Floriana, the second underground station on the Malta railway, lies directly below the rectangular opening in front of the Methodist church in this 1930 photo. The rectangular vent in the foreground exhausted smoke from trains stopped at the platform over 50ft (15.2m) below.

One assumes there was an stout iron grille just out of shot below the coping stones, to prevent any accidents, maybe mesh too, but this can hardly have stopped detritus and stones dropping onto the trains; The boy on the right looks to be caught in the act, or perhaps play acting, or is he putting his hand out to feel the hot air rising?

The perilous ground level arrangement was a later modification. Originally, as seen on the left in this early 20th century postcard, a high wall surrounded it and a second vent above the stairs leading down to the platforms, but the walls were removed and the uppermost coping stones re-laid as perimeter edging to the shaft.