Bonus: Snowcapped mountains background.

Apologies for the coarse pixels caused by enlarging an own photo.

The single-track Pistoia–Bologna railway in Italy, inaugurated in 1864, was an enormous engineering project with 47 tunnels and 35 bridges and viaducts, with a total length of 99 km. The most difficult section was the 14 km stretch between Pracchia and Pistoia, which had a drop of 500 metres. At the Vaioni (today: Valdibrana) and Corbezzi stations, pull-forward and push-back tracks with counter-slopes were constructed to safeguard downhill trains and to assist uphill trains. A "rescue siding" was steeply sloping and was used to stop downhill trains coming from Bologna in case of brake failure; a "launching siding" was on a slight incline and was used to give a boost to trains leaving the station uphill towards Bologna. In Valdibrana, both tracks were supported by viaducts resembling ski jump ramps. As an additional oddity, the rather modest Corbezzi station had at its ends six tunnel portals. The three portals to the north, one for the main line and two stub tracks for long trains waiting for a train meet due to the short length of the station's passing track. The three southbound portals led onto a "rescue siding", to the left on a steep incline, and to a "launching siding" on the right. Especially this station could be reproduced in exact H0 scale, given its modest size.

Valdibrana launch ramp

https://www.reportpistoi...sse-lungo-la-porrettana/

Corbezzi tunnel portals

Wikipedia

Edited by user 22 October 2024 20:45:24(UTC)  | Reason: typos

Here's some photos I took of Rhein portals in 2006, unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact location.



Cheers,

Harold.

I have found published in forotrenes.com these pictures of the old Santurce station (line Bilbao-Santurce, in those times Bilbao-Portugalete).
In what seems a postcard, the first picture, I have added an arrow pointing at a double curve that could be deemed unrealistic in a layout.
It can be appreciated better in the second picture, where the rails are clearly shown against the ground covered by snow.