The railway in general was created as a safer and easier means of transporting materials and minerals. In the early 1800s, in addition to passengers, the first trains mainly carried goods.
In 1879 it was therefore also in the interests of Ferrovie Nord to cover this sector. It should not be overlooked that until the arrival of road transport, the transport of goods and its related revenue was the main source of profit for railway companies.
The first order of rolling stock supplied by SIG of Neuhausen lists several units for freight and special services. It is difficult to identify the type of these wagons even though there are drawings and a few photographs, particularly of closed wagons with brakeman’s cab and a snow-plough wagon.
Nevertheless, they were small vehicles with spoked wheels, riveted metal frame, and body, floor, sides and doors in wooden board. The roof was wood covered with tarred canvas. They were ideal for use on short sections to transport various materials, crates, sacks, goods and probably also livestock, as there were hatches for ventilation. The north Milan area was after all still very agricultural.
Of the special vehicles, in addition to the previously mentioned snow-plough, 3 crane wagons dating back to the 1800s are still preserved in the museum in Saronno and the museum in Volandia. These vehicles were used for handling heavy loads as there were very few stations with a ground-mounted crane. The special vehicles also include tanks for supplying drinking water to the gatehouses along the lines.
From the early 1900s, both FNM and the other railways under concession took steps to upgrade their goods wagon fleets. Between the late 1800s and early 1900s, FNM expanded their fleet with dozens of Italian-made low- and high-sided flat wagons, as well as a large number of mainly Belgian-made closed wagons. These wagons also had a metal frame and wooden body and although small in size were significantly heavier and more capacious than the originals.
None of them had an air brake pipe and most were fitted with a hand brake. This made it necessary for several brakemen to be present on each goods train. These were staff in charge of manually applying and releasing the brake blocks, in response to signals given by the driver with the whistle; their position was in special cabins or on simple wooden benches at one end of the wagon. The hand brake was applied with a rotating handwheel with an endless screw at the base.
After World War I, the goods wagon fleet was expanded with the arrival of wagons very similar to those already in circulation, of Austro-Hungarian construction, obtained as reparations for war damage suffered by Italy.
In the early 1930s, FNM’s company fleet reached a total of over 900 vehicles, although it is possible that not all of those were in circulation. However, a lot of goods traffic was carried out with wagons belonging to the FS and other companies who entered the network via numerous industry sidings connected to the state network.
In the 1950s and 1960s, this fleet, which had by now deteriorated and become outdated, was drastically reduced due to the rise of more advantageous road transport. The goods yards were filled with long lines of withdrawn wagons which were gradually scrapped. Some of these survived into the 1980s, used as service wagons or stationary in depots and stations as storage for materials.
In the 1970s, 20 new metal-bodied closed wagons were purchased to guarantee a small fleet in case of necessity. Some were used as support wagons for the power supply of equipment of the new double-decker coaches. Others were used as storage or for bicycle transport for the “Bicintreno” events. Other all-metal wagons, flat wagons and hoppers, were purchased second-hand and refurbished for carrying out modernisation work of the equipment.
Unfortunately, despite their importance, very few examples from this impressive fleet of wagons have survived beyond the historical train wagon and the tank for supplying the gatehouse: these include some covered wagons from different eras, as well as some flat wagons and crane wagons, which will be described in this section.