In 1830, Ferdinand became king of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies. He had a small factory built in
Torre Annunziata to produce steam engines for ships and ammunition for military use. This factory was part of Ferdinand's strategy to emancipate his Kingdom from foreign industrial and technological supremacy. For closer supervision, he decided to relocate the factory next to the
Royal Palace of Naples in 1937. The King met the French engineer
Armand Bayard, who proposed to build Italy's first railway line from Naples to Nocera. On 3 October 1839, the first section of the line, from Naples to Portici, was inaugurated. Two locomotives arrived from England on this occasion: the 'Longridge' and the 'Vesuvio'. Another locomotive called 'Bayard' arrived in December. The development of the railways was so significant that the King soon faced the problem of finding space to build a bigger workshop. He opted for Pietrarsa where, in 1842, the Royal Workshop for Mechanical works, nautical and locomotive production was founded. The workshop ran flat out. By the middle of the 19th century, it employed 1,100 workers and it became the largest industrial centre in Italy. With the unification of Italy, the production was taken over by industry in the north, the Bourbon realm fell and Pietrarsa was first nationalized then reprivatized. and to private companies later. The new private owners restricted production and leading to worker protests. After World War II, the emergence of diesel and electric traction resulted in the rapid decline of steam locomotives and consequently the decline of the Pietrarsa works. In 1975, the Pietrarsa Works were closed because it didn’t meet the new technical needs. The location underwent some restoration and, on 7 October 1989, the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa was officially inaugurated. == Structure ==