Quito, Ecuador: History of Tramways

Posted on August 19, 2017 • Filed under: Culture, Ecuador, Ecuador Trivia

The Tramways of
Q U I T O
Ecuador

BY
Allen Morrison

Ecuador’s capital city sprawls along a narrow valley at altitude 2,850 m (9,350 ft), about 20 km (12 mi) south of the Equator. It is one of the world’s highest capitals and was the last in South America to have rail transport. Quito had plans for horsedrawn tramways in 1892, 1897 and 1904, but none materialized. (Ecuador’s most populous city, Guayaquil, had a horsecar line in 1873 and electric trams from 1910.) The arrival of the steam railway from Guayaquil in 1908 produced a need for public transportation between Chimbacalle railway station, atop a hill on the south side of town, and the commercial center on the other side of the Machángara River

Quito Tramways Company was registered in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1910 and was controlled by Ecuadorian Corporation Ltd. of London. QTC began construction of an electric tram system in 1911 and ordered four 2-axle electric trams from J. G. Brill in Philadelphia on 17 February 1914. The new electric line, from the railway station to the city center, was inaugurated on 8 October 1914 [see map]. QTC ordered two 4-axle cars from Brill in 1915 and two more 2-axle models the following year. Track gauge of the Quito tramway, as of the steam railway, was 1067 mm (42 in). Read Article

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Quito tramway map

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