Puntos de Interés
Infrastructure
Original railway section
The Santander-Mediterranean railway was an ambitious project devised in the early 20th century with the aim of linking the coast of Santander with Valencia at the port of Sagunto. The railway would be crucial for transporting raw materials and products from the inland provinces to the coast. However, the political instability of the time,poor profitability and the complicated orography of the terrain through which the railway had to be build saw successive setbacks for the project, which was never fully completed.
In spite of that, part of the line did start operating. In 1920 the provincial councils of Burgos, Santander, Soria and Zaragoza provided support for the central section. Finally, in 1930, the route between Calatayud and Cidad-Dosante was completed. However, the connection to Santander was never completed, with the last 35 km of track never built. The completed section was in operation for several decades, until the line was completely closed on 1 January 1985.
Remnants of that doomed railway service still remain dotted across this part of Castilla y León in the form of abandoned railway stations. On the outskirts of the Soria town of San Leonardo de Yagüe, visitors might even come across tracks belonging to the old, abandoned railway. In fact, one of the last services on this section line was rather cinematographic, as it served as the setting for the filming of the Oscar-winning movie Doctor Zhivago. Sections of the railway that had been well-preserved even served as locations for filming scenes set in Siberia, where the imposing Moncayo filled in for the Urals. Many San Leonardo de Yagüe locals observed filming participating in the film either directly as extras or indirectly by providing services to the cast and crew.
