The railway line of Thessaly Railways was built at the back end of 1800’s. For a long time it served the transportation of agricultural produce, as well as people, from the Thessaly plains to the port of Volos where they were then transported by boat to other parts of Greece and beyond. The line from Kalabaka to Volos, covering a distance of 167 kilometres, served many key towns and villages, 37 in total, where in many of the stations there were also warehouses for storing cotton and cereals. The chief engineer of this line was the, Italian born, Evaristo De Chirico, father of the famous painter Giorgio De Chirico. The line had a gauge of 100cm, where engines and wagons built mostly in other parts of Europe thundered up and down the line for almost one hundred years. The rise of road transportation and the adoption of a standard gauge in all other railway lines in Greece brought about the demise of Thessaly Railways with services terminating in 1999. Nowadays, what remains of the Thessaly Railway line can be retraced by visiting the stations, seeing old engines and carriages all of which are abandoned and in great state of disintegration. One exception is the line from Ano Lehonia to Milies, with a different gauge of 60cm, that was built after the main line in order to service the people of Pelion, and is still operational today, attracting many visitors during the summer.
Some station buildings are still standing and in a reasonable condition, others have only a few years before they collapse completely. One train stop, that of Kalyvia, has already disappeared to be replaced by a highway that runs through the place where it once stood. Carriages have been mostly vandalised and railway materials are just lying around exposed to weather and scavenges. Any maintenance seems to be non-existent. One notable exception is the effort of a group of railway enthusiasts from Greece and abroad, who under the banner of the “Museum of Thessaly Railway”, have been doing a sterling job in reconstructing some engines and carriages as well as maintaining as best as possible the line between Velestino and Aerino.
This gallery is part of an on-going project whose purpose has been to record this interesting piece of railway history. This project in addition to the photographs has collected spoken accounts from people connected in some ways with this railway line, some of whom worked in the past for this railway line whilst others, mostly living in villages which were served by the railway, just recalled its past glory. The recorded narrative part, done in collaboration with the journalist Christos Siafkos, is the subject matter of a future publication, in conjunction with captured images. This gallery represents a small sample of the material collected by visiting and photographing all stations of the historic Thessaly Railway as well as with any rolling stock still present at some of these stations.
You can view this gallery by choosing any image on this page or by advancing forwards or backwards by clicking on the arrows right or left of the image. To return to this page just click on the cross at the top right hand corner of the page. The placing of the cursor on an image reveals its legend and for some also some information that contextualises the image.
