Preserved old electric Loco L 1 of the SAIF “Società Anonima Industriale Ferroviaria” once operating on the now completely dismantled "Ferrovia Agordina".
The loco is exposed in front of the old mine complex at Rivamonte/Auronzo.
Picture taken on August 12th, 2022.

In April 1922, in Rome, the construction of the Agordina railway with the Sedico/Bribano - Agordo route was approved. The central government's decision is very important for the whole area. The Montecatini Company, which had obtained the construction and operating concession for the purpose of transporting the pyrite extracted from the mines of the Val Imperina, with the subsidiary S.A.I.F. Società Anonima Industriale Ferroviaria, built the line on a project by Ing. Augusto Piozzi. The construction work was assigned to the Società Anonima Bellunese Costruzioni Civili and began in June 1922 and was completed in the autumn of 1924.
The km railway. 28.5 had a maximum gradient of 31%. It was standard gauge to allow the goods wagons to continue on the national network and, in the last years of operation, some FS railcars were also used for direct routes from Padua to Agordo.
The rolling stock consisted of 4 electric locomotives numbered LB1-LB4, construction C.G.E. (electrical part) and Carminati and Toselli (mechanical part), weighing 36 t. and with a maximum speed of 60 km/h. It was one of the first railway applications of high voltage direct current.
Then there were the two-axle passenger carriages with terraces and freight wagons for transporting minerals and various goods.
On November 16, 1955, after just thirty years of life, due to the reduction of pyrite extraction and the development of road motorization, the railway line was suppressed despite the protests of the populations.

The four Lb 1/4 locomotives were transferred to Rho (Milan) at the Montecatini plant and subsequently sold to the "Italian Railway of Arezzo".

Photo by Guido Allieri (guido@allieri.com)