THE ALMOND BLOSSOM RAILWAY

Un Pequeño Ferrocarrile de Vía Estrecha - A Tiny Estate Railway Of A Very Narrow Gauge
RAILWAYS IN SPAIN - This section is under construction - August 2009
 
This is not yet a comprehensive guide to railways in Spain. However as I learn more I will record the information here with links to the relevant websites.
 
 
BROAD GAUGE (Regular Services) & EUROPEAN STANDARD GAUGE (International High Speed Lines) 
The National Rail Network - This is operated by RENFE (Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles. For more of the history look at the Wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RENFE . In our, limited, experience rail travel in Spain is economical and in the main comfortable. So far we have travelled by high speed train from Valencia to Barcelona and to Madrid. Official site: http://www.renfe.es. For checking times and prices in English http://www.renfe.es/horarios/english/index.html.
 
NARROW GAUGE
The FCGV (Ferrocarriles Generaliat Valencia), operate a metre gauge line running parallel to the coast from Alicante to Denia on the Costa Blanca. The line is nowdays refered to as TRAM but often refered to by the Brits as the Lemon Express. However that was a special tourist train that operated weekly from Benidorm to Gata De Gorges and back, which no longer operates. At Gata, travellers were served with Cava and visited the nearby guitar factory. I have travelled on the line several times recently. The rolling stock is new and a great improvement over the old graffiti covered DMUs. It's well worth the trip as the line is very scenic especially between Altrea and Denia where it hugs the contours of the low mountains that this area is famed for and at 55km/hour you need to hang on tightly if you are standing at one end of the two coach train where it is best to enjoy the views. Don't miss the two magnificent viaducts between Calpe and Benissa.  Both terminuses are worthy of a day's outing, both featuring an interesting castle, port and old time with shops and eateries. Altea is also worthy of a visit. Between Alicante and Benidorm the traction is electric via overhead catenery. From Benidorm to Denia it is a modern DMU. A return ticket for the entire journey from Denia to Alicante Mercado is under 12 euros and takes 2 hours and 24 minutes (one way).
Official Site: http://www.fgvalicante.com  Unofficial Site: http://www.trenetdelamarina.com.  
 
The FCGV also operate the metro and tramway system in Valencia. Official Site: http://www.metrovalencia.es
 
RAILWAY MUSEUMS
 
Visiting Madrid? Don't forget the railway museum http://www.museodelferrocarril.org. It closes mid afternoon so get there early. Also if you have arrived in Madrid by train, show your tickets for a discount. Our ticket from Valencia got us in with a 66% discount!