Top of the World
On June 10 the funicular, directed by a certain E.Treiber, was opened to the public, thus beginning regular service. The event was accompanied by a worldwide wave of enthusiasm, as evidenced by the famous tune Funiculi' Funicula' . On December 13, 1886 Oblieght ceded, as he had reserved the right to do in the 1878 contract, the concession for 1,200,000 liras to the French company "Société Anonyme du Chemin de Fer Funiculaire du Vèsuve," which opened an office in Naples at Via S.Brigida, 42. Every day 300 people experienced the thrill of the ascent. The company, however, in debt up to its neck due to high operating costs and meager ticket revenues went bankrupt and was in turn forced to sell the concession for 170,000 liras to the already world-famous Thomas Cook and Son company. It was November 24, 1888. The advent of the new company was not the happiest. Indeed, the Cooks had to endure the pressing extortionate demands of local guides, who set fire to a station, cut the cables and pushed a carriage down the ravine. John Mason Cook, who had meanwhile succeeded his father Thomas who died in 1892, came to an agreement with the guides on the sums to be paid for each passenger carried. The new light rail, partly rack and pinion, built in 1903 helped double the number of tourists transported to the crater. This prompted the company to demolish the old facilities and build a new, more functional funicular, with electric motors instead of the antiquated and wasteful steam engines, and put new carriages into service. But the flourishing of technology at the turn of the century was overshadowed by a tremendous eruption, that of 1906. On April 4 of that year the first tremors were felt, so that Cook's staff and their families, were evacuated and sent to Pugliano. On April 7 and 8, the lower and upper stations, equipment, machinery, and the two funicular cars were destroyed; everything was buried under a 20-30m high blanket of ash. The eruptive activity ended on April 21 and resulted in a loss of height of the cone, destruction of the funicular and the adjoining restaurant, damage to the Vesuvius Railway, as well as a great number of human casualties. Eyewitnesses to the event and heroes of duty were Prof. Matteucci and other brave men. But the man did not give up and in a short time the damage to the railway was repaired, while it was not until 1909, based on the design of engineer Enrico Treiber, that work on a new funicular came to an end. Once again, in 1911, an eruption destroyed what people had built; the upper station was destroyed and it took almost a year to rebuild. From 1911 onward, the funicular operated at full capacity, fortunately remaining unharmed during the 1929 eruption; meanwhile, in 1928, the Cook brothers retired, so that control of the Vesuvius funicular and railway passed to the "Società Anonima Italiana per le Ferrovie del Vesuvio," associated with the parent company Thomas Cook and Son. Vesuvius awakened again for what will be to this day its last eruption. The funicular, already under Allied control since 1943 suffered irreparable damage, and was never rebuilt.
