3-052-799 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Opening of the railway to the top of Mount Vesuvius, 1880. 'Sections of Carriages...An extraordinary novelty in railway construction...the Railway...[commences] at a gradient of 40 deg. at the very foot of a cone, underneath which...lie granite and other igneous rocks. The line is placed on 12-inch wooden sleepers,...bolted together in a very solid manner. Shortly after leaving the little station the gradient becomes steeper - 30 deg. to 33 deg. Apparently - and then, after ascending the cone, comes to a termination about 100 ft. below the edge of the crater. The carriage in which the visitors make the ascent is so suspended as to remain perpendicular to the level of the sea, whatever angle of ascent the railway takes. As it proceeds in its noiseless course, drawn by a stationary [steam] engine, to which an endless wire rope, coiled over three large drums, is attached, it is difficult to realise that an enormous difficulty has been surmounted. The car has powerful brakes before and behind, to provide against a breakage of the rope. It holds nine persons, and is shaped so as to provide for the occupants always retaining a perpendicular position...The ascent can be made in eight to ten minutes, where before it required from one to two hours'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.