Summary
Mallorca is the biggest island of the Baleares. It is well-known as a
beach- and party island (see particularely El Arenal, if you want to
"enjoy" the genuine german "Oktoberfest"-ambience...), but there are
also 2 railways: the one is relatively interesting, the other one is
worth the trip to Mallorca!
Ferrocarril
de Sòller The
Ferrocarril de Sòller FdS links Palma de Mallorca (station
at
the
Plaça d'Espanya, or Plaza España) and the city of
Sòller over a 27.3km long line, with passing the
Sierra Tramuntana through a 3Km long tunnel, the "Tunel
Major".
It runs since 1912, first with steam, and since 1929 electric. The
gauge is particular: 914mm. All the railways in Mallorca had former
this gauge, but the lines from Palma to
Inca, Sa Pobla and Manacor (SFM) have been converted to metric gauge.
The
first part of the journey from Palma is through the streets, but after
only few kilometers the line goes through the olive and almond trees.
After Buñola (the only big town along the line), the line
gets
mountainous until the entrance of the "Tunel Major". On the other side,
the train stops first at the panorama point
"Mirador Pujol d'en Banya", with a wonderful view on the entire Val de
Sòller, before it goed down to Sòller.
This part of the line almost remembers... the northern side of the
Gotthard railway!
The railway station of Sòller has a particularity: It is the
oldest station building of the world, as it has been built in the 17th
century! When the FdS was built, the already 300 years old building has
simply been adapted for its new use as railway station.
Also the rolling stock is interesting: all old wooden cars pulled by
the original Siemens cars AAB 1-4, dating 1929, all in immaculate state.
21.10.2005
Palma-Ciutat
AAB
4
AAB
4
Mirador Pujol
d'en Banya
AAB 2
AAB 2
"Say cheese!"
AAB 2 Viaduct
"Cinq-cents"
Sòller
AAB
2
AAB
2
AAB 4
AAB 4
AAB 4
AAB 4
AAB 1
AAB 1
AAB 1
AAB 2
23.10.2005
Palma-Ciutat
AAB 3
AAB 3
Sòller
AAB 3
AAB 3
AAB 3
AAB 3
AAB 3
"Renault"
AAB 1
Near of
Caubet, the body of the "Cocodrillo" 4.010 of the bask railways FV (Ferrocarriles
Vascongados, now EuskoTren) is laying in a field. It was foreseen as an
addition to the motive power (still only consisting of the 4 Siemens
railcars), but it is doubtful if it will be taken in service on the
FdS, because of the heavy technical problems: re-gauging, width, etc...
23.10.2005
FV 4.010 Caubet
Top
of pageTranvia
de Sòller Curiousely,
the Sòller tramway has been built because of an
administrative problem...
While the Ferrocarril
de Sòller was in work, the government passed a law statuing
that
only railways with a network lenght of at least 30 would be able to get
subventions from the state. For the FdS (with a planned lenght of
27.3km), only little more than 2km were "missing"... Then, it was
decided to extend the line with a 4.9km long tramway between the
railway station and the harbour (Puerto de Sòller). It came
in
service in 1913, 1 year after the FdS.
The rolling stock consists of 2-axle motor cars, either the original
tramways of 1913 (Nos 1-3
"Sollerics"), or second-hand cars from the Carris company of Lisboa (Nos 21-25
"Portugueses", plus the both cars 704 and 734, stored out of service in
Palma).
21.10.2005
No. 21, trailer N-3
Tramway depot Sòller
No. 24, trailer N-1
Sòller
No. 3
Estacion de
Sòller
No. 3
Estacion de
Sòller
No.
3
Puerto de Sòller
No.
3
Puerto de
Sòller
No.
24
Puerto de
Sòller
No.
2
Puerto de
Sòller
No.
24
Puerto de
Sòller
No.
3
Puerto de
Sòller
No.
3
Puerto de
Sòller
No.
2
Estacion de
Sòller
23.10.2005
Palma-Ciutat,
shed
Carris No. 704
Carris No. 734
Sòller
/ Puerto de Sòller
No 20
Tramway depot Sòller
No
2
Plaça Constitution
No
24
Mercat
No
2
Mercat
No 3
Puerto de Sòller
No 3
Puerto de Sòller
No
3 + No 24
Puerto de Sòller
No
24
Sòller
Top of pageSFM
Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca The
SFM owns the lines from Palma (Plaça Espanya, just near of
the station of the
Ferrocarril de Sòller) to Inca, and further to Sa Pobla or
Manacor. The stock is new: 2- or 3- pert DMUs built by CAF. Only the tracks are not always
in the same good state like the vehicles...
Tous les
contenus et photos de ce site / Alle Inhalte und Bilder dieser Website
/ All contents
and pictures of this website: (C)
Pierre-Noël
Rietsch, Hinwil (CH) 1980-2005
Mallorca 
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of page
