Porto Tram Museum, Tramway museum in Massarelos, Portugal
The Porto Tram Museum occupies the former Massarelos thermoelectric power station, completed in 1915, beside the Douro. Its two great halls once held steam boilers and engines; today one displays 16 electric cars and 5 trailers, the other the plant's electrical equipment, including marble switchboards and rotary converters. A separate shed keeps the trams still running daily.
The building began as a power station in 1915 and supplied electricity to the city's tram network until the 1960s. It later became a museum in 1992 to preserve the history of urban transport.
The museum displays uniforms and photographs of tram workers that show how they lived and worked across different periods in Porto's history. These objects tell the story of people who shaped the city through their daily labor.
The museum is located on Alameda de Basílio Teles and is open Tuesday through Sunday. Your entrance ticket includes a transport pass that lets you ride the city's modern trams for 4 hours.
Trailer Car 8 is a horse-drawn tram bought from the Starbuck Car and Wagon Company of Birkenhead, England; this type of vehicle first ran in Porto on 15 May 1872 and was later used as a trailer behind steam and electric engines. Electric Car 247 earned the name "English car" as a product of the British United Electric Car Company of Preston, acquired by Companhia Carris de Ferro do Porto in 1909.
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