Viaggiare in tramway: linee e stazioni in Piemonte tra Ottocento e Novecento

During the nineteenth century, next to the new railway network, in Piedmont there is the development of a secondary network of little train, with convoys smaller than those of a real train, the so-called tramways. The interurban tram network provides a transport service for both passengers and goods and it is designed to serve the territory in a capillary manner, integrating the primary rail network. The maiden voyage took place in 1855 on the Turin - Cuneo route and although most of the lines were completed before 1880, the construction of some railroad lines was completed only in the early twentieth century. The network consists of narrow gauge tracks and extends initially in the area around Saluzzo and Pinerolo, to reach progressively the entire regional territory. The proverbial slowness of the convoys is counterbalanced by the possibility to offer a large number of stops, ensuring all in all an efficient transport service to a very large user basin. The paper aims to illustrate the development and the physiognomy of the Piedmont tramway network, since the 1881 constitution of the Belgian company CGPT (General Company of the Piedmont Tramways) for the management of lines and vehicles, until its disposal in the 1950s favoring the most efficient road transport, also considering the contribution of Piedmont railway engineering to the evolution of the means of transport. Besides, the tramway stations, which constitute a local, but widespread throughout the region built heritage, have been surveyed. Different in typology and consistency, when preserved, these buildings were recovered as a refreshment point or reconverted to new uses or are in a state of abandon; if they have been demolished, sometimes their memory still lives only in the place names, when they are not completely sunk into oblivion.