The Hooks' Adventure Continues!: Train in Milano

When in Milano, my mother and I took a train composed of a rake of historic ('40s and '50s mostly) coaches and an old box van carrying emergency supplies hauled by FS 625 177 from Milano Centrale to Paratico Sarnico (the name given to a pair of towns on opposite sides of a small river- the station's in Paratico) and, after a lunch at Clusane (a 15-minute ferry ride across a lake from Sarnico) and a few hours' free time, back to Milano Centrale again. This post I will focus on the train itself.

wooden-bodied box van with sliding doors

We knew this crate hanging underneath the van must have a purpose, but we weren't sure what.

first coach: saloon-style, with few doors

second coach: ours. Note the running boards and steps, and the abundance of doors

Here you can see how the doors curve and thin near the bottom.

The interior had sets of four seats facing each other, with an aisle on one side and a slam door on the other. Note the luggage racks above the seats and the brass numbers on the back of each seat.

The carriage was complete with nice curtains
and fully-opening windows.

We liked the light fixtures.

Now for photos of the train as a whole. I'll get to the locomotive later.

This was the view looking forward out of the window.

well, depending on the direction of the wind- no smoke deflectors on this particular locomotive...

Up a bank on a curve- you could hear (and see from the sharpness of the exhaust) that
the valve gear was set for greater power (in exchange for efficiency), and see from the exhaust colour that the fireman had just added coal to the firebox and was adjusting the secondary air.

I like the way the tower in the background appears as only an outline
because of the smoke, while everything else can be seen clearly.

At Palazzolo sull'Oglio we had to change direction due to the line to Paratico-Sarnico paralleling the line to Milano. They did this by simply running the locomotive round to the other end of the train on a free siding and running tender-first from then on. They had some other restored vehicles there as well:

From left to right: an ABL VI 203 diesel shunter (presumably numbered FBS 203 001), low-sided wagon for track maintenance (specifically RFI 171627), gasoline draisine FBS 209 002, FBS 208 003 gasoline shunter, and FBS 120 004 draisine.

We liked the blue stripe and grille at the front.

pedaled draisine

This was a normal, 4-speed-transmission car with the one modification of having railway wheels.

Note the unusual buffer placement on this shunter.

Now for the locomotive! First, for the obligatory photos showing the beauty of a steam locomotive as whole (you know, the sort of photo you might have as your computer background):

Next for a few photos of the tender:

The number on the rear of the tender is beautifully hand-painted (i.e. not stenciled)

The tender has three axles, the last two of which are linked.

Next we'll admire the uniforms and engine crew's attire:

FTI volunteers

Just nabbed him! The fireman's climbing into the cab, while the driver does his lubrication round.

We loved the fireman's leather cap!

the driver

Next, it's time for some curiosities of this particular class of locomotive (FS 625, known as "signorine"):

Typical Italian smokebox door: conical with a wheel and arm closure (as
opposed to two arms as often found in Britain or a ring of bolts around the
periphery as is found in the US). Also notice the square shape of the sandbox.

I found the presence of this flange and window assembly unexpected on an Italian post-WWI locomotive (FS 625 177 is from 1922)-you would've thought that during the war they would have removed this feature from the design (which was from 1909).

Note the large gap between the top of the frames and the bottom of the boiler.

an inspection of the boiler yielded another surprise: inside cylinders and coupling rods and outside modified Walschaerts valve gear and connecting rods. This arrangement requires what are essentially duplicate coupling rods on the outside.