Notabile (Rabat)

Enigmatic remnants on Racecourse Road

To the misery of investors, construction work had been slow and beset by problems, delaying the line’s opening until 28th Feb 1883.  The inauguration provides us with some of the most detailed evidence for the station’s appearance, with a number of photos taken to commemorate the event. The special train, formed of seven carriages, was hauled into Notabile by the first two of the line’s engines suitably decorated. Another carriage, seen poised in the passing loop, must have been physically manhandled onto the back of the arriving train before the locomotives were individually switched into the passing loop to take their place at the head of the return journey. After posed photos of the assembled party the train set back off for Valletta.

A few uniformed soldiers are idling on the platform in this 1916 photo, waiting for the train to carry them on towards their barracks at Mtarfa. The station ramp disappears upwards on the left. Note the trees planted along its length.

Tunnel tell-tales

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