The Tramways of Manaus
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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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