Atencion Plus • DVD • 75 minutes

£18.25

Reintroduced after we found the DVD master lost on changing duplicators, this Railstuff film looks at an historic electric railway and a linked tram in Majorca, and a still operational original tram on mainland Spain.

The railway is the 3 foot gauge Ferrocarril de Sóller, a 27km scenic line which links Palma in the north to Sóller on the south coast. Initially opened with steam haulage in 1912, it was converted to 1200V DC in 1929, since when the motor cars supplied then have continued to haul trains composed of steam era carriages over the mountains which separate its two terminals.

The Majorca tram is the 5km line which links the railway's Sóller terminus to the Port, and which still operates its original 600V DC trams, as well as some more recent tramcars from Lisbon which have been re-gauged. As will be seen in this film, whilst the tram and the railway are very close at Sóller's railway station, there is no connection, not least because of the differing voltages.

The film of these two lines was originally issued on video as Atencion al Tren, but this DVD has an extra 15 minutes added which cover Barcelona's Tibidabo tram, or 'Tramvia Blau', the last survivor of Barcelona's once extensive tramway system. This largely uphill short system connects with a funicular to a hilltop amusement park and is even older than the Majorca lines, having opened in 1901.

Footage in this DVD was shot in 2000 and 2003, but all three lines featured remain open, the Majorcan duo all year round, but the Tibidabo tram only operates daily in high summer, otherwise just at weekends and on public holidays.