The story of the railway as a public entity would not be complete without reference to the man who engineered its transition from a bankrupt enterprise to a government department, and who eventually read the signs of the times and closed it down.

In 1888, Gerald Strickland (1861-1940), then aged 29, became Chief Secretary to the Council of Government. The Malta Railway Co. was giving extremely poor service but, if the conditions of the concession were to be enforced to the letter, it would be a case of letting the (British) side down. Nevertheless, as things went from bad to worse, the government had to act, not least to prevent serious accidents.

Strickland admitted that closing down the railway and forfeiture to government had been painful decisions, as many of the shareholders, who lost their investment, were friends of his. After the government stepped in and acquired the railway, it was decided to run it as a public enterprise managed by Lorenzo Gatt from the Public Works Department. A select committee was appointed to report on its reorganisation.

Included in the recommendations were the abolition of second class and the introduction of two fare zones that capitalised on the more important section of the route from Valletta to Birkirkara, and the less lucrative remaining part from there to Notabile.

Workmen’s trains were retained. By 1929 there were 33 mixed, first- and third-class carriages of the four-wheel type, with end gangways connected to planks to give ticket collectors access to the whole train. First-class carriages were painted in varnished teak and the third class, green.

In 1929, the fare between Valletta and Museum was eight pence for first class and four pence for third. Apart from the carriages there were workmen’s coaches. In these there was no end gangway but they were open sided, with the seats placed crosswise and back to back. Workmen paid two pence. The remaining rolling stock consisted of four ballast trucks for maintenance.

Several improvements were necessary to return the line to safe operation prior to reopening. The wooden viaduct at Porta Reale was rebuilt in stone and given a wider platform with waiting benches. Heavier, 60lbs./yard rails were laid and the embankments were repaired after settling was noted.

A new engine, No.5, was ordered from Manning Wardle through the Crown Agents on August 12, for delivery in December. The Crown Agents was the commercial and financial agent responsible for all purchases for use by the governments of British colonies and protectorates. The railway reopened on March 28, 1892. At the Marina, signs were put up to indicate the way to the railway station at Porta Reale, via a zig-zag pathway in the chamber, and a roadway in the great moat.

Access to Valletta and Floriana station platforms was improved by replacing the stairs with ramps. Despite improvements, Floriana continued to be unpopular, some continuing to use it as a request stop, but the majority preferring to continue to Valletta rather than climb 90 feet to reach the gate near Argotti Gardens.

The Daily Malta Chronicle of August 23, 1910, reported that 17-year-old Lorenzo Camilleri of Floriana, a student at the railway technical school, took passage from Ħamrun for his hometown where: “the train only stops to the order of passengers. While passing through the tunnel and upon arriving at the station, the young man very imprudently jumped out, with the view of saving the return journey from town, but he failed to reach the platform and fell between the train and the wall of the tunnel, sustaining severe injuries. His cries attracted the attention of the crossing keeper who raised an alarm which was quickly responded to”.

On July 22, 1923, at Guard Hut No.4, the 7.55pm train from Museum Station ploughed into a herd of bulls

When the line was first built, one of the problems was the large number of level crossings, 18 between Valletta and Notabile. Several of these were at the junction of important roadways leading to the ancient capital. There were some dangerous passing points at guard huts 6, 12 and 14.

Of more serious concern were the crossings at Msida and San Salvatore stations. It was proposed to construct overways at all five points but, due to lack of funds, only San Salvatore was built. Here the line crossed the busy main road to Notabile at a very steep angle, causing mutual recrimination, the railway complaining about damaged rails and the cabmen about broken wheels.

The wooden viaduct between Porta Reale Station and Floriana Tunnel was replaced with a masonry structure.

A number of accidents were reported here over the years, despite the brave efforts of the engine drivers. San Salvatore was the station for the nearby mental health hospital and it is not unlikely that some of the victims were unfortunates of unsound mind. Level crossings were manned by chainmen or catena, a much-sought-after cushy job by pensioners, albeit one offering poor remuneration.

On January 18, 1896, Luigi Debono, ex-Royal Malta Artillery chainman, died while warning a sailor to move out of the path of an oncoming train. Debono had been invalidated after losing an arm during weapons training at St Paul’s Bay. Chainmen spent most of the day in a small stone room, a sort of home from home, smoking or crafting ornaments.

Perhaps the greatest failure of the chain system occurred on July 22, 1923, at Guard Hut No.4, when the 7.55pm down train from Museum Station ploughed into a herd of bulls. The drovers advised chainman Riccardo Meilaq that the 136 animals that had just been unloaded from a ship at the Marsa, would need time to make it over the level crossing. The restive animals pressed on the chain and Meilaq and the drovers lost control of the situation, the chainman failing to signal with his red lamp to indicate danger.

At about 8.15pm the train arrived... it ploughed through the animals before derailing, fortunately, without injury to passengers. The engine driver and his fireman were devastated. One imagines the train cutting a gory swathe through the herd in the dark. The cries of the animals and the smell of fear would have remained etched in their memory for a long time after. Another crew drove the train back to Ħamrun and Valletta after it had been returned to the track. Thirty-four animals were killed. The line was cleared after midnight. The next morning the drovers were charged with having led a herd of bulls that were improperly secured for such a journey.

Indentures of Dominic Vella from the Railway Technical School.

On the initiative of the technically-inclined Strickland, a workshop was set up at Ħamrun, next to the station. Machinery was procured from government departments, and from England, through the Crown Agents. The machinery included a small cupola or foundry, two lathes, a drill press and boring mill, a power hammer and forges. Entrance to the workshop was through two wide doors via a siding close to the station building. The employment of a foreman fitter, two boilermakers, two carpenters, blacksmith, moulder, electrician, saddler, tin and coppersmith, painter and storekeeper, gave the railway unprecedented self-sufficiency.

Engine No.4 was rebuilt and work poured in from government departments. The workshop could even undertake outside work at cheaper rates than were charged by the Dockyard and the engineering works at the Marsa.

F.M., writing in The Railway Magazine in October 1929, described the workshop as: “self-contained and can deal with all repairs and even new construction, to the extent of building a passenger coach which was performed quite recently. Electric drive has recently been fitted in the workshop”.

The jewel in the crown was the technical school and engineering training workshop, another brainchild of Strickland. Apart from the Dockyard School there were few opportunities for young men to get technical training and obtain their indentures according to British Board of Trade regulations, after which they would be able to continue their studies abroad, in heavy industry or aboard merchant ships.

The jewel in the crown was the technical school and engineering training workshop, another brainchild of Strickland

From a modest intake of four apprentices in 1895 (12 in the following year), the school became so successful that demand for places exceeded supply. In 1897, a Mr Nixon (later professor) was employed as a lecturer. He became synonymous with the school and served until well after the railway shut down in 1931.

The railway school was considered as good as the Dockyard equivalent. Success stories abounded and were spoken of with pride. On May 5, 1898, Joseph Arena got the highest marks in the Railway Technical School examinations and was awarded a scholarship to further his studies in England.

In 1911, C. Xuereb Grech, a former student, resumed duty as an engineer with the Cambrian Steam Navigation Co., after returning to Malta for the summer holidays. The Times of Malta of June 11, 1963, reported the success story of Alfred Flores, a former Malta Railway engineering school student. Flores migrated to Detroit in 1920. He started work with Ford and after nine years joined Continental Motors. He later set up on his own, working from a small garage, making parts for Warner Aircraft. In 1934 he opened his second workshop, manufacturing everything from aircraft parts to shell parts, timers for bombs and timer shells.

Ever conscious of the railway as a burden on the exchequer, the railway cut costs by selling coal clinkers to households for cooking. The workshop ovens baked briquettes from coal dust and tar for use as an alternative fuel for the engines, saving on coal, always a recurring cost for the railway, and more so during World War I. The workshop assisted in the war effort by producing hand grenades.

A further source of fuel came from old sleepers. The tar and creosote coating gave off a lot of smoke when the wood was burnt in the engine furnaces but, in the face of rising bills and competition from the tramway, every eco­nomy measure added up.

The deck of the new masonry bridge at Porta Reale Station.

In 1896 an extension to Mtarfa was taken in hand. It was estimated that after the extension was completed, some 70 other people, not calculating the military, would start using the railway to travel to Valletta on a daily basis. The extension was initially planned as a tunnel store for carriages. It cost £5,000 to tunnel some distance beyond Notabile Station so as to be able to park the workmen’s carriages for the early morning 5.30am trip for Valletta (5am in summer). This would save the trouble and expense of returning them, empty, to Valletta, the previous evening and taking them up early the next morning. These trains carried 150 workmen, and the 2d. fare, single way, paid its way. In the evening the workmen’s left Valletta at 5pm in winter and two hours later in summer.

After the small tunnel store, it was decided to continue digging to Greek’s Gate and create a station there with ramps similar to Valletta Station. The plan was then modified to combine engineering practicality and tap future passenger traffic after the completion of new barracks at Mtarfa.

On December 7, 1911, Lorenzo Gatt explained to the Royal Commissioners why they altered the plans for the tunnel: “When they had driven 600 feet, the idea occurred to us that if we further extended the railway to the other side of the hill we would tap those barracks. For that purpose another vote of £15,000 was voted by the Council. An indirect advantage of the second proposal was that the spoil from the excavation could, at a comparatively small expense, be deposited on the other side of the hill to form an embankment across Imtarfa Valley. If we kept to the original project all the spoil would have been taken down the opposite direction towards Valletta and deposited on a site that we would have had to purchase and eventually carried back at great expense to Imtarfa to build the embankment with”.

The new extension was inaugurated on June 9, 1900.

To be concluded.