Metropolitan Region (part 2)
RESBALÓN, BARRANCAS, PUDAHUEL
MAIPÚ
SAN MIGUEL
LA CISTERNA-LA GRANJA
SAN BERNARDO
SANTA INÉS
CHACARILLA
PUENTE ALTO
BUIN-SANTA RITA
BUIN-MAIPO
MALLOCO-PEÑAFLOR
MELIPILLA




RESBALÓN, BARRANCAS, PUDAHUEL
suburbs west of Santiago
an/steam/gas/el tw 1903-1934; 750 mm; 15 km

As shown on the area map, there were several independent tram operations in the capital's suburbs, especially along the railroad lines that ran south and southwest.

The communities of Resbalón, Barrancas and Pudahuel were served by the Ferrocarril de Santiago al Resbalón, later called Ferrocarril de Yungay, Barrancas y Pudahuel and/or Ferrocarril de Yungay a Pudahuel, which is discussed in the SANTIAGO chapter above. The line's passenger cars were pulled alternately by horses and small steam locomotives when service began in 1903; gasoline trams were introduced in the 1920s. The Cerro Navia, Resbalón and Pudahuel branches closed when the eastern third of the railway was electrified in 1934.




MAIPÚ
10 km southwest of Santiago
pop. 1920, 1,157; 1930, 2,112; 1982, 107,750
an tw 1910?-1930s; 750 mm; 3 km; 4 pt

The steam railroad that runs from Santiago southwest to Cartagena was the starting point for several animal-powered lines. The little Ferrocarril Urbano de Maipú carried passengers from Maipú station through Maipú to a war memorial that celebrates the Battle of Maipú, which established Chilean independence on 5 April 1818. For its centenary in 1918 the tramway company was renamed Ferrocarril Urbano Campos de Batalla de Maipú (Maipú Battlefield Street Railway). The Anuario reports 66,329 fares in 1915 and 75,000 in 1921. The line is still mentioned in Tornero's guide of 1930.




SAN MIGUEL
suburb directly south of Santiago
pop. 1930, 26,268; 1982, 88,764
an tw 1901-1907; 1435 mm; 5 km; 4 pt

In 1901 the Ferrocarril de San Miguel opened a 3.5 km horse tramway along Avenida J. M. Carrera, between the Calle Franklin terminus of the Santiago tramway and a place called Lo Vial in San Miguel. The line was extended in 1902 to Lo Ovalle in La Cisterna, which is the present terminus of the Santiago metro. A new company, the Ferrocarril Eléctrico de Santiago a San Bernardo, purchased the line in 1906, electrified it as far as Av. Américo Vespucio in 1907, and inaugurated electric tram service all the way to San Bernardo in 1908. [See discussion in the SANTIAGO chapter above, and in the LA CISTERNA and SAN BERNARDO chapters below.]

Little is known of the car in the illustration, which appeared in a 1900 catalog of the George F. Milnes & Co. of England [see J. H. Price, "The Story of G. F. Milnes" in Modern Tramway (London), 8/1964, p. 283]. The inscription "FERRO CARRIL DE SN MIGUEL ESPEJO" suggests that it was built for the tramway in Chile, which before electrification may have been extended - or at least planned an extension - to the town of Lo Espejo, 2 km west. If the Milnes tram ran in Chile, it is the only English tram known to have run in Chile. It was surely also one of the smallest cars to run anywhere.




LA CISTERNA-LA GRANJA
8 km south of Santiago
pop. 1982, 109,168
an tw 1907-1942; 1435 mm; 7.1 km; 4 pt

Upon elimination of the San Miguel horsecar line - which may have run west on Av. Américo Vespucio to Lo Espejo - a new company, Tranvías de La Cisterna a La Granja, built a new animal-powered railway east on Av. Américo Vespucio to La Granja. Horsecars continued to run from "Paradero (Stop) 25" of the San Bernardo electric tramway until both lines were closed by street paving programs in the 1940s. The horse tramway in La Granja was one of the last to run in Chile.




SAN BERNARDO
18 km south of Santiago
pop. 1907, 8,269; 1986, 136,224
an tw 1890-1940 [see Santa Inés, below]
el tw 1908-1941 [see Santiago, above]

This fast-growing suburb was the starting point for two tramway lines: the animal-powered Ferrocarril de Santa Inés, discussed below, and the Ferrocarril Eléctrico de Santiago a San Bernardo, which is described in the Santiago chapter. The electric line's tracks intersected the steam railroad at grade when operation began in 1908, but were placed in an underpass below the railroad in the 1930s. Electric tram service was cut back to La Cisterna in 1941, but the tram tracks were still visible in the underpass in 1991.




SANTA INÉS
25 km south of Santiago
an tw 1890-1940; 760 mm; 9 km; 7 pt,16 ft

The Ferrocarril de Santa Inés (a Nos) is noted in every railway history and government chart of the first half of this century and seems to have been one of the best-known horsecar operations in Chile. The line was originally built to transport fruit and workers to, from and within the Fundo Santa Inés, a large plantation about 25 km south of the capital. In later years it also carried the general public to and from the hacienda, as well as gunpowder and military supplies for the Fábrica Nacional de Pólvora in San Bernardo. The system was T-shaped, joining the fundo with both the Nos station of the Longitudinal Railroad and the FESSB electric tramway at San Bernardo.

According to government tables the Santa Inés tramway carried 20,640 passengers in 1902, 30,568 poassengers in 1909, and 49,259 passengers in 1919. Huidobro Díaz states that only 2,989 fares were paid in 1937.




CHACARILLA
suburb southeast of Santiago
an tw ?-1923; 600 mm; 2 km; 1 pt

The author was unable to learn much about the "Carrito (Little Car) de la Chacarilla" which ran to the community of that name from the end of CET&L's Macul electric line. It is mentioned only in the Anuario of 1920 and, briefly, in guidebooks of 1919 and 1923 [see BIBLIOGRAPHY]. Since it is ignored by guidebooks after 1923 it is assumed that the line ceased operation that year. Its single car carried 10,000 passengers in 1920.




PUENTE ALTO
20 km south of Santiago
pop. 1966, 65,701; 1982, 113,211
el tw 1925-1963; 1000 mm; 2 km

The interurban tramway service provided by the Ferrocarril del Llano de Maipo between Santiago and Puente Alto is described in the SANTIAGO chapter. The line entered Puente Alto on reserved track behind houses on Av. Vicuña Mackenna, then at Calle José Luis Coo crossed the town square onto Av. Balmaceda. Passengers could transfer at that point to the steam trains of the 600 mm gauge Ferrocarril Puente Alto al Volcán, which continued another 61 km into the mountains to the town of El Volcán.

The FLM also provided an urban tram service within Puente Alto, to transport employees of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papel y Cartón to and from their homes. Tram #4 painted brown and equipped with a bow collector - interuban cars were green and had pantographs - ran from the paper mill on Calle Eyzaguirre to the plaza and south end of town. CMPG acquired a controlling interest in the FLM in 1935.

The local service ended when the interurban line closed about 1963. The FPAV steam line continued until 1981.




BUIN-SANTA RITA
35 km south of Santiago
pop. (Buin) 1920, 2,471
an tw ?-1938?; 750 mm; 10 km; 5 pt, 10 ft

Like the fundo at Santa Inés 10 km north, the vineyard at Santa Rita also built a horsecar line, to the railroad station at Buin. The 1915, 1916 and 1917 editions of the Anuario report that the Ferrocarril de Estación Buin a Santa Rita, which ran from the east side of the railroad, was owned by J. G. Huidobro. Wine from the Viña Santa Rita, which is near the town of Alto Jahuel, is sold throughout the world today and was consumed by the author as he wrote this book.




BUIN-MAIPO
35 km south of Santiago
pop. 1910, 2,715; 1980, 41,790
an tw 1918?-?; 1000 mm; 6 km; 6 pt, 1 ft

The west side of Buin station was the starting point for another horse tramway, this one to the town of Maipo, on the Maipo River. [Maipo should not be confused with Maipú, on the Mapocho River, 25 kilometers north; see above.]

The 1916 through 1920 editions of the Anuario describe the Ferrocarril de Buin a Maipo as a Chilean company owned by Florín Román. 89,288 passengers were carried in 1919 and 171,461 in 1920! It is difficult to trace the line's development in later years when the Anuario reported data only by province. (To complicate matters further, Maipo department, in which it ran, transfered from O'Higgins province to Santiago province in 1928.)




MALLOCO-PEÑAFLOR
25 km southwest of Santiago
pop. 1907, 1,671; 1930, 3,405; 1982, 54,557
an tw 1915?-1930s; 750 mm; 12 km; 13 pt

On the Santiago-Cartagena railroad, 15 km southwest of Maipú, a horse tramway ran from Malloco station through Malloco to the town of Peñaflor on the Mapocho River. Its 13 cars carried 80,493 passengers in 1915. The precise years of operation of the Ferrocarril Malloco y Peñaflor could not be determined, but references to the service can still be found in guidebooks of the 1930s and it is noted in the WSFR Supplement of 1936.




MELIPILLA
60 km southwest of Santiago
pop. 1907, 6,265; 1982, 41,606
an tw 1915-1932; 600 mm; 14 km;7 pt, 6 ft
gas tw 1922-?; 750 mm; 28 km; 3 pm

Sixty kilometers down the Santiago-Cartagena railroad, 35 km beyond Malloco, two more animal tramway lines, both 600 mm gauge, began at the railroad station at Melipilla. The Ferrocarril de Melipilla a Huechún ran through the city and 7 km southwest to a fundo at Huechún; it carried 34,197 passengers in 1915, 48,332 in 1921. The Ferrocarril Santa Ana de Chena, noted only in the Anuario of 1920, ran from the station 7 km north to the town of that name; it carried 15,321 passengers that year. Both lines were locally owned.

In addition to the horse tramways, Long (1930) states that the Ferrocarril de Melipilla a Ibacache steam railroad transported passengers in tram-like gasoline cars in the 1920s. Ibacache was later renamed Chorombo.




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