Returning from a day of explorations, passing throught a country station, I noticed almost by chance, with the corner of the ‘eye an old gray wagon. I decided to go take a look. Immediately I saw a policeman who wanders along the entrance to the station, then I preferred to give a simple look.
Entered the station, I made a few shots from a distance, then, looking at the middle of the deposit I noticed another one, old and abandoned, that stuck in the middle of a row of new wagons. The risk was high and the sun was going down, so regretfully I chose too retire. The following Sunday, between the various places to visit, we put also the station, and it was the first one!
It is ten o’clock in the morning when we arrive, and is apparently deserted, then we hurry to make a run on the tracks and hide behind the old wagon. From there we try to entry but the doors are locked by a very strong wire, but from the windows we can see the interior and marvel to see the wooden seats, but anyway we cannot enter … pity, we try to see another one. We walk behind the long wagons hiding us from the sight of the station side and we find other three, of different colors and with an infinite number of doors, put in a very short distance from each other. Centoporte, the name of these cars, created in the thirties, designed for local trains with strong crowding and running until the early seventies, initially pulled by steam engines. The infinity of doors seem closed but insisting I find few open and I can sneak inside.
Continuing the exploration, we note that there are several others that from the station we cannot see because covered by modern trains. Crossing the wagons from inside, we admire the seats of wood that compose the third class, the seats covered with cloth, for the first or the second class, a substantial amount of old photo applied on the walls and cockpits. In a wagon, externally we see the word “reserved for the military” and in it, instead of the classics seats we find tables and chairs, as if it had been used as sitting room, and another car entirely empty. During the war some centoporte wagons were used as doctors cars, who knows that it is not one of those.
I find an article from which I learn that there are only 52 centoporte rightnow, I wonder if these are included… anyway I found another one, in another day and in a different place, a third class centoporte, but this was with all windows closed by a welded metal plate. The exploration leaves me with some questions, but with so much satisfaction for the discovery of these rare wagons.
Exploration video :
Ascosi Lasciti Abruzzo : Valerio Fanelli
Always passionate about abandoned places. He is registered in the alternum Abruzzese amateur photographers and FIAF member, Christian has organized various exhibitions in Pescara,
at the Savini Archaeological Museum in Teramo, at the Ex museum
Aurum at Pescara, at Pescara airport and at the Stripe and Architectural Festival
in Fermo.
