Historical pictures of an Austrian command frame in South Tyrol, Italy, in 1990

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In May of 1990, we went on a holiday trip to Italy. We started in my home town Lienz, where we took the train to Innichen, which had gotten the Italian name San Candido after South Tyrol was annexed by Italy after World War I. The line from Lienz to Franzensfeste (Fortezza) had been completely inside Austria before then, and had had Austrian interlocking frames built by the Südbahnwerke, as this was one of the main lines of the Südbahn-Gesellschaft (see this Wikipedia article for some information on the Südbahn-Gesellschaft). From the 1960s or 1970s onwards, Italy started to replace these older interlocking frames with Italian ones; however, at Innichen, the old frame remained in place much longer, because Austrian signals had to be provided on the eastern side, where operations were (and are) done according to ÖBB rules. This complication prevented a replacement for a long time, until ... well, you'll see.

But first, here are three pictures that are more or less normal. As mentioned, on the ÖBB side of Innichen, Austrian signals were in place. The distant signal had long lost its wires and was fixed in the "caution" position:

Distant signal, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

The home signal, a classic Austrian two-arm semaphore, was fully functional:

Home signal, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

Electrification had been completed, and for some years, goods traffic was up, so that locomotives of both the Austrian and Italian railways would meet there. An Italian class 214.4000, which was quite new then, had its share of work to do:

ÖBB 1044.019, FS E636 065, ÖBB 1042.630, and FS 214 4168, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

But here are three much more interesting pictures. Actually, it was not that easy to get into a traffic bureau or a signal box in Italy at all times—and even harder for someone like me who did not speak Italian; although, Innichen was mostly German-speaking—but not, or mostly not, on the railway. However, somehow I was allowed to get in there for a few moments; and there, to my astonishment, I could take a photo of the old command frame, from before World War I, and still doing its duty. The block instruments—a Siemens&Halske lever machine, with the oldest type of small route levers—had gotten Italian labels somewhen in the 1920, then the Südbahn line was overtaken by the Italian state railways (Ferrovie dello Stato, or FS):

• Arrivi da Lienz
• Chiusura deviatoi
• Partenze per Lienz
• Partenze per Fortezza
• Chiusura deviatoi
• Arrivi da Fortezza

or, in English,

• arrivals from Lienz
• points locking [towards Lienz]
• departures to Lienz
• departures to Franzensfeste
• points locking [towards Franzensfeste]
• arrivals from Franzensfeste

Unfortunately, I did not have time—and wouldn't have been allowed—to take photos of the frames in the two signal boxes. I assume that old SBW500 frames (SBW = Südbahnwerke, or Southern Railway Works; the Südbahn built its own interlocking frames) also from before 1918 were still in place. Altogether, this was certainly the last ensemble by far of old Austrian frames in Italy, as the stations along the Brennerbahn as well as in the Val Canale had been replaced long ago. Only here in Innichen, where an Austrian signal was necessary on the eastern side, because trains (and are) were run by the ÖBB there, no agreement was reached (or probably even sought) up to the start of the electrification in the 1980s. Be that as it may—I am quite sure that no-one except me has pictures of this old frame:

Command frame, traffic bureau, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

This second image is, unfortunately, much darker. However, it shows the additional labels to be used for occupied tracks—they are in German and to be used for the line to Sillian:

Command frame, traffic bureau, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

Last, there is a picture of the panel of the new interlocking, which is a typical Italian relay interlocking. The traffic director (capo del movimento) writes down train information in the classic way:

Panel of the new relay interlocking, traffic bureau, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

That's it from this Austrian, and then Italian, station!