Venta de Zafarraya… where the hell’s that, you might think to yourself – well, it’s half way between the Pantano de Bermejales and Vélez Málaga.

If you love steam trains, even if they are only on a 10-inch gauge, then you will want to visit Venta de Zafarraya because they have just restored 1.6km of old track, belonging to a line that used to go all the way up the mountain from Vélez Málaga into the Poniente de Granada (Alhama de Granada area).

The carriages look like the ones tagged on behind these tourist road trains that you have running around coastal towns like Almuñécar, but the difference is that it is a real steam engine that is towing the carriages – albeit it, not a very big one.

A total of 127,000 euros were spent on bringing this section of line back into use, 76,000 of which came as a grant from the Junta as part of the Sustainable Tourism Programme.

The train and carriages measure a total of 16 metres and can carry 30 passengers. However, for the moment, the service will be running on weekends only.

The original railway line was laid down at the beginning of the 20th century and ran its last service in May 1960.

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(News: Venta de Zafarraya, Poniente de Granada, Andalucia – photos: www.alhama.com)