When the S.N.F.T. began its railway service on the railway under construction at the beginning of last century, with the exception of the Brescia-Iseo section already in operation, the only railway traction system available was steam.
In 1906 the S.N.F.T. began ordering locomotives, with relative passenger coaches and freight wagons, in order to handle the ever-growing railway service. Between 1906 and 1933, 2 steam railcars and 27 steam locomotives were put into service specifically for railway use on both the Brescia-Cremona and Tuscany branches. 21 of the steam locomotives had entered service by 1914. Steam power reigned supreme until the end of the 1940s, when the process of modernisation and reconstruction at the end of World War II began.
Over a period of about ten years, between 1950 and the early 1960s, steam power disappeared, making way for the more modern combustion/diesel engine. The age of the rolling stock, the lack of coal available and high running costs, especially when compared to those of combustion power, were the main causes of this decline.