3-052-797 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Opening of the railway to the top of Mount Vesuvius, 1880. 'Crater which destroyed Pompeii, A.D. 79; Palmieri's Observatory; Wire Rope Railway at foot of cone; Castellamare...An extraordinary novelty in railway construction is the line to the top of Vesuvius, which bids fair to draw thither many visitors and tourists, including men of science, hitherto kept back by the difficulties in the ascent of the burning mountain. Meteorological observations, as well as those relating to the phenomena of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, have been for some time carefully taken by Signor Palmieri at the Osservatore Meteorologico...this observatory is, or rather was, two hours distant from the crater, to which a very steep and toilsome ascent led over lava blocks, scoriae, and ashes, the greater portion being inaccessible even to the mountain ponies, as the cone runs up at an angle varying from 30 deg. to 40 deg. An enterprising gentleman conceived the idea of carrying a railway directly up the face of this steep ascent. "La Società Anonima Ferrovia Funicolare del Vesuvio," as the company is called, which may be translated into "The Vesuvian Wire-Rope Railway Company," has executed a singular work of engineering skill under tremendous difficulties'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.