The Società della Ferrovia Sicula Occidentale (Railway Company of Western Sicily) was established in 1878 to construct a railway between

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

Marsala Marsala (, ; ) is an Italian comune located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth largest in Sicily.The town is famous for the docking of Giuseppe Garibal ...

and

Trapani Trapani ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') with 54,887 inhabitants, on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the mai ...

History

Ferrovia Sicula Occidentale Palermo-Marsala-Trapani 1930

The company was established in Rome under a notarial deed of 3 September 1878 with a paid-up capital of 22 million lire divided into 44,000 shares. It obtained government approval by Royal Decree of 30 September of the same year. it built and inaugurated the first railway connection between the two cities of Palermo and Trapani in 1881. Work began with the opening, on 1 June 1880, of the first stretch from the new Palermo Lolli station (later replaced by

Palermo Notarbartolo railway station Palermo Notarbartolo () is one of the main railway stations serving the city and ''comune'' of Palermo, capital of the Regions of Italy, region of Sicily in insular Italy, Italy. Opened in 1974, it is the second most important station in Palermo ...

) in

Partinico Partinico ( Sicilian: ''Partinicu'', Ancient Greek: ''Parthenikòn'', Παρθενικόν) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. It is from Palermo and from Trapani. Main sights *Church of ''San ...

. A month later it inaugurated the stretch to the south connecting Trapani to

Castelvetrano Castelvetrano () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy. The archeological site of Selinunte is located within the municipal territory. The municipality borders with Campobello di Mazara, Mazara del Vall ...

. In March 1881 it linked Partinico with

Castellammare del Golfo Castellammare del Golfo (; ; or ) is a town and municipality in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the harbor. The nearby body of water conversely tak ...

and finally, on 5 June 1881, the entire route was completed with the activation of the central section of Castellammare del Golfo - Castelvetrano. In 1882 the company built the link, from Palermo Lolli to the Bivio Madonna dell'Orto, (more recently called Bivio Marittima, for the port of Palermo). This connected to the Calabrian-Sicilian railway but the connection was only used for goods traffic. In 1884, the company was registered in the official list of the

Milan stock exchange Borsa Italiana () or Borsa di Milano (), based in Milan at Mezzanotte Palace, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervi ...

Locomotives

The company ordered 14

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s from Reale Opificio di Pietrarsa. They were delivered between 1880 and 1885 and numbered 1-20. In 1886

Ansaldo Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. is an Italian power engineering company based in Genoa, Italy. The original parent company, Gio. Ansaldo & C., was founded in 1853, and merged with Finmeccanica in 1993 (now Leonardo S.p.A.). In 2024, the company's share ...

supplied locomotives 35 and 36 and, between 1891 and 1895, delivered another 6 units similar to the 1-20 group. Subsequently, Ansaldo, in 1901, provided the last unit, number 37, similar to 35 and 36.

Nationalization

The company operated the

Railway via

until August 1, 1907, when it was incorporated into the

Italian State Railways Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. (; ; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the initialism FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estate services and other services in ...

(FS). Of the 1-20 group of locomotives, 16 units were registered as FS Class 385

while the three units in the 35-37 group were registered as FS Class 388

References

{{reflist History of rail transport in Italy