The Pelion Train That Stood the Test of Time

There are old trains.

There are historic railway routes.

There are museums that preserve pieces of another era.

The Pelion Train does not quite belong to any of those categories.

Because it is not standing behind glass.

It is not a memory.

It is not an exhibit.

It is still travelling.

And perhaps that is the most remarkable thing about it.

When it first began its journey in the late 19th century, Pelion was a very different place.

Roads were few.

Cars did not yet exist.

The villages were connected in different ways.

People travelled at a different pace.

No one could have imagined that more than a century later, the same train would still be winding its way through plane trees, stone bridges and mountain landscapes.

The railway was designed by the Italian engineer Evaristo de Chirico, father of the renowned painter Giorgio de Chirico.

For its time, it was considered an engineering achievement.

The bridges.

The curves.

The railway line carved into the slopes of the mountain.

Nothing about it was simple.

And yet, a route was created that still feels as though it belongs perfectly to the landscape.

As if it had always been there.

Its story, however, was not without challenges.

Times changed.

Roads expanded.

Cars became faster.

People's habits evolved.

At one point, the train stopped running.

And for many, it seemed that the journey had come to an end.

But it had not.

Because there was something it offered that could not be replaced.

Not speed.

Not convenience.

The experience itself.

Today, no one boards the Pelion Train because it is the fastest way to reach Milies.

They board it for the journey.

For the sound of the wheels on the rails.

For the stone bridges suspended above the green landscape.

For the views that suddenly appear around each bend.

Because, for a little while, time seems to move differently.

And perhaps that is the secret of its endurance.

The Pelion Train did not survive because it was the fastest.

Nor because it was the most modern.

It survived because it offers something that is becoming increasingly rare.

The joy of the journey.

In a world that is always in a hurry, this little train continues to do exactly the opposite.

It slows down.

It observes.

It travels.

And it reminds us that sometimes the most beautiful part of a journey is not where you are going.

It is everything you see along the way.

Aspa P.