3-052-800 - 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; Reservoirs; Restaurant; Station; Sections of Carriages...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...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 briefly translated into "The Vesuvian Wire-Rope Railway Company," has executed a singular work of engineering skill under tremendous difficulties...The ascent can [now] be made in eight to ten minutes, where before it required from one to two hours'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.