Monistrol-Empalme

One day, I walked the trackbed of the old Montserrat Rack Railway between the stations of Monistrol de Montserrat (Adif) and Monistrol-Vila (FGC).

After crossing the Bauma neighbourhood, running alongside the C-58 road for a short stretch, and passing under FGC’s Llobregat-Anoia line, the route briefly parallels the latter until an open clearing comes into view. If you look closely at the "Línea dels Catalans", a platform can still be seen.

This is the site of the old Monistrol-Empalme station, which once allowed passengers to interchange between the original Montserrat Rack Railway and the Compañía General de Ferrocarriles Catalanes (the Barcelona-Manresa line). Apart from the clearing and the path that partly follows the old railway alignment, this platform is the only remaining vestige.

In this snapshot, a pair of Class 213 multiple units are seen working an R5 service from Manresa to Barcelona.

Photo scanned from film negative