Newsletter April 2001

The pictures shouldn't take long to download so please have patience - I hope you'll think they are worth waiting for !! I'm continuing the different format in this Newsletter and will mostly just put smaller versions of the actual pictures on show in this page and you can click on them for a page containing all the larger versions, which will take a while to download. This should enable the "front" page to download more quickly and people can decide for themselves if they want to view the pictures in greater detail. Please let me know your opinions on this matter - I personally preferred the big pictures on the front page but I didn't have to wait ages for them to download !!

Even less happening this month - a number of people have gone off to Majorca for a break but haven't yet returned with the lovely new pictures I was hoping for !! I've decided, therefore, to serve up a diet of photos of the (so far) closed but not forgotten parts of the Mallorcan railway network. These have been sent to me by Peter Walter from Graubunden in Switzerland (we had a couple of Peter's Sóller photos in last month's newsletter) - thanks Peter for the photos and to Mike Kaben for translating Peter's comments for me !! Click on one of the pictures below or here to be taken to another page with larger versions of all these photos. These pictures are of the line from Santa Maria to Felanitx which was closed in 1967 and the first one is of the station at Santa Eugenia which is now a restaurant with open-air swimming pool.

Next, a close-up of the nameplate over the main door of the old Santa Eugenia station.

The old station building at Porreras

A distant view of the old station building at Porreras - bricked up and unused. A road runs past the other side of the building.

The last in the Porreras series shows a close-up of the bricked up doorway of the old station building - not the usual kind of photo we like to see but a reminder of how things have changed and possibly a spur to someone looking for a home in the sun ?

This picture appears to be the old engine-shed at Felanitx

An interior view of the old engine-shed at Felanitx

The old station building at Felanitx which, according to my new book (see below), is now a hospital.

That's the last of this series, thanks very much, Peter, for these pictures - I still have a lot more of your photos from the Manacor branch for a later newsletter !!

Mike Kaben has just brought another website to my attention, it belongs to Ralf R Radermacher and features several pictures of the Sóller trams and railway, including some very good evening and night-time shots which I'm sure you will want to see, so click on this link and be transported but don't forget to come back !! I had wanted to whet your appetites with a couple of his shots, reduced in size, but they didn't look nearly as good that way - check out the originals, instead. The thumbnails on Ralf's own pages don't really do justice to the fullsize pictures, either, so get clicking !!

STOP PRESS

I've just received a new book on the railways of Majorca and I'm wholeheartedly recommending it to you. The title is "Mallorca mit dem Zug entdecken" it is pocket-size, published by Geranova (ISBN 3-7654-7180-1), has 144 pages in full colour and covers both the existing and closed railways quite extensively although, because the text is German, I can't guarantee 100% accuracy but I hope to have a review from Mike Kaben for next month's newsletter. Let me just say that I am highly impressed and only wish it were larger and in English and that I had taken all the photos and written the book myself !! The photos are very good - a bit on the small side but there are an awful lot of them, with shots of the railways from places I've not seen used before !! Here's a (slightly smaller than actual size) scan of the cover of my copy of the book - click on the picture or here to be taken to the publisher's website if you want to order. There doesn't seem to be any way to go direct to the page you need so enter "Mallorca" in the search (suche) position when the page opens and you will be taken to the page dealing with Majorcan books and videos. I noticed there were also a couple of videos on the Majorcan railways - with any luck I'll get copies for review in due course !! Since starting this item I've learned that Geranova books may soon be marketed in the UK by Today's Railways, presumably through their publishing arm, Platform Five.

You can click on the small picture below to access a very short (750Kb) clip from the film which John Huntley shot in Majorca in the winter of 1955/6. Full details are given in the January Newsletter. You can click here to see the clip but you will need the DivX ;-) MPEG4 Hi-Res Video Codec before you can view it on your own computers.

E-mail me if you would be interested in having a copy of the full video.

Dr Ken J Walker of Railstuff Videos sent me an advance copy of his new video on the Sóller Railway and Tramway, entitled "Atencion al Tren" (recommended). All the digital footage was filmed with a 3-CCD Mini-DV camera. All editing is digital, mastering to DVCAM professional tape. The final VHS copies are professionally duplicated direct from DV. Each copy is the best possible quality, with no "generation loss". I hope to make a brief clip of this video available to you as a "taster" but it hasn't arrived yet, meanwhile here's a rather poor quality (sorry, Ken) still which I made from the video before sending it on to Today's Railways magazine for review.

Copies of the video are available through Camden Miniature Steam Services (of Barrow Farm, Rode, Frome, Somerset BA11 6PS Phone: O1373-830151 Fax: 01373-830516 Website:- http://www.camdenmin.co.uk ) and will be £19.95 inc VAT and U-K P & P. Outside U-K postage is £1.15 by surface mail. When I eventually receive the clip from Australia I will upload it and alter the newsletter so you can play the clip as you can with John Huntley's film above.

Peter Clayton's book "The Iron Road to Sóller", is still available available at special rates (see February newsletter) so let me know if you're interested and I'll put you in touch with him.

Here's a picture of the cover of his book.

That is all for now now - the new format is still very demanding !!. Thanks again to all my contributors and supporters, any comments on the revised format OR contents will be appreciated.

Brief descriptions of the contents of previous newsletters

Mike Kaben's Report

Books on Majorcan Railways (Revised April 2001)

We have produced a Gallery of Pictures of the Sóller Railway and the Sóller Tramway and this is now available on Alan Rolfe's server (thanks Alan) by clicking here.

Majorca Railways Home Page

Majorca Railways Photo Gallery

Watch this site for further developments which will take place whenever new information or pictures come to hand. Any submissions or contributions of information, photos old or new, postcards, books etc., will be very gratefully and enthusiastically received and if used on the site will be suitably acknowledged (as above). The photos, pictures and diagrams used on this site are presented for your information and viewing pleasure only. If any of them should be in copyright violation and the copyright holder would care to notify me I will either remove them or acknowledge the copyright accordingly.