I will be dividing this feature into two parts, both robustly memory-driven.

The first, to show random images of the railway revolution, from its hopeful beginnings in 1883 to its failure less than 50 years later, in 1931.

The second, to identify some leftover relics of the locomotive dream, which persistently dodged the traps of oblivion and deletion and can, in some cases, still be detected today.

Anything connected with the history of railways and trains was, and remains, highly collectible. That accounts for an unflagging interest but also for the scarcity of train memorabilia in the collectors’ markets – everything of interest is instantly snapped up, generally at eye-watering prices.

According to memoirs recorded by British visitors, the train service in Malta stopped at sunset because no Maltese workman could be prevailed upon to man the level crossings, the stations and the locomotives after dark, terrorised as they were by omnipresent ghosts that haunt the island at nighttime. The Mtarfa Museum station outside Mdina could not live down its frightening reputation.

Fatati (ghosts) apart, trains ran quite routinely and boringly. The chronicles only register a few accidents, the most bizarre of which unfolded on July 22, 1923, exactly 100 years ago.

Carmelo Chetcuti was moving a drove of 136 bulls through the level crossing at Santa Venera when a train, coming from Mtarfa, ploughed through the herd, killing 34 heads and derailing catastrophically.

If he expected compensation, he was disappointed. The railway company sued him for substantial damages.

The new technological wonder, the tramway, inaugurated with much pomp and spectacle in 1903, helped put to death the railway service.

And buses – the xarabank – that are still ambiguously dear to inhabitants and visitors alike, in turn, bankrupted the trams in 1929.

All images from the author’s collections.