The Restoration & Archiving Trust
Corgo line - Porto system - Sabor & Tamega lines - Tua line - Bragança extension - Vouga lines
An oil lamp on the wall of an unrecorded country station.
Photo Tony Bowles
Although this section covers the CPs metre gauge lines, the first section of narrow railway in Portugal was built to 900mm gauge by the Companhia dos Caminhos de Ferro de Porto à Póvoa de Varzim; which it remained until conversion in March 1930 following the merger in 1927 with the neighbouring CF de Guimarães to form the CF do Norte de Portugal
The Porto area lines have disappeared in their original form but the core parts, the lines to Guimarães & Póvoa have been redeveloped to match modern needs whilst the rural sections from Póvoa to Famalicão and Guimarães to Fafe were the first narrow gauge closure casualties in the mid 1980s along with the Dao line. In the more rural areas however the narrow gauge lines were largely built to provide public transport at a lower capital cost and their economic sustainability was even more marginal. Here generally speaking the first built lines have survived far better that the later additions. The last section of narrow gauge to be opened was the Tamega line extension from Amarante to Arco de Baulhe in 1949 and this along with the whole of the Sabor line that was not opened throughout until 1938 were among the second batch of casualties at the end of the 1980s along with the Corgo line north of Vila Real and that between Sernada do Vouga & Viseu. Less than two years later the Tua line's later built extension from Mirandela to Bragança was also closed.
Much of the information regarding the metre gauge lines & rolling stock came from ‘Narrow Gauge Railways of Portugal’ by W J K Davies published by Plateway Press ISBN 1 871980 35 6.
