An Historical Curio About Majorcan Trains

Occasionally, one stumbles across something quite unintentionally. And so it was yesterday. An article reproduced from "The Railway Magazine" for April 1936. Here are some snippets:

On actually getting to Majorca: "the most usual route - via Paris and Barcelona, and thence by the very fine 3,000-ton motor-ships that ply nightly, reaching Palma, the capital, in the early morning. The journey by way of Barcelona takes about 43 hours."

On railways themselves: "In March, 1921, an extension from Manacor to Arta, 30 km. (18¾ miles), was opened." (It no longer exists of course but may be reactivated.)
"At the present time extensions of the railway are proposed from La Puebla (Sa Pobla), about 14 km. (8¾ miles), to serve the growing residential town of Alcudia and the port there, at which an increasing number of steamships call."
"The island is increasingly popular with both Spanish and foreign tourists, and there would seem to be scope for the development of more speedy rail transport, such as might be provided by fast and comfortable railcars."

How fascinating is this. It once took nearly two days to get from England to Palma, the Alcúdia extension was planned over 70 years ago and there was a call for more speedy rail transport. Of these, only the time of travel to the island has really changed. And note when this was written. 1936. The year of the start of the Civil War and thus the Franco era and thus, for many years, economic stagnation.

For the whole article, which does have a lot of technical stuff about gauges and such like but which is thoroughly recommended, go to http://freespace.virgin.net/neil.worthington/mallorca.htm

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