RECIFE
Part B: 1914-1927 (pictures 21-39) [See Part A] [See Part C] [Return to the Introduction] Click on the pictures to see enlargements; "pc" = postcard. |
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(21) One of the 55 large 14-bench trams that English Electric built between 1913 and 1921 for Pernambuco Tramways & Power Company. This was the type of car that inaugurated Recife's electric tram system in 1914. [English Electric Journal, London, 4/1923, p. 176] |
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(22) An early view of an English Electric tram crossing Ponte Buarque de Macedo in Recife [see map]. Note that it is traveling left-hand, English-style. This postcard was mailed from Recife to Paris on 8 September 1916. [pc, col. AM] |
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(23) Av Rio Branco on Recife Island, with a bit of Ponte Buarque de Macedo in the distance. In this view both the large English tram in the foreground and the small American tram in the distance are traveling right-hand. Left-hand operation of the electric cars lasted only a short time. [col. AM] |
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(24) An English car on the Ponte Maurício de Nassau [see map]. Passengers must have found these majestic 4-axle trams a pleasure to ride after 47 years of transport by little 2-axle horsecars. [pc, col. AM] |
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(25) A few months after it ordered its first 4-axle trams from England, Pernambuco Tramways placed an order with J. G. Brill in the U.S.A. for 70 2-axle motor cars and 30 2-axle trailers. Recifenses called the American trams "caixas-de-fósforos" (matchboxes). [col. AM] |
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(26) This Brill factory photo shows one of the 7-bench trail cars that it built for Recife. The initials "C.F.T.P." stood for Companhia de Força e Transporte de Pernambuco. [col. Historical Society of Pennsylvania] |
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(27) Here is a 14-bench English Electric motor car pulling a 7-bench Brill trailer. [col. AM] |
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(28) This postcard shows all car types: several Brill motor trams and, in the foreground, an English Electric car pulling a Brill trailer. Location is Praça da Independência on Santo Antônio island. [pc, col. AM] |
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(29) A variety of trams on the Ponte da Boa Vista [see map]. Compare picture (10). [pc, col. AM] |
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(30) Two Brill trams: a 9-bench motor car pulling a 7-bench trailer. The Brill motor cars were numbered in the 101-170 series. [E. Baptista, col. Nilton Pimenta] |
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(31) An English Electric motor car, with modified roof, pulling two Brill trailers. The English Electric motor cars were numbered 1-55. [E. Baptista, col. Nilton Pimenta] |
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(32) Reverse view of the tram train shown in picture 31. [E. Baptista, col. Nilton Pimenta] |
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(33) A modified English tram at the terminus of the Várzea line [see map]. [pc, col. Elysio Belchior] |
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(34) In 1924 Pernambuco Tramways converted several of its large open cars into closed cars for a new line that it built across the bay to Boa Viagem [see map]. [col. Biblioteca Estadual, Recife] |
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(35) In the late 1920s P.T. imported additional motors, controllers and trucks from England and built another type of closed car, which the riders nicknamed "gigolô". [col. AM] |
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(36) Here are two "gigolôs" on Rua Nova at Praça da Independência. [col. AM] |
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(37) A "gigolô" on the single-track trestle over the Rio Pina on the Boa Viagem line [see map]. [col. AM] |
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(38) In Boa Viagem, the electric line ran down Av. Boa Viagem alongside the beach on the Atlantic Ocean [see map]. Note the unusual concrete line poles. Today this street is lined with tall apartment buildings and hotels. [pc, col. AM] |
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(39) Av. Boa Viagem in 1923 [see map]: the electric tram line under construction. [pc, col. AM] |
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