FS E444 003 at Roma Termini in Spring 1990, just arrived with an intercity, probably from Torino.
<br>This engine is one of the four prototype units (001-004) of class E444, different from the rest of the class both in the look and in the equipment. The photo is not too good but is the only one I ever managed to take, because the four prototypes spent most of their life on the tyrrhenian line, very far from my area, pulling fast trains from Roma to Torino and Napoli or even more south, and it was almost impossible to meet them somewhere else in Italy.
<br>All four prototypes are retired (003 was the last on duty). No. 002 and no. 004 were scrapped while no. 001 will probably undergo restore operations in order to be displayed in Pietrarsa Railway Museum; I don't know if no. 003 still exist.
Photo and scan by Jacopo Fioravanti (jacopofioravanti@katamail.com).