The Mont Cenis Pass Railway operated from 1868 to 1871 (with some interruptions) during the construction of the Fréjus Rail Tunnel. The line used the Fell design of mountain railway with three rails. The railway, opened in June 1868, was 77 kilometres (48 miles) long, with a gauge of 1,100 mm (3 ft 7 7⁄16 in) and a maximum inclination of 9 per cent. It was used primarily to transport English mail to India as part of the All Red Route. This temporary line was built by Brogdens, Thomas Brassey and others (see John Brogden and Sons), and employed English engine-drivers.
The Estrada de Ferro Cantagalo (Cantagalo railway) from Niterói to Nova Friburgo in Brazil which opened in 1873, re-used some of the equipment from the Mont Cenis Pass Railway, and was to the same gauge of 1100 mm. Brazil's first mountain railway, it operated until the 1960s.