Early Photographs of the São Paulo Railway

Railways of Brazil in Postcards and Souvenir Albums

By João Emilio Gerodetti, Carlos Cornejo
This book is available on Google Books here

p80.  Switchyard and workshops of the São Paulo Railway's original São Paulo Station, between Jardim de Luz and Rua da Estação, later renamed Rua Mauá.  This street is seen at the right in the postcard.  The station was inaugurated on February 16, 1867.  That same year the famous photographer Militão Augusto de Azevedo took this picture.

p82. Raiz de Serra station and the beginning of the early inclined planes in 1867

p82. Engine house and switchyard of the railway's fourth inclined plane, built between 1860 and 1865

p83.  Laying the tracks of the São Paulo Railway in Perus in 1866

p83.  An engine house on the railway's third level stretch and part of the viaduct spanning Grota Funda gorge, in 1867

p83.  An engine house on the third level stretch of the old inclined planes and the beginning of the first viaduct over Grota Funda gorge, in 1867

p92.  Viaducts spanning the Grota Funda gorge on the old and new inclined planes, circa 1920.  The original Grota Funda viaduct, in the foreground, was considered the most important feat of engineering on the inclined planes of the Serra Velha line, which were built by the English company Robert Sharpe & Sons between July 2, 1863, and November 2, 1865 (the year the first train crossed the gorge).  This viaduct's metal framework was shipped in pieces from Europe and taken up the mountain on tracks already laid.  The original viaduct had a 9.75% grade, in a curve, with a total length of 215 meters, a maximum height of 48.7 meters, ten 20-meter spans, and one 12.2-meter span.

The Serra Viaduct, Harper's Weekly, 1868

The Serra Viaduct, São Paulo's Railway, Brazil (Harper's Weekly, Vol. 12, nº 623, 1868).

Photograph Album at the ICE Library

Published on Pintrest by the ICE Library.  Santos to Sao Paulo railway, Brazil. Engineers and workmen with locomotives c. 1867. Photographer unknown. Album of photographs showing construction of Santo - Sao Paulo railway RR10APS M707A