The Sierra Alhamilla mountain range in the province of Almería was the site of several iron ore mines. In 1893 the Compañía Minera Sierra Alhamilla (Sierra Alhamilla Mining Company) began to exploit some ore deposits located above the town of Lucainena de las Torres. Although there was an initial plan to link up with the mining railway that ran down from Baños to Almería, the mining company eventually decided to build their own railway.
The tracks were laid from the mine heads to a ship loading facility 36 km away, at Agua Amarga. The works were completed in just two years and from 1896 the railway and the mines were operated under a perfect strategy, which produced some excellent economic results. This boom period ended at the end of WWI. The subsequent European steel production crisis dragged down with it a great many mining operations, and the Sierra Alhamilla Mining Company was one of them.
After the Spanish Civil War the railway underwent a major refurbishment but, once this was completed, it was discovered that the mines were worked out. Thus in 1942 the railway and the mines were abandoned to their fate. Now, since 2009, the railway has provided us with a new Greenway which is planned to be extended all the way to its former ‘end of the line’: Agua Amarga. |
