El Bierzo, Pasado Minero

On this occasion we travel part of the old railway that linked the towns of Ponferrada and Villablino, known as Ponfeblino. A railway for mining-industrial use that is currently disused and on which there is a recovery project to create a tourist train.

We also explored the old La Recuelga coal laundry in the town of Santa Cruz del Sil. The Recuelga complex is made up of the facilities associated with the two unloading stations of the “bucket lines” or “aerial cables”, promoted in the 1940s by the mining companies Antracitas de Fabero (AFSA) and Victoriano González. These facilities, built next to the railway sidings that these companies deployed on the edge of the Ponferrada-Villablino line, were intended for the reception of coal from two funiculars connected to the mining operations, for its immediate treatment and transfer to the railway. The AFSA bucket line extended eight kilometers, because after crossing the river, it ascended the mountain range to the Fabero basin.