Tourist Streetcar Ride
Top photo: Francisco Arrais
The Tourist Streetcar ride offers a true voyage back in time via 40 points of historical and cultural interest. With departures from Valongo station – built in 1867 for the first railroad in São Paulo – the electric streetcars from the 19th and 20th centuries travel through the Historic Center, accompanied by a tour guide.
They are original vehicles, originating in Scotland, Portugal and Italy, making Santos the first Living Streetcar Museum in Latin America. Drivers and conductors wear replicas of the original uniform from the time when the streetcars were the city’s main means of transport.
Open Streetcar nº 32
Built in 1911, nº32 is the oldest electric streetcar in the country. It came from Scotland and the interior is decorated with advertisements from the 1950s, and there is a double running board, which, in the last century, made access easy for women in skirts and dresses. The nine bench seats and steps are original, and the embellished driver’s seat, entirely reworked, was restored after research through old photos. The vehicle can carry 45 passengers and joined the Tourist Streetcar fleet on August 14, 2012.
Photo: Anderson Bianchi
Closed street car nº 40
With original Scottish mechanics, the ‘shrimp streetcar’, no 40, is from 1911. Made from cabreuva wood, which is under threat of extinction, and hammered glass, it was redesigned in the 1950s, when its bodywork was modernized. Able to carry 28 passengers, it is decorated with advertisements from the time when streetcars circulated in Santos. Identical to those used in the city up to the 1970s, this streetcar can reach up to 50kph.
The name ‘shrimp streetcar’ comes from the original color of the bodywork: red. It joined the tourist streetcar fleet on January 26, 2002 and, in June 2011, was transformed into the Whale Streetcar, in honor of Santos Football Club’s becoming three times champions of the Libertadores Cup. The inside was decorated with images of the titles in 1962, 1963 and 2011. It returned to service in September 2013 with its original silver and red paintwork and since April 2017 has been its current color, green.
Photo: Ronaldo Andrade
Portuguese Streetcar 224
Built at the end of the 1920s in Portugal, streetcar 224 began its route in the Historic Center in September, 2008. With its original interior and period light-fittings, it can hold 23 passengers.
On June 15, 2014, to mark the inauguration of the Museu Pelé (Pelé Museum), it began to circulate as the Pelé Streetcar, with decorative adhesives alluding to the King of Football.
On December 23, 2015, this tribute to Pelé was modernized, with graffiti artwork by Leandro Shesko – it was the first electric streetcar in the country to be decorated with graffiti art.
Two years later, the streetcar went back to its original color, yellow.
Photo: Francisco Arrais
Art Streetcar
With internal décor inspired by concrete art, which takes us back to the 1930s and 1950s, when it was built and renovated, with 36 seats, mounted on an articulated platform, it is 20 meters long, boasts a kitchen with microwave oven, electric oven, and cooktop; air conditioning; bathroom and accessibility for passengers with special needs. The interior is inspired on the work’ Plano em Superfície Modulada’ (Planes in Modulated Surface) (nº 5 1957), by Lygia Clark. The vehicle was donated by Turin city Hall (Italy).
Photo: Raimundo Rosa
Japanese Streetcar
Built 1953 at Nagasaki, it received prefix number 206 and circulated for over 60 years in the hometown. It became part of a modern mobility plan in the years after the atomic bomb disaster at the final stage of World War Two.
The vehicle is the subject of a 2016 friendship donation agreement. After a 42-day overseas voyage from Nagasaki to Santos, it underwent a 3-year extensive refit throughout in its structure technic not neglecting its cultural aspects aiming to the resumption of the former inboard communication scheme.
It offers facilities for 28 passengers sitting and plays an important roll in the old side of Santos town tourism.
Photo: Rogério Bomfim
Trailer 38 (large)
Donated by the city of Votorantim (SP), no 38 is the second – and largest – trailer to circulate in the city. With a capacity for 42 passengers, it began operations in January 2016. It is actually an old open streetcar from the Brazilian Association of Railway Preservation, exhibited in Campos do Jordão (SP).
Photo: Francisco Arrais
Small trailer
An old wagon pulled by animals, from 1871, it has been adapted to function as a trailer. With seating for 24, it has been part of the Tourist Streetcar Line since November, 2000.
Photo: Marcelo Martins
