1. Gerona station yard (of the Olot & Gerona Railway) looking towards Olot. The station building is behind the photographer. In the middle distance on the left is a rake of four-wheel passenger cars, straight ahead is a railcar trailer, and to its right are four-wheel goods vehicles. The building on the right is the goods shed for transfers to and from road vehicles. The water tank for steam locomotives can be seen at the end of the island platform. Just beyond the water tank, and to its left is a long shed which was probably a carriage shed.
2. Looking back towards the station building. A 2-6-2T locomotive can be seen on the left - we will see much more of this later, behind it the railcar trailer, and to the right, the rake of four-wheel passenger cars. The shed on the extreme right was probably a carriage shed. The two road loco shed was somewhere to the left of the loco, but unfortunately I did not photograph it — possibly it had been demolished?.
3. Gerona station. Though only tank locomotives were used on the railway, a turntable was provided to turn them. At the left is a luggage brake van on the end of a rake of four-wheel passenger cars which will form the 6.30pm train to Amer. More of that later.
4. Another view of the loco turntable at Gerona. To the right of the photo can be seen one of the four-wheel goods vans, and behind that is the station toilet building.
5. This is the rake of four-wheel passenger cars which will form the 6.30pm train to Amer.
6. A line up of six four-wheel goods vehicles, with a goods platform at the right. The station building can be seen in the background on the left, and the station toilet in the centre background, on the other side of the goods vehicles. On the extreme right a grey 1,674mm gauge van of the RENFE (Spanish State Railways) can just be seen. This is the area where goods were transferred between metre gauge and 1,674mm gauge vehicles.
7. An unusual (and rather antiquated) feature of Gerona station was the six wagon turntables. Three of them are seen in the foreground of this picture, but there are another three beyond these. These turntables might explain why all the rolling stock seen (except the railcars and trailers) were four-wheeled. The building on the right hand side is the goods shed for transfers to road vehicles.
8. The track layout at Gerona, showing the six wagon turntables, the two broad gauge wagon turntables, the two goods sheds for transfers between 1674mm and 1000mm gauges, the goods shed for road vehicles, and the factory with its two mixed gauge sidings.
9. Four-wheel platform-end car which was one of the four cars on the 6.30pm train to Amer. This has been repainted in a livery to match the railcars. The building in the background is the goods shed for transfers to and from broad gauge (RENFE) vehicles.
10. The second vehicle on the 6.30pm train was this four-wheel compartment car, which displays the English heritage of the railway, and is typical of rolling stock used on some of the Irish 3ft gauge lines. The third and fourth car on the train were similar to this, except that the third, just visible on the left of this picture, was painted in the two-tone railcar livery.
11. Several more four-wheel passenger cars, like this one, were in the station yard. Note that centre-buffer link-and-pin couplings were used, instead of the more common Norwegian chopper couplings. The building in the background is the goods shed for transfers to and from broad gauge (RENFE) vehicles.
12. Many of the goods vehicles also displayed their English heritage, like this cattle wagon.
13. And this cattle wagon, which has a different pattern of planking to the previous one.
14. This goods van has seen better times ...
15. Another goods van, this one with a brake-man's hut on the end, a feature which certainly differentiates this railway's rolling stock to that of English or Irish railways. The building in the background is the station toilet.
16. A four-wheel open wagon.
17. And a flat-wagon with stakes.
18. Another flat wagon with stakes, this one with a brakeman's hut on the end. In the background can be seen broad-gauge (1,674mm) vans of the RENFE (Spanish State Railways) in the goods yard of the main Genoa railway station. On this side of the masonary fence there were two broad-gauge tracks for interchange of goods. But goods traffic seems to have almost come to an end on the Olot & Gerona Railway by 1968.
19. Loco No.21, a 2-6-2T was in steam, and is seen here near its coal supply. To its right is a railcar trailer. No.21 has red buffer beams and trim, but it is so weathered as to be almost invisible.
20. The railcars were a startling contrast to everything else on this railway. Very modern and very well presented, they could not save the railway from closure. The track was in very poor condition and probably would have required more money to restore than the railway was capable of generating.
This railcar had arrived at 4.45pm on a train from Olot, and would depart for Olot at 5.00pm. At the time of my visit there were eight trains per day scheduled to depart from Gerona, but only three of these were steam, and all the steam trains terminated at Amer, 24.5 km from Gerona. Olot was 54.8 km from Gerona. However steam was time-tabled to operate on the Amer — Olot section in the mornings.
21. Locomotive No.21 takes water in preparation to run the 6.30pm train to Amer. The loco's red trim is more apparent in the bright sunshine.
22. No.21 at the head of the 6.30pm train in the station platform.
23. Another view of locomotive No.21 waiting to depart Gerona. On the right is the broad-gauge transfer goods shed.
24. Side view of No.21. In the background is the broad-gauge transfer goods shed.
25. Loco No.21 was Builder's No.280 of "La Maquinista Terrestre y Maratima" of Barcelona, and was built in 1926. A loose translation of the name of this Company is "The Land and Maritime Machinist".
26. The same train at Amer, where it terminated. Amer — although a much smaller town than Gerona — was the headquarters of the line. Here there was a three road roundhouse.
27. Another view of the train at Amer.
28. A railcar from Olot approaches Amer in the late evening light. It will depart Amer at 7.30pm for Gerona.
29. Close-up view of the railcar approaching Amer.
Locomotive list:
| No. | Type | Builder | Year built & B/No. | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
0-6-2T |
Falcon Engine Co. | 1893 ? | a |
2 |
0-6-2T |
Falcon Engine Co. | 1893 225 | b |
3 |
0-6-2T |
Falcon Engine Co. | 1893 226 | c |
4 |
0-6-2T |
Brush Electrical Engineerting Co. | 1899 281 | d, i |
5 |
0-6-2T |
Kerr Stuart | 1900 708 | e, j |
6 |
2-6-0T |
Saint Leonard, Liège | 1910 1677 | f |
7 |
2-6-0T |
Saint Leonard, Liège | 1910 1678 | f |
8 |
2-6-0T |
Saint Leonard, Liège | 1910 1679 | g |
9 |
2-6-0T |
Saint Leonard, Liège | 1912 1778 | f |
10 |
2-6-0T |
Saint Leonard, Liège | 1912 1779 | f |
21 |
2-6-2T |
Maquinista, Barcelona | 1926 280 | f |
22 |
2-6-2T |
Maquinista, Barcelona | 1926 281 | h |
23 |
2-6-2T |
Maquinista, Barcelona | 1926 281 | f |
24 |
2-6-2T |
Maquinista, Barcelona | 1926 281 | f |
Notes: |
|---|
| a. Scrapped c.1930 |
| b. Sold 1920 |
| c. Sold in 1901 ? |
| d. Sold 1932 to Reus - Salou railway, Spain |
| e. Scrapped or sold c.1930 |
| f. Scrapped c.1970 |
| g. One source says this is preserved, but does not say where |
| h. Preserved at Olot |
| i. Named Las Palmas |
| j. Named Ter |
References, and sources of further information:
Books:
Allen, Peter & Wheeler, Robert, Steam on the Sierra: The Narrow Gauge in Spain and Portugal, Cleaver-Hume Press Ltd, London, 1960
Brush Bulletin No.5 Steam and Electric Locomotives, Brush Electrical Engineering Co. 1904, Re-published 1974 by Industrial Railway Society with additional notes.
Websites:
This site is useful to help in the understanding of some of the websites below, which are in the Spanish and Catalan languages.
This site, in the Catalan language, is dedicated to the Olot - Gerona railway, and contains a lot of information, including original documents, and photographs.
The "Historia" link in the menu leads to a good history of the railway.
El_Tren_Olot_passat_i_present (7.2 Mb)
This is a link to a 119 page book — El Tren Olot passat i present (The Olot train past and present) — which can be downloaded as a pdf. It is in the Catalan language and describes the railway as it was and as it is today. It includes many photographs of the stations as they were and as they now are, and much information and many photographs of the rail trail. Track layouts of the stations are included, but I do not know how accurate they are. The layout for Gerona excludes the wagon turntables, and differs from what can be seen in the photographs of 31 July 1968, it also differs from the track layout I drew on that date. (My track layout agrees with the photographs!)
http://ferrocarriles.wikia.com/wiki/Ferrocarril_de_Olot_a_Girona
This contains a brief history of the railway in Spanish, and an incomplete locomotive list.
http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companyia_del_Ferrocarril_d%27Olot_a_Girona
This contains a brief history and a limited bibliography.
http://www.narrow-gauge.co.uk/gallery/119
This contains seven photographs taken by James Waite, also in July 1968. They include photographs of 2-6-0T locos Nos 7 and 9 derelict at Amer, and locomotive No.22 in the workshops at Amer.
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All photographs Copyright Frank Stamford who may be contacted by email at: frank.stamford@bigpond.com
Last updated: 1 January 2010