Twice have I been fortunate to visit Italy, once spending a week in Rome with my school (which in 1968 was an exceptional thing), and once on holiday in 1971. That second time the destination was Naples, outward bound by way of Austria and Venice, and home across the Gotthard railway. The trip to Italy through Switzerland took 24 hours, spending the night on uncomfortable three-tier sleeping benches, standing for hours in German stations where you were bawled awake (if you weren't already) by station announcers: '…bitte einsteigen und die Türen schliessen...'. The passage through Switzerland was during the next morning. In March on the Northern side near the well-known Airolo church (seen three times during the climb through the spiral tunnels) winter is still there with thick blankets of snow. Once through the main tunnel, a friendly Spring sunshine awaits you on the South side.

After crossing into Italy, either from Austria or from Switzerland, occasionally a steam loco could be seen at work from the train and it became an exciting kind of sport to photograph these from the speeding train. Until the mid-1970s Italy kept a strategic reserve of steam locos which regularly worked timetabled trains. Some of these were 2-8-0s with a Franco-Crosti boiler, having large pre-heaters along the boiler barrel and ludicrously small funnels amidships… Most steam locos however were 0-6-0 shunters of various types. I never saw any great concentrations of steam in Italy. It seems they had small running sheds spread all over the country where some steam was kept in reserve. One of these I photographed at Cassino on the Apennine route between Naples and Rome. Also, in Italy it wasn't really encouraged to photograph trains, but I never had any trouble whatsoever. Regrettably the film has degraded a little, and perhaps some photos are a bit blurred, but there is no denying that these are historic views...

At the time, and apparently still, Naples had an extensive electric narrow gauge suburban network. The SFSM ('Strade Ferrate Secondarie Meridionali' or Southern Secondary Railways), also known as the Circumvesuviana, uses 95cm gauge. In those days they had heavy electric multiple units and even beautiful 2-8-2 electric locos hauling long strings of carriages, all dating from the 1930s. The network started at the Napoli SFSM terminus, tucked away cosily between the houses of the inner city, and extended along both sides of the Vesuvius, one branch following the beautiful shore of the Bay of Naples, curving south along stations with wonderful names like Ercolano, Torre del Greco and Pompei (Villa dei Misteri). The SFSM was the best way of visiting the ancient Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum: one was delivered right at the front gate, so to speak. The rolling stock was painted in a beautiful vermilion and cream (not unlike the County Donegal), which shone brilliantly in the late afternoon sun at Naples where I made many of the photos. Shortly after my visit, the old station was demolished and the line was extended towards the main FS station. The old trains were replaced by sleek modern multiple-units that look like suburban trains anywhere in the world. At least I have seen what things were like, once upon a time…