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Line 2 (18) RestauraçãoRoutes
HistoryThis was the branch line of the Companhia Carril Americano do Porto á Foz e Matosinhos opened in 1873 between Cordoaria and Massarelos. In the early years most of the time the trams continued to/from Foz or Ouro (estação) On 12 September 1895 this was the first line with electric trams on the route Cordoaria - Massarelos - Arrábida. With the extension of line 1 in 1897 trams of this line continued to Foz and later Castelo do Queijo.The year of extension from Carmo/Cordoaria to Praça is unknown, but probably around 1910/12. In November 1914 line 2 was extended from Castelo do Queijo via Boavista to Carmo and Praça. This caused the route indication 2/ to avoid confusion about the direction, Marginal or Boavista, the trams were going to take when leaving from Praça da Liberdade - Carmo. The number change from 2 to 2/ or opposite was done en route. Likely the location where this was done changed several times over the years, but will have always been after Carmo and ultimate at Castelo do Queijo. For the last period route numbers were changed in the direction Carmo - Foz - Castelo do Queijo - Boavista - Carmo at Massarelos while in the opposite direction route numbers were changed at Avenida Gomes da Costa. In 1934 the route via Palácio and Rua Julio Dinis was opened. The same year in the Palácio do Crystal the colonial exhibition took place and with this occasion a line was opened equal to line 2 except that it went via Palácio instead of Carvalhosa. This new line did get the number 18 with the use of 18/ like 2 and 2/. In Foz a loop was constructed around the Castelo for line 18E, which had the route Foz (Castelo) - Castelo do Queijo - Fonte da Moura - Bessa - Boavista - Palácio - Carmo - Praça da Liberdade. There was a plan to divert line 18 via Avenida Gomes da Costa instead of Castelo do Queijo, but that was never realized. Probably line 18E disappeared when the colonial exhibition was closed. The loop in Foz stayed in use by line 17. For some period until 1960 route 2 cars did terminate at Carmo in both directions while route 18 cars did terminate at Praça. By then route 2/ and route 18/ cars did ride via Carvalhosa and route 2// and route 18// cars did ride via Palácio. From March 1960 all cars to/from Restauração did terminate at Praça and all cars to/from Boavista did terminate at Carmo until 21h00 and at Praça after 21h00. The route numbers 2// and 18/ did disappear because of this change. On 24 July 1978 the Carvalhosa route was closed and the line numbers 2 & 2/ did disappear. From that moment both lines 18 & 18// terminated at Praça da Liberdade again. In February 1980 the line number 18// dissappeared. Services were reduced to Viriato - Massarelos - Foz (Castelo) - Castelo do Queijo - Fonte da Moura - Boavista; since 1991 extended to/from Carmo again from/to the direction Viriato - Massarelos. Since September 1994 line 18 was the last remaining of the classic Porto tram. On 11 June 1996 a bus service with the line number 24 was introduced, following almost exactly the route 18. But the tram did survive, although frequencies decreased from every 15 minutes (with seven cars) to every 35 minutes (with three cars). This service was the base of the heritage tram network. Top of pageTime-tables30-10-1873
Top of pageRolling stockProbably in the mule-tram period small tramcars were used on this line because of the steep slope of Rua da Restauração. On this line all types of 4-wheel cars were used, although in later periods normally not the older types anymore. In 1926 there were 10 motorcars (5 in each direction) necessary for line 2. In 1929 mainly Belgas and some Brill-bogies were used, but these were soon replaced by 4-wheel cars, often Fumistas. In January 1935 there were 8 cars with seating for 28 and 5 cars with seating for 23 allocated to these lines. The STCP used often the Pipis and Carro 500 together with all other 4-wheel types.About 1970-1975 the maximum number of tramcars in service was 11 with times of march out & march into Boavista depot:
RevenueIn 1958 the lines 2 and 18 took part of 5.6% of the revenue of the tram system.Top of page |