Although the major part of the Corgo line has been closed since the days of steam, the section to Vila Real that remains runs through the most dramatic landscape of the whole line. Here high above the Rio Corgo LRV 2000 railcar number 9501 forming the 14.06 Vila Real to Regua approaches the station at Povoacão on 25/3/2007.
Photo Tony Bowles



After several false starts it fell to the CF do Estado's Minho e Douro division to construct & operate the Corgo line. Work started in 1903 and the line opened to Vila Real in May 1906. Because of its mountainous nature, the line was mallet operated from the start, with the first 4 of what ultimately became 10 0-4-4-0 tank engines supplied by Henschel & Sohn for the opening. The remaining 6 were supplied the following year for the opening of line on to Pedras Salgadas and the anticipated opening of the first section of the Tamega line to Amarante. The extension on to Vidago opened in 1910 but political wrangling then delayed the opening of the final section into Chaves until August 1921. With the increasing line length & train weights, the first of the 2-4-6-0 mallet tanks arrived from Henschels in 1911 and gradually took over the Corgo line trains. The 0-4-4-0Ts were then used on the shorter line workings up until the formation of the CP in 1947, following which they were all soon transferred to Porto, where some had previously been on hire in any case.

The 2-4-6-0Ts had sole charge of traffic on the line for the next 30 years until dieselisation in the the late 1970s. From the mid 1980s the line was gradually run down in common with many of the narrow gauge lines. Both passenger services north of Vila Real and all freight services ceased from the beginning of 1990. By the spring of 2007 a motorway was virtually complete from Chaves to Régua & beyond, so transport in the Corgo & Tamega valleys has moved on.