Italian Getaway

The platform area is quiet as an Italian commuter train awaits departure in Vicenza Italy.

This was a personal vacation in August 2011 to visit my brother and his family near Vicenza, Italy where my brother works for the U.S. Army. In the process I was trackside a few times and a couple of those times I was actually able to sit around and watch the proceedings. Let's just say I wasn't near Danville Jct. anymore! The action was almost non-stop, and though I have little understanding or appreciation for the equipment I was looking at, the operations were fun to watch. A few pictures are scattered here for your amusement. A map of the Italian Rail System is at this link. Vicenza is between Venice and Verona on the map.

The first batch of photos were on a Sunday trip to Venice. My brother and I went to the train station at Mestre, one stop from the city - which is across a causeway. The largely pedestrian and boat bound landmark city is tough to park in so the train made sense. The first train to town was this double decker MU commuter train that was absolutely packed, yet we found a place to stand. Later as we were leaving, I got a shot of the middle-aged streamliner and the newer "Freccianargento" high speed train arriving (red and black). The stations were relatively modern and dealt in volume of passengers fairly well. One thing that baffled me was the tracks. In the station areas, the tracks looked like someone dusted the tracks with lime dust. Maybe it was the proximity to the ocean or something. It was only the station area but I saw the same dust in other areas further inland. This little trip was where my brother showed me how riding a train in Italy worked, or didn't. You buy a ticket and then stamp it on the platform within an hour before you leave. A conductor then checks it on the train, sometimes. I guess this keeps people honest. The little yellow ticket stamping machines were scattered around the platforms and didn't always work. I photo'd one to the right.


Most of my railfan time was at Vicenza "Stazione" watching Trenitalia. There are two mainline tracks, and two station tracks along the 4 covered platforms of the station. The station also had two stub ended tracks with another covered platform between for locals to Schio and Thiene. The mainline itself is a major artery between Venice and Milan but connections nearby in Verona connect it north to Austria via Brenner Pass and south via Padua. The container traffic to the Adriatic coast and beyond was constant.

The first shot above left is a pair of typical Trenitalia ticket machines. These particular ones are temporarily out of order, which was fairly common. Part of the station area itself follows below. The next one to the left is a double decker local passenger train hitting the sunlight just right. It was push-pull with a cab car on the far end.



The old steamer was sitting near what must be the former engine facilities. Since I know very little Italian, I couldn't tell what any signs around it said. I shot it from the platforms and I didn't see a better way on foot.



This next pair of shots shows the ends of typical double decker locals. These were apparently getting old and the A/C is unreliable according to my brother. Grafitti was a problem too. I think these pretty much followed the mainline making all the stops. Nearly everything I saw was electric powered. The local branch commuter trains were spiffy looking new diesel dmu's, though I did spot some older models in Mestre. Locals and regionals were push-pull and the longer distance trains were often double ended. No reason to turn anything. Once in a while an Austrian passenger train headed to Venice passed through the local proceedings (the red one on the right) adding a bit of color.



The mid-grade Italian trains were The "Frecciabianca" - Euro Star trains (left). They seemed to be the equivalent of the Acela Regionals but longer. These were double ended long distance trains that pretty much hit only the larger stations. They looked like the recipients of better equipment displaced by the latest high speed cars. The paint scheme was a nice grey and red. The big let down is that the electric locos at each end have a resemblance to Amtrak's "mud missle" Genesis locos. The loco's were only slightly better to look because they were nicely painted to match the cars. The trains were fairly classy looking and I did ride one over to Verona for the day. The cars were very modern and had nice, reserved seating. But, I prefer the "Amtubes" for leg room and seating arrangement. I paid the equivalent of a full ride on the Downeaster for the 25 minute x2 round trip. It was fast and non-stop. There was a vastly cheaper local that took an hour each way to do the same trip. I think that was it on the right. I was hoping to ride the very fastest "Frecciarossa" train further south but it was very expensive and time ran out anyway. At least I sampled the middle level Frecciabianca.

Many shorter locals had new MU and DMU equipment as seen to the left and right. Since the manufacturer may have been local, that may explain their presence. These seemed to be everywhere on the line. The ones for the local branches were always diesel. No wires I assume.

The east end of the freight yard at Vicenza pretty much began by the platforms. Each time I was present, at least one electric unit was sitting with a string of cars waiting to head out east. At one point there were three, but they were right in the sun so I didn't photograph them. The lone unit to the left had just detached itself from its train and was headed off to the east so it was therefore moving into slightly better light. The next time I came to visit a 6 axle electric was waiting its turn to leave (right).



Freight didn't all go through the yard. This Trenitalia train on the left was a westbound of empty container cars that passed through on the mainline. The next one down is an Austrian container train headed toward Venice. It was fast and loud. I saw Austrian freights and passenger trains coming south out of Austria near Trent on the Brenner Pass line as well as through Vicneza so my guess is that a run-through arrangement to the Venice area exists. All mainline freight was a mix of Italian, Austrian and leased electrics of many vintages and types. A lot of the freight was in containers. I even saw container tanks parked by warehouses in "wine country" around Soave, so those might move by rail as well. Other types of freight moved in relatively short trains of similar cars. Lots of standard height boxcars that looked almost as long as our 86' hi-cube cars ran in homogenous strings. A couple of hopper trains passed as well. Those looked more like Conrail (PRR) "ore jennies" except they were closer to 40' long. I have no idea what they carried but there are lots of minerals in the area.

The yellow unit turned out to be a lease unit from Dispolok. Not only did they have "foreign power", they had "leased power" as well. It was a short train and apparently following the signals right behind another train. This gave me time to read the various things on the unit and grab a photo of the owner's name.

I couldn't tell if Vicenza was a re-crew point but it certainly was a base for local jobs. A couple of three axle diesel switchers prowled the area, one on each end of the yard. One of these little rigs actually pulled an electric unit and its train out to push it into another track. It sounded a bit stressed. The area still has some industrial plants using rail, including a small steel mill. Italian Railways - Trenitalia - has a major shop that works on their "Frecciaargento" high speed passenger fleet there. I didn't see any of those trains operate on this line and couldn't understand the Italian on any of the signs so it could have just as easily been the manufacturing plant too.

The last photo is a very strange beast that is basically an articulated bus guided by a single rail and powered by trolley wires. Pairs of tracks wind their way through the city of Padua. These move quietly and smoothly compared to rail trams. They seem to cut through traffic well also. The tiny bit of orange behind this rig is a standard diesel bus following close behind to take advantage of the traffic clearing abilities I presume. Padua was an amazing city to photograph and I took my best shot of the city a few feet from this spot.


Well, that's a lot of tidbits. I felt like I only got a small glimpse of all the variety available on the Trenitalia system. But, considering that I didn't know if I'd see anything at all, it was plenty. I was there to enjoy other things, which I most certainly did, so this taste of Italian railroading was not a disappointment.

Clip on this picture from Padua if you want to be bored with all the non-rail photos of my trip.


BC