In anticipation of opening the first two original sections of the Ferrovie Nord (at the time still named Soc. An. Per le Ferrovie Milano-Saronno e Milano-Erba, MS F ME), the promoters of the railway company, Albert Vaucamps and director Ambrogio Campiglio, deemed the purchase of 6 small tank engines and a certain number of coaches and 2-axle goods wagons sufficient for service. For the steam vehicles, they turned to Belgian S.A. de Couillet, who designed and supplied the first six locomotives numbered 101-106.
For the coaches and wagons they turned instead to a Swiss company, the SIG at Neuhausen. The first consists were therefore driven by locomotives of modest weight and power, having to operate with small consists of a small number of coaches and wagons.
The coaches were ordered in several batches and were of various different types in order to meet all the requirements of the service. There are first, second and mixed class carriages, baggage and mail cars, and numerous freight wagons. There were also third-class coaches. The colour scheme mentioned in the few surviving documents refer to different colours being used for different classes of carriage, as was the usual practice on many railways, to help the traveller locate the correct coach for the ticket purchased. First class was green, second was yellow, and third class and baggage were red. The wagons were generally painted a dark grey.
This kind of passenger coach featured platforms for getting on and off the train at each end, protected by railings and gates which led to the passenger compartment via sliding or hinged doors. The passenger compartments were furnished differently according to class. First class enjoyed padded seating upholstered in velvet; second and third class had slightly less comfortable wooden benches. Lighting was provided by oil lamps positioned at the centre of the carriage roof. Windows had wooden frames and retractable sun blinds, which could be raised as needed.
The carriage structure was of the type with a wooden body. The body of the carriage, consisting of a framework of oak stringers, ribs and stringers, rested on a steel chassis. The interior of this framework was also covered with polished wooden beads, while the sides of the exterior were covered with painted sheet metal. The roof was in wooden board covered with waterproof tarred canvas.
The carriages as described above largely retained the same characteristics in subsequent deliveries by Italian companies such as Diatto, OM, Carminati & Toselli, and Grondona & Comi, although there was a substantial increase in the number of seats, particularly in third class. This was due to the increase in importance of the transport of workers that took place between the late 1800s and the early 1900s.
With regard to the locomotives, 7 slightly more powerful German-built machines were added to the original 6 Couillets within the space of a few months between 1879 and 1880. As traffic gradually increased, the need for new locomotives also increased. Some of these were added to FNM's rolling stock through the acquisition of lines operated by other companies, which were gradually taken over by FNM along with all the rolling stock in service on those lines. Others were built, mainly in Germany until the early 1900s.
In 1973, the approaching centenary of the first two FNM lines and the impending discontinuation of the last steam services, now limited only to the shunting of freight wagons, prompted the idea of recreating a consist to commemorate the 1879 original. The 200-05 locomotive, still in service, was almost identical to the first 101-106 of 1879, while FNM still had carriages very similar to those first supplied by SIG and used as warehouse or workshop carriages.
Following months of work and careful restoration, on 28 September 1974 FNM’s first historic consist was unveiled. It consisted of the 200-05 from 1883, restored to its former glory, two passenger coaches in green, yellow and red, painstakingly restored to their original condition, and a grey freight wagon. The small consist of just 4 elements was, and still is, the embodiment of the early days of FNM.