In cabina AD 905, DE 424 09, AD 808 FAM e ALn 773 FS, 1992

October 14, 1992 (video re-edited to remove copyrighted background music; otherwise, images, sounds, and text (reread only) are original). Venice, Grand Canal, Santa Lucia railway station. The ETR 450 Pendolino, the Rapido Intercity IC 507 Carracci, departs from Venice to Rome. In the West Square, where FAM trains operate, a splendid E 321, no. 01, an electric shunting locomotive without a coupled booster, is shunting. This video is intended solely as a document. The train I'll be taking arrives from Mestre, the ADn 609. In the middle is the trailer Cd 352, formerly ALn 64.402 of the defunct Mantua-Peschiera railway, and at the end is the brand new AD 905, built in 1991. I set off in the cabin of the ADn 905. On the 4 km long bridge across the lagoon, the Ponte della Libertà, we travel at 85 km/h, passing an E 646 in shuttle livery. We pass through Marghera, passing an E 656 Caimano. We enter the large Mestre hub, passing a pair of 'Fanta' trains, ALe 801 and ALe 940 electric locomotives. We leave the FS tracks and pass a rare at-grade intersection. The beautiful little stations of Oriago and then Mira Buse with practically the only connection of the Fam, the one with the Mira Lanza. The iron bridge over the Brenta. I get off at Piove di Sacco, home of the FAM Depot and Workshops. A true open-air museum! Various old AD 800s maneuver and depart. The beautiful diesel-electric De 424 04 maneuvers (note from 2021: today it is preserved at the Primolano Museum, awaiting... rebirth). Tibb-OM from the 1950s. I climb into the cabin of the De 424 04 and talk about the CD trailers, originally pre-war Ansaldo ALg self-propelled locomotives. In the Workshop, they're working on a B 361 trailer, on loan from FUC Udine-Cividale, and on the Ad 605. There's the old two-axle crane wagon marked Società Veneta S.V. 7876, an Austrian war prize and built on the chassis of a cattle wagon, then the abandoned S.V. Ad 807, the towed FUC B 363. I climb into the cab of diesel De 424.09 and we move across the yard. Railcar Ad 808 arrives from Venice; I climb into the cab and we set off for Adria, crossing the yard, which is an... open-air museum. Arzergrande, Pontelongo, the iron bridge over the Bacchiglione. An unusual Vespa trolley for line travel, a true mini-draisine. Cavarzere, the iron bridges over the Gorzone Canal and the Adige River. We enter Adria, joining the non-electrified single-track FS line between Rovigo and Chioggia. Various railcars are waiting. It arrives and I take a weekday local train to Rovigo, with a pair of splendid ALn 773s, led by 3511. I ride in the cab. From Rovigo, a direct train will then take me back to Venice.