Estação Cultural - São Carlos (São Paulo/Brazil)

On December, 2018, the Railway Heritage World Blog visited the old railway station of São Carlos, in São Paulo/Brazil.

This time, our guide was the future architect Fernanda Prenholato; she developed the research Cidade e Memória: arquitetura e urbanismo de São Carlos através dos jornais locais (1886-1930). Foncused on the history and the urbanism of São Carlos; She consulted and put together a rich data survey from Pró-Memória archives. This work was presented in two congresses and soon an article will be published.

Currently, Fernanda is developing her final graduation work; the main subject is the requalification of historical buildings, which involves an old textile factory located beside the São Carlos old railway station.

The São Carlos Railway was inaugurated on 1884; the main building of its station is being used by Pró-Memória Foundation, created in 1993 to spread the history and cultural knowledge of the city, São Carlos Museum and the Coordenation of Art and Culture.

History

São Carlos Railway Station was a part of a railway line built by Companhia Rioclarense; it reached São Carlos in 1884. This first company was bought by a British company called The Rio Claro São Paulo Railway Company in 1889; some years later, in 1892, the Companhia Paulista de Estrada de Ferro took over the British company.

The station building was located out of the urban grid; Vila Prado neighborhood was built in the opposite side of the old city center to house the railway workers and the workeforce of the industries that were being installed near by.

Its last passengers’ train passed on March 16, 2011, after the main building of the railway station becoming a government property (1998) and a part of the Estação Cultural project (2001), which aimed to put more kind of services in the building; even though, some of this complex tracks are still being used by freight trains.

In the article MEMÓRIA SÃO-CARLENSE: O lugar por onde passou o trem de nossa história, wrote by Cirilo Braga, you can see some old photos of this railway station.

In 2016, the main building was classified as municipal heritage; the whole complex is being analyzed by CONDEPHAAT to become a heritage in the state level.

The Building

Located on a high point of the city; it has a really long façade; its clock was added to it on 1908, after a remodeling.

Currently, the station is very well preserved; even receiving other kind of services, it is still in its old space context, but it was incorporated into the city. Many people seem to go there to see the freight trains passing. Besides all the details well preserved, there is an office of rail transport modelling; they have a huge scale model that they use to put together at least twice per year since 2006; its is the São Carlos Model Railways Meeting.

Unfortunately, we were not able to get in the museum or in the archives, but even along the platform you can see some memories getting back to life. In that day there was an exhibition about the city’s immigration history, but the really nice surprise was the Baldwin Locomotive (also colled American) in the end of the platform; it is very well preserved.

To complete the fun, there is a nice playground and a beautiful garden right beside the old locomotive.

Final Considerations

The railway station of São Carlos is very well preserved and it is trying to be a part of the urban life again, being a public and green space and by the promotion of its history and some kind of events. Its surroundings are getting more attention day by day; soon they will start to receive some revitalizing work. As we could notice, there are some ideas for taking out the urban tracks and change the freight trains course. What will happen with the whole station complex? We will need to wait to see.