The Scottish Trams of S A N T O S

The electric tramway system in Santos, Brazil, ran from 28/4/1909 until 28/2/1971. Most of its trams - all those mentioned on this page - were built by Hurst Nelson Co. in Motherwell, Scotland. After the system closed, several cars were preserved. An eight-wheel tram (fleet number unknown) went to the city of Curitiba in 1973, where it is still displayed today on a pedestrian mall (photo - with Greek text!). In 1984 four-wheel tram 46 opened a heritage service along Embaré Beach in Santos; that line closed in 1986 and tram 46 began a new career as an information office on Gonzaga Beach. In 1998 open tram 38 - originally numbered 15 - was equipped with a gasoline motor and placed in service along Rua Visconde de Parnaíba at the Memorial do Imigrante in São Paulo; it still runs there today (see the Memorial's webpage). Tram 46 was recently restored and returned to Gonzaga Beach, where Regina Zayat Gorni took the photograph below on 23/10/1999:

Open tram 84 resided for many years at the "Orquidário" where Cid J. Beraldo took the second photograph on 4/9/1994:

Car 84 - whose original numbered was 38 - was recently restored and renumbered 32. This 89-year-old open tram, built by Hurst Nelson in 1911, inaugurated the city's second heritage tramway, in the historic Valongo district, on 23/9/2000. Cid J. Beraldo photographed it the next day:

The city's new heritage tram line has been an enormous success. A trailer was added on 27/10/2000 to handle the crowds and closed motor car 40, similar to number 46 shown above, was placed in service on 26/1/2002:

A scroll next to the front doors of car 40 (faintly visible above) acknowledges the historical information that I provided:

See more photos of this line and a history of the Santos tramway on the website, O Bonde, by Carlos Pimentel Mendes.

 

Text & webpage by Allen Morrison

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