Biella–Cossato–Vallemosso Railway
The Biella–Cossato–Vallemosso railway was a narrow-gauge railway that connected Biella to Cossato station and continued to Vallemosso. Inaugurated in 1891 and electrified in 1924, it was closed in 1958.
History
By royal decree no. 6597 of 8 November 1889, the Société Générale des Chemins de Fer Économiques, a Belgian company, obtained the concession for the construction and operation of three light railways that would connect Biella to Balma, Vallemosso and Mongrando, respectively.
Inaugurated on 31 December 1891 together with the other company lines, the Biella–Cossato–Vallemosso was managed by the Belgian company until 1923, when it, together with the line to Balma, was sold to the newly established Società Anonima Ferrovie Elettriche Biellesi (FEB), which initiated the electrification of the two lines.
The start of electric traction, using direct current at 2,400 volts, followed the enactment of state incentive measures and took place on 25 August 1924. The Mongrando line had in the meantime passed to SABOTE, the company that operated the Biella–Oropa tramway.
On 15 March 1930, the branch from Cossato to Masserano, long, was opened, the first section of a planned extension to Gattinara that was never built, which would have interconnected with the (via Gattinara), acquired by FEB in 1926 from the Società Anonima dei Tramways Vercellesi, as the first element of an even larger network. This expansion nonetheless contributed to increasing the already good passenger and freight traffic. The latter consisted mainly of bales of wool and cotton, machinery, dyeing agents and coal.
In 1954, in a political climate unfavourable to investment in rail transport and with facilities suffering from competition from private motoring, the Ferrovie Elettriche Biellesi, SABOTE and some local bus operators were incorporated into the new Azienda Trasporti Autoferrotranviari (ATA), which worked to replace all rail and tram installations with bus services.
The line was definitively closed on 15 December 1958 and quickly dismantled; much of the railway bed is still preserved, as are the passenger buildings and civil engineering works, with the exception of the station building at Cossato, which was demolished.
Characteristics
Stations and stops |
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The original total length of the line was , which were initially covered in one hour and forty minutes; the stations were headed by station masters. The minimum curve radius was , with a maximum gradient of 28 per mille, rising to 35 per mille on the Masserano branch.
Route
A connecting track within the urban route of Biella, shared with the line from Balma, linked the FEB station to that of the Biella–Santhià railway (standard gauge).
After running along Via Cernaia and leaving the track of the line for Balma, the Vallemosso line crossed the bridge over the Cervo torrent to serve the hamlet of Chiavazza with a station separate from the one on the Biella–Novara railway. From there, following its own permanent way in a constant descent, it ran almost parallel to the route of the Biella–Cossato tramway, whose entire freight traffic it absorbed, serving the same localities of San Rocco, San Quirico–Lanificio Mosca, Vigliano Biellese, Avandino, Valdengo, Stropodarca, Cerreto Castello and Quaregna before reaching the branch station of Cossato at kilometre 11+750.
From here, the line for Vallemosso turned northwards along the valley of the Strona, serving, in order, Ponte Guelpa, the Lanificio Valle e C. with the stop at Crosa and the station of Strona, beyond which it crossed the torrent and entered the only tunnel on the line, reaching the stop at Valle San Nicolao, at km 18+633; after regaining the other bank of the torrent, a straight allowed the northern terminus to be reached.
The deviation for Masserano, which physically branched off after Castellazzo station, was entirely on its own right-of-way and instead headed north-east, significantly diverging from the route of what later became the state road 142, reaching Lessona Centro with two steep ramps and touching the villages of Castello, Dallimonti and Mercandetti.
See also
- History of rail transport in Italy
- Biella–Balma railway
- Biella–Novara railway
- Biella–Cossato tramway
- Biella–Oropa tramway