Paranapiacaba (Brazil)

On January 13, 2018, the Railway Heritage World Blog went to Paranapiacaba (SP/Brasil), one of the most famous examples of railway heritage in Brazil. We had the opportunity of being guided by Ewerton Henrique de Morais, a member of Projeto Memória Ferroviária (MF), developed by Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), financed by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa (FAPESP) and coordinated by Dr. Eduardo Oliveira.

During his graduation course in Tourism (UNESP/Rosana), Ewerton already started to develop a research in the railway heritage field. His master theses, developed in Architecture and Urbanism (UNESP/Bauru), focused on the railway heritage of the State of São Paulo (Brazil). To reach his goal, he made a research internship in the University of Seville (Spain).

On 2017, when the first railway line of São Paulo completed 150 years old, the group of MF in a partnership with CPTM (Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos) launched an android application that can be used along the Tourism Express Jundiaí-Paranapiacaba . With that, travelers can follow the trip by their phones, and learn about the stations. Even if you are not a traveler, you can TRY IT!

You can follow the Projeto Memória Ferroviária on facebook too!

History

This village was a part of the first railway built in São Paulo State. This infrastructure faced the challenge of going up the mountain near by the sea, around 800 meters high! Who built it? The British, but the important Irineu Evangelista de Souza made part of it. The railway pioneers created The São Paulo Railway Company Limited in 1860 and, only some months later, they started the work. Daniel Mackinson Fox, an engineer of 26 years old, was hired to design it.

Fox ran through the mountain for months, but the passage to cross the high wall, where the train could pass, was found only when he landed in Santos, because this could be noticed only in a long distance (Gerodetti; Cornejo. As ferrovias do Brasil nos cartões-postais e Álbuns de lembranças, ed. Solaris edições culturais, 2005, São Paulo).

The technology used was the funicular system, which used the traction as driving force, until 1970.

Railway station in 1910. Source: Gerodetti; Cornejo.

As ferrovias do Brasil nos cartões-postais e Álbuns de lembranças,

ed. Solaris edições culturais, 2005, São Paulo, p. 89.

The whole railway line was officially inaugurated in 1868. With the passing time, the British took all the control of this railway line, which started to be known as “The British”. The Station of Paranapiacaba was called as “Estação Alto da Serra” (High Mountain Station); it was inaugurated in 1867. Around it was built a Company Town, which in 1896 was called “Vila Martin Smith”, the name of the first president of the São Paulo Railway. A second station was built only in 1945; its name, Paranapiacaba (name of the city since 1907), is a native Indian word, in Tupi, it means the place from where we can see the sea. This station was deactivated when they stopped to use the funicular system and started to use the freight line (1973).

In 1981 the station got on fire; the clock was saved and put in the currently clock tower; it is higher than the old one. CONDEPHAAT considered Paranapiacaba as a state cultural heritage in 1987; the national classification was reached only in 2002. Nowadays, the railway line still works, but the company town and all the railway infrastructure around the line are used to receive tourists. It is a really impressive complex!

The Visit

To go to Paranapiacaba by public transportation is not that easy, so, we got there by car. However, we stopped the car near by the entrance, because the roads until the city center do not have good quality. Anyway, our visit started on a high pick, at the Cristian side of Paranapiacaba. Yes, they say that the railway used to divide the city in two parts: the Cristian side and the Protestant one. That just happened because, as already said, this railway was built by the British (Protestant part), but with the passing time, some trades and services started to appear on the other side of the railway tracks, to give some support to the Company Town.

View to the Protestant side.

View to the Cristian side

Going down was hard, but beautiful. They used some old wire ropes, which were not able to be used in the railway system anymore, to build handrails around the city. The railway was in operation, it uses to work day and night to be able to deliver goods to Santos’ Port. To keep going down, we crossed a bridge built in 1899, the only safe way to get to the railway. From there, we could see already the clock tower! It’s a shame that it is not that well conserved, but its beauty is still there. Some people says it remembers the Big Ben of London. I don’t know, probably the clock, yes, but the whole tower?

Anyway, the weather of that place is cloudy, we saw some photos, and some days it seems to be a very creepy place. During the day the tourism makes the city alive, but during the night, the streets use to be empty. There are some streets that people avoid, saying that some railway worker is there to haunt the walkers. Well, we were safe during the day…

On the other side of the railway, the amusing landscape kept going. First thing to remark, the chief engineer’s house on the top, currently Museu Castelinho, from where we could see everything and everyone! Unfortunately, we were not able to get in the house, but the view from there was astonishing! Many old houses and warehouses are very well conserved, some moments we really feel going back to the past.

Market, school and railway rotating platform.

We went to the Museu Tecnológico Ferroviário do Funicular, to go there we passed by the station. As the clock tower, this building is not that well preserved. On our way, there was an old steam machine, which is passing through a restoration process. And finally, the museum, full of tools and machines very well preserved! It was amazing! We were lucky to have a guide, because the machines do not have any kind of technical information, and that collection really have interesting facts! We were on the beginning of the sea mountain. Closer to the edge, there were two huge machines, one older than the other, which were used to pull the train along the mountain! With only a wire rope, can you imagine! They are a piece of engineering!

This place really worth a visit!

Final Considerations

The city is really impressive. It saves a bunch of memories. The company town has some signs to explain a bit of the place, but you will really understand it, if you have a guide. In addition to this cultural value, there are some natural activities too. The city lives from tourism and, even like that, it needs to receive some attention. This place is a rich amount of railway heritage!