Summer service · 12 May to 28 Sept

# Take the slow way round.

Three routes cross the caldera country: along the cliffs, over the pass, and through the terraces. Each one runs to the minute and never faster than the view deserves.

Consult the timetable The three routes

Routes
  3 + night car
Viaducts
  17 crossed
Punctuality
  98.4% (1927–)

The Viaduct at Sienna Gorge, morning service

Caldera Rly Co · Est 1927 ·

Section I

## The Three Routes

Every ticket is printed on board, punched at the gorge, and, by a habit no one remembers starting, kept forever.

No. 1 Daily

### The Coast Cantata

Terra Alta to Port Lumen

Duration
  5 h 40 m
Distance
  148 km
Fare
  from €64

Cliff running from Sienna Gorge to the Lighthouse Curve. Sit seaward, left side going down, and keep your window latch loose for the salt air.

No. 2 Tue · Thu · Sat

### The Alpine Ascent

Terra Alta to Vespergate

Duration
  7 h 05 m
Distance
  172 km
Fare
  from €78

Up and over the Col du Miroir on a one-in-forty grade. Blankets in every parlour car from October; the summit halt serves chocolate at 1,940 metres.

No. 3 Fri to Sun

### The Vineyard Arc

Casteldoro to Miradora

Duration
  4 h 25 m
Distance
  96 km
Fare
  from €52

A gentle arc through the terraces, timed for the low afternoon light. Autumn services include a tasting tray from the Casteldoro co-operative.

Section II

## Down the Line: Service 101

The Coast Cantata, called stop by stop. Times are kept; views are guaranteed by geography.

1. 08:12 Terra Alta Central Departure: platform 2, under the great clock. Elevation 612 m.
2. 09:05 Sienna Gorge Viaduct Slow crossing at walking pace. Photographs from the open gallery.
3. 10:20 Miradora Twenty-minute halt. Coffee and almond pastry on platform 1.
4. 11:48 The Salt Tunnels Eleven bores cut in 1907. Lamps dimmed by tradition.
5. 12:30 Casteldoro First seating in the dining car is called on departure.
6. 13:55 Lighthouse Curve The sea appears all at once. The driver sounds one long note.
7. 14:52 Port Lumen Harbour Arrival at sea level, alongside the evening fishing fleet.

Section III

## Aboard

The train is the destination’s first act. Everything on board is original, restored, or made by the same hands that restore.

The Meridian Car: walnut, brass, and three seatings a day

### The dining car

Lunch is cooked in a galley the width of a corridor and tastes like it took the whole valley to make, because it did. Bread from Miradora, trout from the gorge, wine from the Arc. First seating is called at Casteldoro; the last coffee is poured on the Lighthouse Curve, timed to the minute.

### Cabins & seating

- Parlour Seatincluded Wide armchairs in pairs, fold-down writing tables, windows that open to the elbow.
- Observation Gallery+ €18 The glazed rear car. Unreserved benches, a brass rail, and nothing between you and the view.
- Sleeper Berth+ €46 For the Night Vespers service only. Two berths, wool blankets, a basin, and dawn over the pass.

Left luggage, kept lovingly. Porters at every staffed halt.
Company time. Every guard’s watch is set against the great clock at Terra Alta.

Section IV

## The Fleet

### No. 7 · Vesper

Built 1931 at the Harlow & Finch works; oil-fired since 1974; returned to steam after a nut-and-bolt restoration in 2019. She takes the Cantata six days a week and the Night Vespers on the seventh, which the crews consider a holiday.

Arrangement
  4-6-2 “Pacific”
Line speed
  96 km/h, rarely used
Livery
  Caldera teal, gold lining
Whistle
  One long note, at the Curve

Section V

## From the Journal

Ninety-eight years of margin notes, press clippings and letters to the stationmaster.

> Five hours and forty minutes, and I begrudged the journey not one of them. The Cantata is the rare timetable that reads like a poem.

> Other railways get you somewhere. Caldera returns you to yourself, somewhat saltier, entirely on schedule.

> My grandfather proposed on the Lighthouse Curve. My father was a fireman on the Vesper. I simply buy a ticket every June.

Section VI

## Timetable & Booking

Summer working timetable, 12 May to 28 September. Winter services are published on the feast of St. Alban.

All services convey the dining car unless marked. Children under 12 travel at half fare; dogs and bicycles at a quarter.
Service | Route | Direction | Days | Dep. | Arr. | Fare
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
101 | Coast Cantata | Terra Alta → Port Lumen | Daily | 08:12 | 14:52 | €64
102 | Coast Cantata | Port Lumen → Terra Alta | Daily | 15:40 | 22:18 | €64
201 | Alpine Ascent | Terra Alta → Vespergate | Tue · Thu · Sat | 07:35 | 14:40 | €78
202 | Alpine Ascent | Vespergate → Terra Alta | Wed · Fri · Sun | 09:10 | 16:15 | €78
301 | Vineyard Arc | Casteldoro → Miradora | Fri to Sun | 13:05 | 17:30 | €52
901 | Night Vespers | Terra Alta → Vespergate | Fri only | 21:50 | 06:05 | €96

### The Booking Hall

Terra Alta Central, 2 Viaduct Approach. Open 07:00 to 19:00 daily; the brass grille closes for lunch between 12:30 and 13:15, as it has since 1927.

### By wire or telephone

Telephone (0)55 214 88, or write to reservations@caldera.rail. Reserved fares hold for seven days; the seat map is drawn by hand and honoured absolutely.

### Fair-weather promise

If cloud sits below the Col du Miroir for your whole Ascent, your next mountain ticket is half price. The guard’s word is final and generously given.