THE MOUNT VESUVIUS RAILWAY.

New Zealand Tablet, Issue 389, 24 September 1880, Page 11

THE MOUNT VESUVIUS RAILWAY.

A correspondent at Naples says : " Unpoetical as the idea of a railroad up Vesuvius may sound, it would be difficult to imagine anything more wonderful than the extraordinary ascent which I have just completed. The company, which has lately constructed a strada /errata funieolare — literally a rope railroad — sent out numerous invitations to the authorities and the Press, including first-class tickets to and from Rome, with lodgment at the magnificent Victoria Hotel, in the Piazza del Municipo. Precisely at eight o'clock thia morning some fifty carriages started thence for Resina, the population crowding the streets to see us pass. To-day, not only as being Sunday, but as the Festa dello Statuto, all Naples was in the streets — cars, carts, waggons, every imaginable vehicle filled to overflowing, monks, priests, peasants, peasant women dressed in all the old-world costume, such as Mancinelli loved to paint ; bands of musicians playing the mandolin and the guitar, costermongers selling every imaginable ware, from shoes to strawberries. The drive along the seashore is exquisite ; though to one rushing by on the railroad as one usually does the wondrous beauty of the scene is lost. The ascent begins between the double lines of lava hills — those to the left created by the eruption of 1858, those to the right by that of 1872— while between these two rises, like an oasis in a desert, Palmieri's Observatory ; higher up death reasserts its reign, the only living thing being the golden broom, with here and there a vine or a fig tree. You cannot help being struck by the sudden contrasts of absolute death and vigorous life. The station is 1000 metres above the sea, and consists of a large hall painted in the Pompeian style, four rooms on either side, and a large terrace above. Here we found the tables spread for breakfast — champagne and Bordeaux abundant. After some necessary interchange of compliments between hosts and guests, Signor d'Amico, ex-Director of Telegraphs, explained with admirable clearness the mechanism of the railroad ; but, as every one was anxious for the ascent, the speeches were few and short. There are double lines of rail, which seem literally perpendicular an y«u look up. The carriages contain ten persons each ; the carriage at the foot wound upwards causes the one above to descend. Arrived at the top, a winding path leads you to the crater. The view thence of the Gulf of Naples from Capo Miseno to Sorrento and the Terra di Lavoro, framed by the distant Apenniues, passes the power of the pen or pencil to describe. Palmieri is ill ; so we had not the benefit of his explanations. Indeed, the feat of the ascent was in itself so bewildering that the ordinary idea of being on the top of Vesuvius was lost. The principal merit of this marvellous undertaking is due to Signor Obliet, the technical difficulties being overcome by Signor Olivieri, an engineer of high repute. When one considers the nature of the friable soil, the fact that you can scarcely walk without slipping, it seem almost impossible that the lines could bare been laid so solidly and strongly."