via Chiasso. From Capolago station the line climbs to San Nicolao station, at 707 m (2320 ft), to Bellavista station, at 1222 m (4009 ft), and finally to the Generoso Vetta terminus, at 1605 m (5266 ft). Both San Nicolao and Bellavista stations have passing loops.
The line opened on the 5th June 1890, but the owning company went bankrupt twice (in 1904 and 1914). When this looked like happening again in 1939, the Swiss Migros supermarket chain took over and still own the line. From 1891 to 1913 a 600 mm (2 ft) gauge horse drawn tramway linked Bellavista station with the Hotel Pasta.
Whilst the railway lies entirely within Switzerland, the summit station is only a few metres from the international border with the Italian region of Lombardy.
[edit] References
- Book Tramways and Light Railways of Switzerland and Austria, ISBN 0-900433-96-5, by R.J.Buckley, published by the Light Rail Transit Association, 1984.
- Article The Full Monte by Hugh Dougherty, in Narrow Gauge World magazine, March/April 2005, published by Atlantic Publishers.
- Wikipedia article Ferrovia_Monte_Generoso_SA (in German), last updated 2nd February 2005 at 14:11
