Monte Railway

It was António Joaquim Marques, of Lisbon, who first thought of building a lift, or rack railway, between Funchal and Monte (‘hill’), and the proposal he submitted to that effect to the Municipal Council was accepted at its session of 17 February 1887. The engineer Raul Mesnier carried out some studies from 1886 onwards in order to settle the best plan to follow in carrying out the work. However, unforeseen difficulties arose, so Marques decided to transfer the concession he had obtained to Captain Manuel Alexandre de Sousa, a native of Madeira; the Council permitted this at its session of 24 July 1890.

On 22 January 1891 the Council approved the plan for building the lift. By then the Railway Company had already been formed, under a contract concluded with the concessionaire, and a short time later work began at the locality of Confeiteira (‘confectioner’), where large retaining walls had to be built. Under the contract between the Council and the Railway company, the expropriation of the land needed for the railway line was to be carried out by the Municipality, but at the company's expense. The line would belong to the company for 99 years and would then become public.

The first section of the railway, between Pombal and the Levada de Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’s channel’), was opened on 16 July 1893, and on 5 August 1894 services began between Pombal and Atalhinho (‘little shortcut’), an occasion marked by boisterous celebrations in the parish (freguesia) of Monte. The works were at first directed by Captain Manuel Alexandre de Sousa, the Company's technical inspector. When this officer's services were dispensed with on 29 August 1893, however, the supervision of the works passed to the civil engineers Messrs Aníbal and Adriano Trigo, who had to correct some errors made by their predecessor.

The report and accounts of the Railway Board for the year 1894 show that the works as far as the locality of Atalhinho cost the considerable sum of 44,899,679 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis). Of this, 2,229,210 réis went on lowering part of the road, whose gradient was steeper than the locomotives could climb.

At a meeting of the general assembly of the Monte Railway Company (Companhia do Caminho de Ferro do Monte) on 12 July 1910, it was resolved to extend the railway line to the Terreiro da Luta (‘ground of the fight’). The Council sanctioned this decision on 4 August of the same year, and this section of the line, together with the large restaurant built at that spot, was opened on 24 June 1912.

Between Pombal and Monte there are 2,500 metres of railway line, and between Pombal and the Terreiro da Luta 3850.

The financial difficulties that the Railway Company faced when the road was opened and the railway line laid as far as Monte forced it to borrow twice and to pay no dividend to its shareholders for a long time. For many years now, however, the Company has had its affairs in order, despite the considerable losses it suffered during the war, when shipping stayed away from our port and the price of coal rose to exorbitant levels (1923).

The line runs from Pombal, where the main station and the Company’s offices are located, to the Terreiro da Luta, its ‘terminus’. This point lies about one thousand five hundred metres from the Igreja Paroquial (‘parish church’) of Monte, at an altitude of 850 metres above sea level. The whole line is approximately four kilometres long, with several halts along the route and a station at the locality (sítio) of Fonte. The Company runs a service of cars to the various stations and halts, which becomes more frequent on certain days when tourists arrive in greater numbers. At the Terreiro da Luta, at the end of the line, which commands one of the most marvellous panoramas, the Railway Company maintains an excellent restaurant, magnificently appointed, which rivals the best of its kind abroad.

On 10 September 1919, shortly after 6 p.m., the boiler of one of the Monte Railway’s locomotives exploded violently as the train was passing between Levada (‘irrigation channel’) and Livramento (‘deliverance’) on its way up. Of the approximately 56 people carried by the car and the locomotive, 4 died at the moment of the explosion, and many were injured, some of them seriously. Because of this disaster, journeys to Monte were suspended until 1 February 1920, which did considerable harm to the Company’s interests.