El Tren De Soller: Mallorca's Vintage Electric Railway
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- čas přidán 20. 08. 2024
- It's not every day you see a 90-year-old electric train running down the middle of the road - unless you live on this street, where it happens every few hours. I went to find out the story behind the unusual Soller Railway on the little-known island of, er, Mallorca...
You've somehow made me desperately want to go and do all the things I found horrifically boring as a child when my parents took me on holidays. Your curiosity is infectious.
You found trains boring when you were a kid?
@@melangium besides thomas the tank-engine yeah kinda
My parents want to visit as many churches as possible.. the twist... they are not even believers.
Eventually they let us go to the amusment park.. but they just pushed us in at the gate and left for some more chuches
The last part didnt age that well.
@@Marquis-Sade nah IF ONLY curiosity was as infectious as covid. We'd live in a smarter world. (and it'd have many fewer cats)
Big mistake to leave the tram, the route along the seaside is beautiful.
indeed
it is a beautifull ride along the coast and a the way to soller. that is the best part of the railway.
Love those rail cars, from the wood panels and convertible seats to the little platforms on either end for people who like standing in the breeze.
Nice thing about electric trains is that they don't care if they have to spend five minutes in a tunnel, the worst emissions are from the passengers.
The early 1900's were a better time for manufacturing quality.
You mentioned the balcony. In Dutch at least, this bit was actually called a balcony - and to this day, the area where you board/alight a train is _still_ referred to as the balcony, even though it doesn’t remotely resemble one any more.
My 6 year old LOVES this video. He said, and I quote, "Mommy, he should have taken the tram. Not, climb the silly mountain." So, there you have it, from the mouths a babe.
Haha! Your 6 year old clearly knows what he's talking about. Please thank him for his feedback, and apologise from me for going up the mountain on this occasion, I just really like climbing mountains, but I will try to take more trams in future :D
That’s adorable! 😍
When I was little, that train didnt need aircon because it was so open, the only thing stopping you from falling was a chain, I nearly fell out
I was on Mallorca this year for my holiday and traveled on this train and the tram, loved every minute of it.
in chicago on the rapid transit (up high) we had seats that could be changed by the conductor when it was time to return.
Damn! Just got back from cycling in Mallorca, based in Alcúdia. And now I have a really good reason to go back (as if I needed another reason).
Great video!
Most trains in New South Wales have reversible seats, and if you like the end bit of the journey in this vid, there's a station in the Blue Mountains called Zig Zag that you should visit. 🙂
Indeed!
If Tim ever comes to Australia, I can't recommend the Zig Zag railway more highly.
zigzagrailway.com.au/
Odd to find a fellow Australian in the comments. But if Tim ever does come to Australia I (a blue mountains resident) would highly recommend the zzr.
@@SYDTrainsFilms I don't think it's so odd; we Aussies travel like no one else… except maybe the Dutch. 😉 But yeah, I'd love to see Tim in Australia. I keep telling Geoff Marshall that he's be comfortable on Sydney trains, since half the stations have the same names as British ones. 🙂 I think Tim should see San Francisco's delightfully quirky transport system first, though-the trams with steps that fold up when they turn into metros, the cable cars, the historical trams from around the world, including Melbourne-and it's barely 100km from the Sutter Buttes, which are claimed to be 'the world's shortest mountain range', which I think is also his thing. 🙂
The Mariazellerbahn, from St. Pölten to Mariazell also has electric vintage trains. It was completed in 1907 and electrified in 1911. They run modern trains (sometimes with 1st class panorama cars and breakfast in 1st class) called Himmelstreppe, vintage electric trains from around 1910 (sometimes with restaurant cars, sometimes with cabrio cars), and steam trains.
I rode the train from Palma to Soller in 1979. It had trolley poles, nto pantographs and the baggage car was full of mail sacks. The main station was fairly run down and there were two small roundhouses out in the yard. In one roundhouse were two 1930s vintage Citroen pickup trucks and a 1920s Renault saloon mounted on rail wheels. The entire infrastructure of steam was still present. Further out in the yard were several tracks with the wooden railcars. They had been replaced with diesel railcars. Also in the yard were a pile of Sam Browne belts with brass badges on them that were for the conductors on the railway. I removed the badges from the belts and gave most to my friends but kept one that I still have.
The original city of Palma was beautiful and there was Palma Nova which had a lot of seaside bars and restaurants but really wasn't as nice as the old city.
It's great that you summarise how to visit the place at the end of each video. Excellent channel!
When I was 6 years old, I went on holiday in Mallorca and I took the train & tram.
A few months ago, I visited Mallorca again after 20 years. The train & tram is much more busy than it was back when I was 6. Crazy
Looks like the island of sodor with Toby as the lead instead of Thomas.
Thomas had never seen such bullsh*t before...
@0 0 John Kettley is a weatherman...
German tourists. German tourists everywhere.
vulpespannonicus na ja man muss halt auch mal unsere Südküste besuchen gehen
Only in el arenal.
No patesquis, en es camp no n’hi ha
@@stillx1211 Dem stimme ich auf jeden Fall zu.
Now we're in lack them, who would've said
I took that train about 30 years ago ,in winter, Soller is a microcosym ot tropical plants. Lemons o the trees and flowers in bloom, and a Chrysanthemon that was as big as a tree, growing to the peak of a 21/2 story house! Great trip.
I love all the little comedy moments in your videos!
Vivo en Palma, el tren de Soller y su recorrido son una pasada!
I am German. But if I went to Mallorca, my main reason would be that beautiful railline. Also I would take the tram in Soller, plus the Metro in Palma propapelly. And obviously visit the sights and try the local cuisine of Wurst, Bratkartoffeln and so on...
I remember going on this train some 30 years ago on a high-school travel to Mallorca, only we did it the other way round. We had gone from Magalluf (yep, that Magalluf, only way before it was what it is today) to Sa Calobra by bus, which has already some views along the way. Then we went from Sa Calobra to Port de Sóller by boat which, yep, it had quite some views of the cliffs over the Mediterranean. And then we went back to Mallorca on this train.
I would have sweared it was all by train but, as you mention in the video and I'm checking, it seems we went first on the tram until Sóller and then we got the train back to Mallorca. It was a nice experience. No air conditioning but lots of windows so air would flow nicely.
I'm not sure if we got to the actual train station in Mallorca, as I remember it being quite in the middle of almost nowhere and it is not the case today, but it may be I don't remember it correctly.
Anyway, for any train or public transport lover, it's a must if you're in the island.
A few years ago I took a ride with this train, it was absolutely stunning for me. Sorry for my horrible English 🙏😂
I rode on it as part of an excursion whilst I was holidaying there! Such a cool relic of the past they've retained
The locomotive also doubles as the First Class saloon. I travelled here "off season" in November 2018. No long queues for tickets and no extra queue for the First Class car. The whole train is one standard class now. It doesn't cost extra to upgrade to the posh sofas and armchairs up front!!!
Love the classic wooden train! It's amazing that this still exists in Europe. The Tram combo? I am in 😍
When I was there last that was the station for all trains, time flies.
This is so funny to me - back in 2004 I went to Mallorca, rented a car and drove all the way up the mountains and along the North-West side of the island, parked the car at the harbor and went up the hill with the train and then back - you basically did the opposite Tim!
Now I feel the need to go back. Maybe I will, I bought the Interrail 1st class ticket at 50% off when they had the sale so I could basically go there by train and ferry next year. Definitely adding it to the list hehe
These tram cars remind me of the trolleys in New Orleans...same beautiful esthetic with seats that can flip direction and brass-finished window hardware..(windows that actually open!)...and no air conditioning.
And this is what is happening when you visit an island without searching first. I missed out this opportunity to hop on a vintage train and a tram. OMG I will have to go back again only for this. Thank u. And you will have to go back and hob on that vintage tram darling. BIG MISTAKE.
Easily the best video ever made about Mallorca.
It’s a great train ride and the views are stunning. Done it quite a few times. Thank you for reminding me of some great times.
those mountains sure look beautiful
Great memories to when I did a 6 month traineeship in Palma back in 2000 and rode the train a few times.
Yo vivo en soller y el tren y tranvía es una pasada como el paisaje, soy francesa y ma encanta soller😍
I rode the train in 1978. There was a baggage car full of mail sacks and it had trolley poles rather than pantographs. When we got to Soller, the tram was waiting but we didn't ride it. It had open sides and had a trailer car. The old station for the main railway and its related yard and two small roundhouses were still there. All the infrastructure of steam was still intact but unused. In the yard were a bunch of wooden, open platform coaches that were unused and in deteriorated condition. I found a pile of Sam Browne belts in the yard with guard badges on them and I took one and made a belt buckle out of it which I still have. I wish I had taken the belts too, but it was over 40 years ago. Also, in one of the roundhouses were two 1920s Citroen trucks marked for the railway- I was able to turn the engine over on one of them with the hand crank. There was a 1920s Renault saloon mounted on rail wheels and its steering column was removed. They were all marked with an X on the sides which I suppose meant that they were to be scrapped. When I was back there in 1979, they were gone.
Tim, check out the line running from Cais do Sodré in Lisbon, along the coast to Cascais in Portugal. Beautiful!
I've been churning through your videos, and I'm loving it!
Back in the 80s I was able to get a "Round the Island" ticket. Bus Alcudia to Palma, train and tram to Soller, bus back over the mountains to Alcudia. Made a great day out.
On the list for this fall. Thanks.
Tim has a very refined and funny sense of satire.
Great video! love the animated graph and the humour. :)
I absolutely love the way you put your personality and your humor into the videos. 😅 Train - Mountain - Train - Mountain - Train - Subscription.
I recomend a railway that i do volunteering at. The problem with it that its not in britain but in a small town called Mariefred near the city of Stockholm so all in all its in sweden. The railway shows and operates steam locomotives collected along the years since the sixties and include a Hudswell Clarke loco but wont be shown any time soon due to boiler problems. But i recomend it very much.
Wow! It’s lovely. I would definitely enjoy a trip on that little railway!
Hope you enjoyed your trip - certainly a great video. It reminds me of a short break I had in Soller a few years ago, sadly didn't make it onto the train or tram due to spending all my time in the mountains (right choice on my view!) Even got the bus from the airport due to the cost - I even recognise that exact viewpoint!
Ah cheers Alex, yes I had a great trip, and those mountains looked incredible, can't blame you for spending all your time up there! I only had one free day, otherwise I would have loved to do a lot more exploring up there. Next time!
Excellent graphs!
3:04 "Amount of boom" ? hahaha...
"modern" trains (meaning not high speed but the normal kind) in Spain still have that feature of being able to change the direction of the seats
I love the reversible seats
Reminds me of the old Line A in Buenos Aires. Don't bother, it's no longer there. Well, there is, but a few years ago they finally changed all the trains. But up top 2013, you could travel in the original La Brugeoise cars, built by the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company in 1913. Yes, they ran uninterruptedly for an entire century. They were super reliable too. They also had Preston cars that were beautiful too. Everything but the undercarriage was beautifully crafted wood.
Since those cars were built as hybrid tramway/subway cars, they had both high and low doors. The doors in the middle where meant to be boarded from a subway elevated platform, and the ones in the back were meant to be boarded from street level.
I actually used to take it daily to go to work.
Now you can't do that anymore, but they do have a touristic route served with the restored original trains that runs on Sundays. So 106 years and still going!
Amazing! If I ever make it to Buenos Aires I'll be right there - thanks for the recommendation :)
@@TheTimTraveller :) If you do, you can't of course miss The Andes, in particular Aconcagua (tallest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas), and three super interesting trains: The Tren de las Nubes in Salta (built across the mountains, at preposterous altitudes), and La Trochita (restored steam train that still goes across Patagonia) and Tren del fin del mundo (steam train used almost a century ago in what was the world's southernmost prison, in Ushuaia). I would recommend other stuff, but let's keep it to trains and mountains ;)
@@user-sn8oe5sb1b you know me too well
@Craig F. Thompson Not to many really, just some rolling stock for the Urquiza, a small line in Buenos Aires. I believe in total they bought like 30 cars or so to renew the line, but they didn't do very well and were entirely replaced by Japanese cars in the 70s. There are no more PCCs left today. Most of the rail equipment in Argentina until the 20's came from England, then we started manufacturing some, and then in the 70's we started mostly importing Japanese trains. We do have a long history of bad purchases of rolling stock, specially all of the Spanish cars we've bought, they've been shit. For instance, now we're having to slowly (and expensively) dismantle a lot of Spanish cars because when they sold them to us they kind of "forgot" to tell us they were full of fucking asbestos.
@Craig F. Thompson I thought that the Red Cars were dumped in the ocean.
Been there, travel with that train & tram to Puerto de Soller. Wonderful trip. Also took a trip with that other train to Inca, now reguarded to meter track and new cars, also rebuild the line to another town.
great video
Another great vid!
4:30. ooo! ooh! We have a few of those old streetcars in San Francisco on the vintage "F" Line.
Been there a few times it's always great to stand on the small outside section through the mountains but the tram is so good as well I can't believe you didn't do it! 😊
I remember the old Palma bus and train hub. It often resembled a rugby scrum on a vacant car lot. What's there now is a big improvement
Thanks for Creating. Love this channel. Cheers Tim!
I remember this from the 1980's and I did take the tram to the beach. I happened to be in Palma in December of 2018 on a cruise, but there wasn't enough time to do this ride.
I'm a teen from a town in Mallorca, and I remember going my first time on the Soller's train when I was about 5 yo :)
Appreciate the effort you put into pronouncing the names correctly! Very close to perfect :)
I hiked that island last year. Beautiful place.
Very nice presentation. Useful. I ve been to mallorca but did not realize this train existed.
Good thing you went up the mountain, as the train was green resending to be a tram for the first ten minutes. All in one 😝
Looks great! It's somewhere on my list! I love trams and mountains but if I was in your position I'd have gone with the tram!
As a tram enthusiast, you probably know what I am thinking right now.
Just stumbled across this channel (not sure whether to call CZcams’s suggestion algorithm genius or weird) and I’m finding it a most enjoyable bit of viewing. Well researched, insightful and well presented. All good stuff. Like the witty, banter like style too.
You are a gifted storyteller, Sir, good work, keep it up.
Looks wonderful - including the sociable / unsociable seating!
I love the look of the locomotive, I might have to get a model of it or something similar
I recognise that guy you showed when you mentioned all the stations, can't think where I had seen him when you mentioned travelling to All The Stations
Robert Lilley Geoff?
Genova - Casella mountain railway is a quirky little train ride in Italy.
So glad you came to Mallorca!!
IF I ever go to "Malle", this is the one thing I'll do...
A train in the middle of the street is still very common in the USA ! In ± 600 towns ! ! And in ± 74 other countries ! The street running train- list on wikipedia is much to short . A very much longer, completer and more current list is on : www.coasttram.info/street running trains ! (also about the coasttram in Belgium.) Many video's on CZcams , and on "streettrain" . Have fun with it !
Wikipedia can be edited vy anyone yet no one who cares has expanded the Wikipedia list?
Mah
In Ypsilanti, MI train goes right through section called Depot Town. Sit outside at adjacent bar while train flys by ten feet away.
I love trains
These train cars looks very similar to those who used to go on a local railroad here in Stockholm. They were built in 1913 and also electric.
I like that they've kept both the vintage train and tram. Too many places would scrap one or both and replace with diesel buses.
I also like that the seats can be reversed so easily. I wish more commuter trains would do this rather than have fixed seats.
In Australia basically all trains do! There were some T sets that couldn't, but the government recieved so much hate I think the new sets have the proper seats
@@briannem.6787 I believe only some of the older sets do. None of the newer trains have this feature or any of the sets from other states.
If you like mountains AND trams, you'll love the Snaefell Mountain railway on the Isle of Man.
I love this journey, done it many times.....
Cheeseatingjunglista me too👍
Just discovered your channel. It reminds me of the old newspaper cartoon of oddities called "Ripley's Believe it or not"
I did this in 2016-17 and it was worth it the tram is amazing to j stayed in soller
The tram was worth it! And Puerto de Soller even more ;)
I don't know why but the electric trains keep reminding me of the Southern Pacific's Interurban Electric Railway's "Blimps" (commonly known as the Big Red Cars).
Great landscape 👍🏼👍🏼
Muy bonito saludos desde mallorca .
Wonderful of this Vintage trains.
Thank you very much for the video. I really thought Mallorca would be just a party island for German tourists. Thanks for teaching us the opposite.
The north coast has a wetland nature reserve which is good for bird-watching. I also visited some Roman remains, although the best artefacts had been taken to a museum in Palma which wasn't exhibiting them :(
This is a wonderful train trip indeed. But take the old tram down to Port de Sóller too. The old wooden trams trundle out from the town square, down towards the coast then run along the palm-lined seafront towards the marina there. Seafood, cold beer and looking at boats. Not to be missed...
i swear when i was a kid i paid a visit to this railway but i cant remember.... its all a distant memory
Update: I did! Recently went back and it’s amazing
Another entertaining video! Still love your sense of humor. Keep it up! PS, I subscribed when you were in the 11 000+ range. Now heading for 9-10 times that. At least. Well deserved.
Amazing!
Jokes on you! I got reccomended a video about the trams on Soller right after this!
Have actually travelled on this!
That is a very lovely train
ah oui magnifique promenade dans ce train
The train and the tram are f@@king great. Love it love it love it
I bought a ticket and did this trip but I was never told about changing trains above Soller! I know for next time. Thanks.
2:14 This train reminds me of the AM50 of Belgium
Awesome video and amazing channel. Liked and subscribed.
Another weird thing is that palma de mallorca has a subway station, wich seems odd for an island with around 1 million people living there.
Another fun fact: mallorca loves trains, and now that they have an excuse to build them (climate change) they did some massive build projects- until they were broke. The unfinished train track became a cycling track.