Bergamo–Trescore–Sarnico Tramway

The Bergamo–Trescore–Sarnico tramway, opened in two successive sections starting in 1901 and later integrated with the Trescore–Lovere Tramway, was part of an integrated network of connections linking the Italian provinces of Bergamo and Brescia via Lake Iseo.

Particularly active thanks to intensive passenger and freight traffic, the steam‑operated line was nevertheless closed on the section to Lovere in 1921, and ten years later on the remaining route, also due to a political climate unfavourable to investment in rail systems.

The first section as far as Negrone (Scanzorosciate), meanwhile electrified and integrated into the Bergamo tram network, survived until 1953.

History

Among the entrepreneurial initiatives supported by the Banca Bergamasca di depositi e conti correnti were numerous public-service undertakings, such as the construction of a tramway that, passing through the spa town of Trescore Balneario, would allow Bergamo to reach the shores of Lake Iseo. For the management of this initiative, the company Tramvia a vapore Bergamo-Trescore-Sarnico (BTS) was specifically founded, with its headquarters established at the Bergamo terminus, located in Via Paleocapa in the building known as Dolci-Terzi.

After two years of construction work, everything appeared ready for the inauguration of the line, which was 37 km long, on which service commenced on 7 December 1901, two months after the opening of the Lovere–Cividate Camuno Tramway, on the section Bergamo–Gorle–Trescore Balneario; actual service began on 20 December of the same year.

Less than a year later, on 31 July 1902, the extension from Trescore to Sarnico was inaugurated.

Ticket prices were set at two lire and twenty centesimi for first class and one lira and forty centesimi for second class for journeys from Bergamo to Sarnico; return trips cost three lire and thirty centesimi and two lire and ten centesimi, respectively.

The service was structured with five daily pairs plus an additional odd-direction run, with departures from Bergamo at 5:10, 6:33, 9:20, 12:23, 16:00 and 20:13, and returns at 6:30, 9:12, 12:15, 16:45 and 20:10.

The closure of the Trescore–Sarnico section occurred as early as 1921, while the remaining section from Negrone to Trescore, used by convoys heading to the Val Cavallina, remained in service until 1931. The last vestige of what represented an important link between the city of Bergamo and its eastern province, the urban line to Negrone, was suppressed in 1953.

Characteristics

Built with the usual tramway gauge of 1,445 mm, the line ran for large stretches on its own right-of-way, especially in the second part of the route after Trescore Balneario; for this reason, the local daily L'Eco di Bergamo likened it to "an economical Swiss railway".

Rolling stock

The original rolling stock, bearing the initials "BTS" (Bergamo Trescore Sarnico), was officially presented to the public in May 1901 and included two two-axle tramway locomotives built by Krauss.

Two more three-axle units were added to the initial fleet in 1906, and a further three locomotives of various types were purchased by the BTS in the following three years.

After the First World War, the Ferrovia della Val Seriana company, which also operated the Bergamo–Soncino Tramway, had expressed its intention to abandon operation of the latter: in 1921, following opposition to the closure from local administrations and public opinion, the company decided to donate the infrastructure and rolling stock to the provinces of Bergamo and Cremona. To ensure its operation, the two administrations entered into a provisional agreement with both the BTS and the Tranvia della Valle Cavallina (TVC), which operated the Trescore–Lovere Tramway. The agreement lasted from 1 August to 31 December 1921 and saw the transfer of rolling stock from the Bergamo FVS station to the one shared by the two tram lines.

Finally, in 1924, a three-axle cabbed locomotive with cylindrical distributors and Walschearts valve gear, built by Breda, was delivered to the Società Tranvie Bergamasche (STB) for use on the Bergamo–Trescore–Sarnico line; the latter was transferred in 1932 to the Monza–Trezzo–Bergamo tramway company.

Locomotive summary

The following steam locomotives, all standard gauge, served on the Bergamo–Trescore–Sarnico tramway:

See also

• History of rail transport in Italy
• List of railway stations in Lombardy
• Monza–Trezzo–Bergamo tramway
• Bergamo–Soncino Tramway
• Lodi–Treviglio–Bergamo Tramway
• Trescore–Lovere Tramway
• Trescore Balneario

References