Running on history's tracks

STCP Tramcar Museum - here's a sneak peek

​Calls to fight climate change have been growing louder around the world, and electric mobility has indisputably come into vogue. However, the silent, charming zero-emission tramcars have actually been running on tracks here in Porto for more than a century!

Let's head down 'memory tracks' and unveil the past to see how people used to move around the Porto urban area when run-commuting wasn't yet popular— is it even popular now?

Jump in and hold on for a glimpse of the STCP Tram Museum & Depot. The museum is housed in a building that was once a coal power plant; this not-so-green facility was responsible for powering the entire tram network!

 Remnants of Porto's rich transit history can be found under the feet of joggers and walkers who make their way to the oceanfront or in the city's historic centre: the old tramcar tracks are omnipresent, some still active, others long since decommissioned. ​

Electric tramcar's ancestors

Mule- or horse-drawn trams in Porto were definitely romantic - there's many references to them in the romantic novels of the mid-1850's - but absolutely unreliable.

Schedules were non-existent and impossible to define. A ride from Foz to Ribeira would have a totally random duration.  There were long downtimes because horses would need to be fed and needed to rest from time to time. Also, some were temperamental, despite being trained... 

​...and there would always be a distinct smell in the city due to their feces!!

Photos - source:  Porto Desaparecido

Portuenses called these first mule-drawn tramcars the "Americanos" for the sole reason that some were imported from New York city (US), where this type of vehicle had been in use since 1832.

Towards the end of the 1800s, Porto’s public transportation was scarce, inefficient, and uncomfortable. The city was still confined within its medieval walls, with its focus primarily turned toward the Douro River and the commercial activities along its north bank.

Within this context, the local authorities decided to start the construction of a new road meant to connect the city's gates and Foz (now an integrating district of Porto), which was by then a small fisherman's village. 

A huge cliff (in the Arrabida area) had to be demolished with explosives to make way for this new connection!

Vehicles such as the Omnibus, the Char-a-bancs, also the mule-drawn tramcars and later (1878) steam traction cars were used to transport passengers - and cargo- from the inner city to and from the ocean front, via the meandering new road.

From animal (and steam) to electric traction

1895 was a year when the people of Porto witnessed enormous changes  - Portugal was finally catching up the rest of the industrialized Europe, modernity was becoming visible: the harbor of Leixões was about to start its operations, the outer ring around the city called Circunvalação had just been completed.

1895 was also the year when the first tram line (number 1 - Infante -Foz) was converted to electric traction! 

 Runners from Chicago during a Heart of Porto running tour
​stoping for a photo with one of Porto's tramcars (trolleycars)

You can hire this electric tramcar for your company's next corporate event!
(and combine it with a corporate running tour)

Trams (aka trolley cars in North America) still run on tracks along Porto's streets and are now one of the most instagramable attractions for both occasional and professional photographers.

Photo credits: Joaquim Oliveira

For many decades, the electric tramcar was the favorite transport mean for people in Porto (for those who could afford it!)

The network extended from Vila Nova de Gaia—to the south—across the Douro River, all the way to Leça da Palmeira—to the north—across the Leça River.

The electricity-powered tramcars were highly visible throughout the whole city. They shared the streets with horse-drawn carriages and the very few, and relatively new, petrol-engine cars of the time.

Photos - source:  Porto Desaparecido

The end of an era

Late 1960's: various reasons were given for replacing the trams with diesel buses and electric trolleybuses.

The local political power in the city decided that buses would serve the city better than trams, being more flexible and able to cover the rapidly expanding urban area, without any the building and maintaining costs of a heavy infrastructure.

The increased popularity of the motor car in Portugal also created an environment in which trams were seen generally as archaic. 

​During the 1970's, part of the electric trams' infrastructure was dismantled and a large number of trams were sold to museums worldwide.

Photos - source:  Porto Desaparecido

The two old photos above show tramcar nr. 249, boxed up and ready to be shipped to US, in 1972 (left-side photo). It had been purchased from an North-american manufacturer in 1904, "J. G. Brill", and it operated in Porto's streets till the early 1970's.

​In October 1972, this was the last car bought by Rockhill Trolley Museum  - Philadelphia, US - where it is presently stored. ( right-side photo - the same exact car being unloaded in Pensilvania) 

​This electric tramcar operated in Porto until it was acquired by "San Francisco's Municipal Railway" in the late 1970's. Nowadays you can find it rolling in Dallas. Photo taken in Dallas, US, in 2018. 
​Source: Porto Desaparecido

From left to right: 1950 Muni trolley coach No. 776, 1903 Portland Council Crest streetcar No. 503,
​and 1929 Porto's streetcar No. 189 during the first Trolley Festival, San Francisco US in 1983.
Photo credits: Market Street Railway.
​Source: ​Streetcar.org

 A short stop during a conference run in front of STCP tramcar museum, once the coal-fueled power plant that provided all the electric power to the tram network in Porto.

We suggest:

Presently a popular touristic attraction, the electric tramcars were once the most popular mean of transport amongst the Portuenses! This museum is one of our suggestions for those fast-approaching colder (and occasionally rainy) winter days ...!
​
 If you fancy history and old transports, STCP museum is a great option to explore with family or friends!

Website: www.museudocarroelectrico.pt

OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS

Tuesdays to Sundays
From 10am to 6pm

Entrance fee: Adults pay 8.00Eur but if you have a valid 24h Tramcar ticket or Porto Card it's only half the price: 4,00€
Some discounts may apply.

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