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It was natural that the main
station at Valletta should be sited at a convenient place within
the city walls next to the Opera
House which was
destroyed during the Second World War. The imposing station
building had a Booking Office and a room for the Manager. The
rest of the building was taken up with stairways that led down
to the platform
level, 30 feet below
street level, most of which was in a tunnel cut in the rock that
extended beneath the station building and the Opera House. The
tunnel is now used as a car park and access is through the doorway next to the Tourist Information Office and down the
stairway. Some years
after the opening, the station was extended and a ramp was constructed from street level down to platform
level. A loop line allowed the locomotives to run round the carriages
and a small siding was used to stand carriages.
The line passed over the main
ditch on a 5 span viaduct constructed from timber to satisfy
the military authority who considered that a timber construction
would be relatively easy to demolish and thus not compromise
the defence of the city. After closure in 1890 the timber viaduct
was considered to be unsafe and was replaced by a more substantial
masonry structure during 1891. |
