Rail transport in São Tomé and Príncipe

Narrow gauge railway in São Tomé

Rail transport in São Tomé and Príncipe was operated between 1906 and 1950. There was only freight traffic , there was no passenger traffic on São Tomé and Príncipe .

history

The Portuguese colony of São Tomé and Príncipe had risen to become a major cocoa producer since 1850 . From 1890 onwards, people wanted to counter the increasing problems in transport with various plans to build railway lines. In 1899 a first concrete bill by the Minister of the Navy Eduardo Vilaça was rejected by the government. More extensive geographic surveys followed to develop more detailed plans. In 1906 the construction of the first line finally began by a private company, which shortly afterwards handed over the operation to the Portuguese state. In 1908 the rail network between the estates, the Roças , stretched over 245 km.

Further expansion plans for rail traffic on the island of São Tomé and the first plans for rail traffic on the island of Príncipe were prevented by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The automobile traffic that was accelerated afterwards also displaced rail traffic on São Tomé. The state railway company Caminho de Ferro de São Tomé finally ceased operations in 1931. A few owners of plantations ( Roças ) continued to operate their connections. The last record of rolling carriages on railway tracks in São Tomé is from 1950.

The wagons were powered by steam locomotives, pulled by donkeys or moved by wind power using sails.

literature

• Salomão Vieira: Caminhos-de-Ferro em S. Tomé e Príncipe: o Caminho-de-Ferro do Estado e os caminhos-de-ferro das roças. União Nacional dos Escritores e Artistas de S. Tomé e Príncipe (UNEAS), 2005 ISBN 978-989-8023-00-1

See also

• Decauville tracks of the Rio do Ouro cocoa plantation on São Tomé

Web links

• Three videos for the publication of the book on São Tomé's railway history on www.webrails.tv, accessed on February 15, 2016
• Images of freight trains on old postcards from São Tomé on a private blog, accessed February 15, 2016
• Images of freight trains on São Tomé on old Portuguese postcards on a private blog, accessed February 15, 2016

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Temos 10 anos para salvar as roças de São Tomé e Príncipe - “We have 10 years to save the Roças de São Tomé e Príncipe” , article of November 25, 2013 in the Portuguese daily Público , accessed on March 28, 2016
2. ↑ Summary and criticism of the book on rail transport in São Tomé on www. academia.edu , accessed February 15, 2016