Taking it’s name from a nearby wayside chapel, San Salvatore station was probably the most remote station on the whole line and built primarily to serve the nearby Mount Carmel Lunatic Asylum. This institution was a large purpose-built hospital for the mentally ill; an extensive Victorian complex enough for around 400 patients at the time the railway opened. The station would have been convenient for family and friends visiting relatives, or commuting medical staff and officials.
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Looking in the Rabat direction, the over-bridge at San Salvatore station has now been replaced by a huge roundabout. The original palm trees have recently been cut down but replaced in their original pits.
At the east end of the station site looking down on the north side of the bridge carrying the railway, now the road, over a stream bed.
Seen from a cycle path that now runs adjacent to the old station, this stone embankment wall once abutted the north edge of the line.
Landmarks in the country
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Aerial view looking west from San Salvatore station. Beyond the roundabout the dashed section of the trackbed has now entirely vanished and is private property. Walkers of the line are forced to take a diversion here.
From lanes to fields
Aerial view looking north-west across the countryside between San Salvatore and Notabile stations. 1. Recommencement of the surviving trackbed. 2. Low stone-built embankment 3. Site of guard hut No.12. 4. bend in the railway alignment. 5. high embankment crossing a deep gully. 6. Concreted section of lane. 7. junction with Triq 12 ta Mejju and site of guard hut No.14 8. curve near Habel-Bellu 9. Section now private through vineyard. 10. Underpass and embankment near The Xara Lodge
Looking towards Rabat from the easternmost accessible section of the line (1. on the annotated view). To get here you have to approach from the opposite direction and return again on the same route.
The railway line is now an attractive farm track raised up on a low embankment above the fields (2. on the annotated aerial view)
The view from the same point but the opposite direction, back towards Valletta. Public access stops where the track ends.
The stone embankments along this section of line are of second grade quality stonework with a rougher finish.
Looking back towards Valletta from the site of Guard hut No.14. Foundations of the structure may survive to the left of this view. (No.3 on the annotated aerial view)
Beyond guard hut No.12 the trackbed takes a subtle curve (No.4 on the annotated aerial view) before approaching the busy road to Mdina where guard hut No.13 was located.
The curve looking back in the direction of Valletta (No.4 on the annotated aerial view)
Although just 70m from the Mdina Road and site of guard hut No.13, another long diversion is required to re-join the line of the railway to visit this impressive, if overgrown, structure. A small ravine is spanned by a high embankment beneath the prickly pear thicket. It crosses from right to left, from the Valletta direction towards Rabat, and lands on the nearside before immediately entering a low cutting. (No.5 on the annotated aerial view)
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Where the railway cutting begins after the ravine the stone retaining walls are of very curious but attractive construction.
The shallow cutting passes through agricultural fields with glimpsed views of Mdina on the skyline. (No.5 on the annotated aerial view)
The overgrown character of this cutting is clear from this view in the Rabat direction. It’s hard now to believe that the railway once passed through here. The retaining walls on either side are of curiously different stonework.
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Beyond the overgrown section the line of the railway continues uphill in a long straight ascent. The dome of Santa Marija tal-Virtu on the limits of Rabat is seen on the horizon. (No.6 on the annotated aerial view).
The view in the opposite direction, towards Valletta, and a short way further up the line. The concrete surface can be seen to end where the overgrown section begins (No.6 on the annotated aerial view).
The straight section of the railway line continues across the road at the site of guard hut No.14 (No.7 on the annotated aerial view). In the distance the track begins its penultimate turn towards Rabat and Notabile station.
Near Habel-Bellu farm the line bends to take a more westerly angle (No.8 on the annotated aerial view).
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This sgraffito drawing on the wall of Habel-bellu farmhouse appears to show one of the early Manning Wardle locomotives in original condition.
The carved locomotive is located on a wall at the top of the steps; a grandstand view of the first Malta Railway trains could have been enjoyed from here.
Access beyond Habel-bellu is limited and passes across private property. This view looks back towards Valletta from the end of the publicly accessible lane (No.9 on the annotated aerial view). .
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Robbed of its embankment either side, this surviving underpass bridge is gradually becoming buried in an agricultural field. (No.10 on the annotated aerial view).
Close to the surviving underpass the railway embankment recommences before the line crossed over Sqaq Tac-Cawla. Little is known about the bridge that must once have carried the railway over the road here. Immediately over the road the line took its final curve northwards on the approach to Notabile station. This section of line is difficult to access and is on farmland.
