Martin HoffmannHere’s a map! As there was a lot of waiting again today, a larger scale will work.
Good morning! Did you know there is a ferry from Pozzallo to Malta and it only takes an hour forty-five to cross? No that’s not the plan but it certainly is duly noted.
Pozzallo doesn’t have a ticket machine. Good thing ticket purchase through the Trenitalia app works quite well (only since August, if I understand the constant announcements correctly).
The next station announcement for Scicli is also in German but not in English. Did Baedeker like the place or something?
Quick change of plans. I wanted to take this train to Ragusa, but since Siracusa Depot hasn’t gotten the memo about Trenitalia’s new policy of keeping trains graffiti-free, I jumped off at Modica. From the map it looks like the section between Modica and Ragusa is the most scenic (with a helix and such), so should be worth re-rolling the dice.
But looks like this was my last ride on the Punk. Possibly for ever.
Palermo Centrale, where they have electrified the waiting area.
Stazione di fine giorno.
“It’s not cities that are loud, it’s cars that are loud.”
“What?”
“IT’S NOT C… ach, never mind.”
And today’s map. We started at nearly sea level, climbed up past Ragusa – a breathtaking section with gorgeous gorges*, then went down again to sea level at Gela, along the coast to Licata, then way up again to Caltanisetta, and from there down via Xirbi to sea level. Spectacular tour, this! The difference between the very dry south coast and the fertile north is markable.
* Oh, yes, he did!
G’day! Today I am trying something completely new: I will be using only one train for the entire day. It’s still a nine hour ride, mind.
But first, have a picture of a man on a horse.
Don’t underestimate the size of Sicily. The express train takes three hours from Palermo to Messina.
The plod is checking everyone’s documents. Like, properly, with scanning and typing names into phones and waiting around while we’re in a tunnel without coverage.
We’re going on a boat trip!
For the day Intercitys, they now just keep the locomotives on with the trains which speeds up operations quite a bit. Once your train has been pushed onto the boat, you can leave and wander around. Or not. Up to you, really.
Each four carriage plus locomotive half of the train (one from Palermo, one from Siracusa) fits exactly into one track.
How long does an iPhone last on a video call? Asking for the Australian lady across the aisle who’s been going on for an hour at least and won’t shut up.
Complaining to her friend on the speakerphone that people here are rude.
We’ve arrived in Villa San Giovanni exactly one minute early. Now just five more hours mostly north.
(The chatty Australians are going to Salerno. Guess it’s going to be a headphone afternoon.)
Twenty minutes past departure time in Villa and our driver just got bored and left the locomotive.
In many European countries you will find a white line going up and down in tunnels. They aren’t decoration but rather lead to a rescue alcove in the tunnel wall where you could hide from a train. The line is at the floor at an alcove and at its highest half way to the next one. Thus, wherever you are, you just need to follow the white line downwards to get to the nearest point of safety.
I miss my one hour breaks to take a walk through some small town. This is no way to travel!
The railway up the southern Tyrrhenian coast quite spectacular. Glad the night trains were all sold out.
(The sun is too low for train window photos, so you’ve got to go see it for yourself.)
Battipaglia, where the loop through the south closes. The end is getting nearer …
Almost on time in Napoli Centrale. We were a couple minutes early but got held up entering the station.
No map today since it is all very straightforward: Along the north coast of Sicily from Palermo to Messina and then along the west coast of the mainland from Villa San Giovanni to Napoli.
Frost, wolf of winter 🐺🎄
@partim They don't have a sidewalk thingy that the train doesn't hit? Huh.
(though our experience has been BART local-train tunnels, not sure if that's a differemt kind of thing)
Kevin Karhan 
@partim That is intentioal design as people will also aim to avoid i.e. smoke...
It's very nifty and subconcious design that has been tested with focus groups and propably saved hundreds of lives already...
Ryan Rampersad
Peter Lee@partim @patrickhadfield I didn’t know that!
Patrick Hadfield@peteralee @partim me neither! I sincerely hope I never need to know it, too! But at least now I do.
@partim it sounds like confiscation of the device for the sanity of other passengers would be in order!
I impressed it's not already been disposed of!
@patrickhadfield This is Italy. Sadly, this sort of thing is normal here. Otherwise I would have intervened by now.
(I’m mostly annoyed because I can understand all the shirt they are talking.)
ĸurth
Amy Isard@partim I did the night version in the other direction from Rome to Taormina about 15 years ago and woke up early to watch them take the train apart to put it on the ferry, very cool!
Tor Lillqvist@partim Looking for mafiosi?
James Jefferies@partim blimey, I hope that's unpowered!
@jamesjefferies I think I see an insulator on the photo I have in the other direction, but I’ll try to remember and check tomorrow morning.
(The correct answer is, of course: it’s fine, it’s just 3000 volts.)
Garry Keenor@partim @jamesjefferies its permanently earthed - thats what those twin draped cables are doing. You can tell because they are bare conductors and strapped to the earthed horizontal tube
@25kV @jamesjefferies Ah, clever. What you also can see (better on the right) is that on either older or low-speed wiring, the drop wires are a loop slung over the catenary wire rather than mounted top and bottom. I guess the little wire boxes built under the catenary are so they don’t wander off when the catenary gets too steep.
(No, I haven’t been staring at overhead wires for too long.)
@partim @jamesjefferies sliding droppers are used where you're worried that the catenary wire and contact wire will expand/contract at different rates (being different materials), or when those two wires are anchored in different locations and so will have different rates of along track movement as they expand/contract. In modern well-designed auto tensioned systems they aren't really necessary
Schleifleistenbruch@25kV @partim @jamesjefferies I suspect the reason for the sliding droppers is the fact that the catenary/messenger wire of different tracks are linked by the cantilever mechanically and cannot really expand or contract freely
@25kV @partim @jamesjefferies As it's DC, I'm not sure if it's actually earthed or just connected to the return conductor. 🤐
@Schleifleistenbruch @partim @jamesjefferies its a bare metal conductor that is shorting out the second level of the double insulation, so I think its a done deal
Teilkasko@partim
Tram-Train system 👎🙄
Trolleybus-Train system 👌😏
Tilo Schumann@partim Is that Ragusa?
I was there 15 years ago and I think it is one of the Top 5 scenic Railway lines in the world.
I was there 15 years ago and I think it is one of the Top 5 scenic Railway lines in the world.
@doppelspurinsel The picture is of Modica. I walked up the mountain on the other side a bit to take the picture.
I definitely agree with your assessment, though. That bit of railway is insane!
Andrew Price@partim
It has some baroque architecture, built during the reconstruction following the disastrous earthquake at the end of the 17th century. Even more interesting is neighbouring Noto, rebuilt at the same time with some extraordinarily beautiful baroque churches. Make sure you visit Noto, if you possibly can.
It has some baroque architecture, built during the reconstruction following the disastrous earthquake at the end of the 17th century. Even more interesting is neighbouring Noto, rebuilt at the same time with some extraordinarily beautiful baroque churches. Make sure you visit Noto, if you possibly can.
@andrewprice I toyed with staying in Noto last night for that very reason. Eventually decided for Pozzallo on account of it being nearly southernmost, by the sea, and also about twenty euros cheaper.