Using only a single passenger car, the system was a funicular in name only, as a funicular by definition counterbalances two cars attached to opposite ends of the same pully-driven cable, operating in concert.

[2][3] The rail system partially used a tunnel cut into the tufa stone of Sorrento's cliffs by the Romans,[4] precisely to connect the Marina Piccola (small marina) area with the upper town.

Running on a track with a 15% slope, the single passenger car held 12 passengers and was driven by a steam engine making 8 HP,[4] enough to also power Hotel Vittoria's electric lighting.

[4] In 1894 the Municipality of Sorrento entered into negotiations with the owners of the hotel to make the system public, in advance of a large number of tourists expected for the upcoming 400th anniversary marking the death of Sorrento-born poet Torquato Tasso — in 1885.

Complicating matters, during the summer, the steam-driven machinery required 12 cubic meters of water daily,[4] exceeding available supplies either in nearby cisterns or in Sorrento's Valle dei Mulini (Valley of Mills).