Welcome to a storied city by the sea, built on many hills, once devastated by a colossal earthquake, burned by fire, yet risen from the ashes to reclaim its vibrancy and uniqueness, including, today, a wonderful vintage streetcar operation.

Welcome to Lisbon. Electric streetcars came to the capital city of Portugal in 1901. They joined even older rail vehicles pulling each other up and down steep streets by means of an underground cable—technically funiculars—but still close cousins of San Francisco’s cable cars. At the same time, an ornate outdoor elevator with ironwork reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower was being built to carry passengers from the business center up to the Barrio Alto neighborhood. All of this is still there, surrounded by wonderful architecture, much of which dates back to the city’s rebuilding following the great earthquake of 1755.

Today, there are three all-vintage tram (streetcar) lines, the 12, 18, 25, and 28. A modern light rail line, the 15 along the coast operates some vintage cars on the inner part of the route, mixed with modern Siemens low-floor articulated trams. Sadly, two additional but colorful vintage lines, the 17 and 24, were discontinued within the past decade, though it is hoped part of the 24 could reopen this year.

Lisbon’s Carris (Rails) transit system is comprehensive, like Muni, including all rail and bus service in the city, as well as the funiculars and elevator. Some 45 vintage single-truck trams, originally built in the 1930s, have been completely overhauled in the past decade, and are called by the locals remodelados. Originally double-ended, often hauling trailers, the tiny narrow gauge trams have been converted to single-end status and many have received pantographs, though the 28 line still uses poles. The official livery is yellow and white, though many carry all-over advertising.

The trams still feature a hand-operated controller, but it’s a modern type by Kieppe, complemented by a contemporary control panel. Still, with vintage trucks and air brakes, the operation of the car and its ‘feel’ on the street are authentic. Safety doors, along with fareboxes and electronic ticket readers that are more up to date than Muni’s, allow one person crews on these small cars, an important consideration given the trams’ small capacity—20 seated, 38 standees, about the same as Muni’s vintage tram from Portugal’s second city, Porto. (We’ll visit Porto in a future issue of Inside Track.)

Of the surviving vintage lines, the 28 is considered by this author the most enjoyable vintage tram route in the world. Let’s take a ride...

All aboard the 28
The quieter end of the 28 line, Prazeres, adjoins a large cemetery, sharing its terminal loop with the 25 line. Both lines proceed on a straight asphalt street through commercial and residential neighborhood a little reminiscent of Taraval Street. On a summer day last year, a young woman using a crutch slowly mounts the steps of the tram (which has no lift or ramp), exchanging cheerful conversation with the motorman as she does. The motorman then kisses her—not a common sight on the F-line! The 25 line splits off to follow another route, while our single-truck car bobs along into an older neighborhood with cobbled streets before lurching down a long downgrade, the controller flipped into the dynamic braking mode. Occasionally, ‘ghost tracks’ from abandoned lines cross or turn out from the track.

The line splits, the track in our direction diverging from the return track. We’re in a narrow street twisting around corners. Then we rejoin the other track, growling up a grade that has to exceed ten percent. We pass the Bica funicular in a rugged maritime part of town. A plaza at the edge of the rather bohemian neighborhood called Barrio Alto includes a short turn loop, along with intact track and wire of the recently abandoned lines. Then there’s another one-way pair of narrow street running, the tracks coming back together at a nifty piece of special work where the outbound track actually swings over and back across the inbound track to allow outbound trams to make a super-tight turn. And this is the non-tourist part of the line!

The line then plunges down a very steep grade into the traditional shopping area, the Baixa, with closely spaced narrow streets. This narrow valley ends abruptly at the edge of the famed Alfama, one of Lisbon’s oldest neighborhoods. The tram, now full with a mix of locals and visitors, clambers up a very twisty double-track street past landmark churches before the tracks merge into a bi-directional single track, controlled by a signal. A switch offers two choices. Will we go straight on a gentle upgrade, or, ulp, down a seemingly impossible streetcar grade to the right? Right it is, like a slow motion roller coaster. (The straight track turns out to belong to the 12-line, recently converted from a short neighborhood line to a one-way tourist-oriented loop ride around the Alfama, well worth a ride itself.)

The 28 now traverses the most renowned part of its route. The track is briefly doubled—more a passing siding than anything else—along a narrow residential street. Then we stop for a tram signal. The two tracks merge into a ‘gauntlet’—separate rails for each direction, but interlaced, so that cars cannot pass. We wait for a 28 tram coming the other way to rattle around the corner and leave the track clear for us. We then climb up through the Alfalma, twisting through 300-year old streets, ending in a passageway so narrow that from either side of the car, a passenger could reach out and touch the buildings—no sidewalks. In fact, one stop opens directly into a restaurant. The smell of frying fish floods the car. Great place for a take-out window! A truck dares to appear from the other direction. Inching forward with the gong endlessly clanging, the streetcar operator intimidates the trucker into backing all the way out of the narrow section.

Around another sharp corner, up another ten percent-plus grade and we reach the busy Graca neighborhood, with another short turn loop, where many 28-line cars terminate. The 37-Castelo bus takes riders from here up to panoramic views from the historic castle—the Portuguese equivalent of the 39-line to Coit Tower! Our tram, however, continues on the line, freewheeling down another seemingly endless grade, giving riders a rush much like San Francisco’s cable cars on stretches where the ‘rope’ is dropped. At the end of the downgrade, we twist around another series of tight turns, seemingly doomed to multiple collisions with automobiles that are miraculously avoided at the last minute. We’re loaded with locals again; the visitors seem to have disappeared at Graca. Suddenly, we swing onto a wide boulevard, off the hill and side-running perilously close to parked cars through a somewhat dingy commercial strip. We finish our 48-minute run at the huge Martim Moniz plaza in a 1950s socialist-modern part of town. We’ve made a giant U, almost back to the Baixa, just a short walk from where the line passed through the downtown.

But wait, there’s more!
As if that great ride isn’t enough, the other vintage streetcar lines each have their own charms, as do the funiculars and the elevator, although the latter is currently just an up-and-down ride, the bridge to Barrio Alto closed because of structural problems. Besides the regular service yellow trams, there are a half-dozen red trams of the same type, restored to something approaching their early appearance. These are sent on a tourist route encompassing parts of the 25 and 28 lines. The cost is more than ten times the regular fare (which is equivalent to Muni’s $1.50 US, but you can buy a five day pass for about $15). On the tourist tram, however, you get a guaranteed seat and a taped commentary in English. There’s also a very clean and efficient suburban electric commuter train service to the beaches at Cascais.

Beyond the rides, there’s also a wonderful museum that opened in 1999 in part of the Santo Amaro depot, a preserved vintage maintenance and storage facility located directly under the Tagus River (April 25) bridge, their version of the Golden Gate. This facility near the 15 and 18 lines, also stores and services both the vintage and modern cars, and has an entire carbarn dedicated to a wide range of vintage trams and buses. You begin by touring displays in converted office space, then catch a restored red tourist tram, winding through the facility to reach the carbarn itself.

Add in the cultural and culinary charms of Lisbon, a western European capital that operates at a Mediterranean pace, and you come as close to time travel as this world allows. Anyone who loves vintage streetcars should put this town atop the wish list.