by Benny
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In first assigned to Bologna, Rome and Naples for "Rapido" services along adriatic line, Rome-Reggio Calabria, Rome-Foggia-Bari and Rome-Ancona (also with a strange Rome-Ancona-Rimini-Bologna), from mid-60s our railcars were displaced to Turin, Milan and Mestre (Venice) depots and covered a large web of" Rapido", "Direttissimo" and "Diretto" services on nearly every electrified line of northern Italy, sometimes mixed with other classes. Here a direct Turin-Savona service at Santuario, on the descent to the Liguria Coast Instead the Bologna units became a typical sight on the "diretto" services to Ancona, Genoa and Venice.
With the progressive coming of new classes, ALe 540/660 lost the most important services but were still useful and very valued by passengers. In the 80s the Turin units were transferred to Trieste (services on the triangle between there, the Tarvisio border and Vicenza), as can be seen in this image of a Udine-Vicenza service, and Leghorn (all around the region); an interesting service made by the tuscan units was the "Freccia dell'Elba" (Elba arrow) that connected Florence with the ferries to the island at Piombino Marittima and gave them the opportunity to arrive on the boarding pier (and one time the train, luckily empty, made splash!).
From 1990 all units were concentrated in Mestre and Bologna and used until the new millennium. The few remaining motors were then used singly for a little time more on the short lines around Novi Ligure and from 2002 the last brown railcars were extinct, apart ALe 540.010 and 030 that, jointly with a Le 840, were used by Trieste railway museum for tours along the "unknown tracks" of the city until the end of the permitted mileage; they are now in the museum area, the old Campo Marzio station, waiting for an unlikely overhaul.
As a curiosity, during the service from Mestre depot, as trailers were used too some strange vehicles with luxurious interior and without cabs. These ones were no less than the intermediate trailers of the ALn 442/448 TEE DMUs. Originally they had to be a M+R+M rake but, after testing, it appeared that trailers were too much heavy for the steeply lines to the borders and so the four ones built were converted into electric trailers, repainted in brown and assigned to Mestre depot as Le 602.001-004. Images courtesy of :
Photorail.it, probably the best Italian site for railroad photography
Stefano Paolini
Littorina.net
Franco Pepe
Ciao
In first assigned to Bologna, Rome and Naples for "Rapido" services along adriatic line, Rome-Reggio Calabria, Rome-Foggia-Bari and Rome-Ancona (also with a strange Rome-Ancona-Rimini-Bologna), from mid-60s our railcars were displaced to Turin, Milan and Mestre (Venice) depots and covered a large web of" Rapido", "Direttissimo" and "Diretto" services on nearly every electrified line of northern Italy, sometimes mixed with other classes. Here a direct Turin-Savona service at Santuario, on the descent to the Liguria Coast Instead the Bologna units became a typical sight on the "diretto" services to Ancona, Genoa and Venice.
With the progressive coming of new classes, ALe 540/660 lost the most important services but were still useful and very valued by passengers. In the 80s the Turin units were transferred to Trieste (services on the triangle between there, the Tarvisio border and Vicenza), as can be seen in this image of a Udine-Vicenza service, and Leghorn (all around the region); an interesting service made by the tuscan units was the "Freccia dell'Elba" (Elba arrow) that connected Florence with the ferries to the island at Piombino Marittima and gave them the opportunity to arrive on the boarding pier (and one time the train, luckily empty, made splash!).
From 1990 all units were concentrated in Mestre and Bologna and used until the new millennium. The few remaining motors were then used singly for a little time more on the short lines around Novi Ligure and from 2002 the last brown railcars were extinct, apart ALe 540.010 and 030 that, jointly with a Le 840, were used by Trieste railway museum for tours along the "unknown tracks" of the city until the end of the permitted mileage; they are now in the museum area, the old Campo Marzio station, waiting for an unlikely overhaul.
As a curiosity, during the service from Mestre depot, as trailers were used too some strange vehicles with luxurious interior and without cabs. These ones were no less than the intermediate trailers of the ALn 442/448 TEE DMUs. Originally they had to be a M+R+M rake but, after testing, it appeared that trailers were too much heavy for the steeply lines to the borders and so the four ones built were converted into electric trailers, repainted in brown and assigned to Mestre depot as Le 602.001-004. Images courtesy of :
Photorail.it, probably the best Italian site for railroad photography
Stefano Paolini
Littorina.net
Franco Pepe
Ciao
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