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(01) One of the steam locomotives built in the 1890s by Hudswell, Clarke & Co. in Leeds, England, for Viação Suburbana de Manáos. [col. Christopher Walker] | |
(02) A steam locomotive and several passenger cars of the Viação Suburbana, the city's first street railway, in 1896. The trailer on the right is signed "COLONIA". [col. AM] | |
(03) A vignette labeled "Estação dos Bondes" (Tram Station) that appeared on a "Lembranças de Manáos" postcard produced in the late 1890s. The engraving is based on photograph (02) above. [col. AM] | |
(04) The certificate of incorporation of Manáos Railway Co. on 25 February 1898 in New York. | |
(05) MRC car 51, built by John Stephenson Co. in New York, on the new meter-gauge electric tramway in Manaus. The 600 mm gauge rails of the steam line are visible far left. [Album do Amazonas: see BIBLIOGRAPHY in Introduction] | |
(06) Another of MRC's first passenger cars, at the "Plano Inclinado" on the riverfront [see map]. The Stephenson trams had 4 wheels and 10 benches. [Album do Amazonas, col. AM] | |
(07) Stephenson trams 55 and 12 load at the passenger terminal and company headquarters on Praça 15 de Novembro in the city center [see map]. Tram 12 was originally numbered 59. [col. AM] | |
(08) MRC car 51 heading west on Av. 7 de Setembro [see map]. That's the cathedral on top of the hill. [Album do Amazonas, col. AM] | |
(09) In 1902 the tramway was federalized and the new operator became Serviços Eléctricos do Estado [see Introduction]. SEE car 8, ex-55, is crossing the steel bridge over the Igarapé (river) da Cachoeirinha on the east side of town [see map]. [pc, col. AM] | |
(10) An unnumbered (and unpainted?) Stephenson tram crosses the Cachoeira (waterfall) Grande on the north side of town [see map]. This is the Flores line. [pc, col. AM] | |
(11) The bucolic Flores line ran through open jungle to a pleasure garden near the site of today's airport [see map]. This is SEE tram 6, originally numbered 53. [pc, col. AM] | |
(12) SEE tram 4, ex-51, is headed toward the river on Av. Eduardo Ribeiro [see map]. The trees are in the Praça da Matriz next to the cathedral. [pc, col. AM] | |
(13) In 1905 SEE purchased ten 4-axle 12-bench cars from St. Louis Car Co. in Missouri, which it numbered 1, 2 and 19-26. SEE tram 25, shown here, is in the same location as MRC 51 in picture 07 above [see map]. [pc, col. AM] | |
(14) St. Louis tram 20, in approximately the same location as car 4 in picture 10 above, is turning west from Av. Eduardo Ribeiro onto Av. 7 de Setembro. [pc, col. AM] | |
(15) St. Louis 12-bench tram 8. The Manaus tramway fleet was renumbered after the small Stephenson cars were scrapped. [pc, col. Ricardo Barbalho] | |
(16) St. Louis car 22 at the curve on Rua Silva Ramos [see map]. Both the automobile and the tram are running left-handed, English-style. [pc, col. AM] | |
(17) In 1909 a new English organization purchased all tramway operations, vehicles and electricity franchises in Manaus. The tram shown on its stock certificate, oddly, is an American design. [col. AM] | |
(18) Manáos Tramways & Light Co. rebuilt and enlarged the tramway system and ordered ten 4-wheel 8-bench cars from United Electric in Preston, England. [col. AM] | |
(19) Here is one of MTLC's new cars, number 8, on the Cachoeirinha bridge, also shown in picture 08 above [see map]. [pc, col. Marcelo Cáceres Miranda] | |
(20) In the 1930s MTLC imported trucks and electrical equipment from England and built eight 4-axle 12-bench trams in its shops in Manaus. Number 21 is an example. [pc, col. AM] | |
(21) In the early decades of the 20th century electric trams ran left-hand, English-style, in several countries in South America and several cities in Brazil, including Manaus. Car 2 is proceeding north on Av. Ferreira Pena, at the intersection of Rua Simón Bolívar. View is south. [pc, col. AM] | |
(22) Here is the only picture that has been found of a tram passing the city's famous Teatro Amazonas. The car is proceeding east on Rua 10 de Julho, on the north side of the opera house [see map]. [pc, col. AM] | |
(23) A view of the tram depot on Av. 7 de Setembro, just east of the Cachoeirinha bridge [see map]. This postcard was published in 1909. [col. AM] | |
(24) This undated aerial view extends from the tram loop on Praça 15 de Novembro in the foreground to the Teatro Amazonas center top [see map]. Note the cathedral on the hill. [pc, col. AM] | |
(25) In January 1957, a month before the last passenger tram ran in Manaus, an American tourist visiting Manaus shot brief street scenes with a 16 mm camera. Here is an enlargement of a single frame of his film, which shows one of the Stephenson trams of 1898, still going strong a half century later. Compare to tram 55 in photo 6 above. [Ed McDonald, col. AM] | |
(26) A succession of four frames of that film shows one of the large 12-bench English-style cars built either in Britain or by the English tramway company in Manaus. This is the same type tram as in photo 19 above. [Ed McDonald, col. AM] | |
(27) The replica tram body that was placed on display in 2006. It was obviously modeled on a Stephenson tram, such as shown in picture 25, and was numbered 51. [Rogerio Nascimento] | |
(28) The same vehicle photographed in July 2013. It is presently displayed at the Centro de Artes Chaminé on Av. Lourenço da Silva Braga, opposite the Igarapé dos Educandos [see map]. [Rafael Asquini] | |
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