Colin Churcher 2020

  First thing next morning I went into the offices of the Ponta Delgada Harbor Authority. My English didn't work neither did my French. I tried my faltering Spanish on the friendly lady manning the front desk but still no luck. She then signed for me to wait and disappeared behind a door into the general offices and returned with another lady who had some French. I explained that I wanted to see the railway locomotives.  She understood and told me to take a seat and wait. Some 20 minutes later she returned with   Américo Paulo Martins Correia of the Administração dos Portos das Ilhas de S.Miguel e S. Maria, Sa.  (the Port Authority of  the A çores).   Américo, who spoke excellent English, gave up his time to show me the locomotives and to explain much of their background. We went outside into the yard, he produced a key and we entered the shed where the two surviving locomotives were kept. The light was not very good and they were not easily photograph...

The harbour work on San Miguel The story of the railway in Ponta Delgada, on the island of Sao Miguel, in the  Az ores begins in Holyhead on the island of Anglesea in North Wales.  J. and C. Rigby won the contract to build the Holyhead Harbour breakwater which commenced in 1848 and took 28 years to complete.  Although the railway line to Holyhead was built to the standard gauge, the broad gauge of 7 feet 0¼ inches because of the large blocks of stone that were to be conveyed.  The broad gauge was that chosen by Isambard kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Railway. Around 1861 some of the equipment from the Holyhead Harbour Breakwater project was shipped to Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel in the  Az ores to construct the breakwater there. Broad gauge locomotive at work in Ponta Delgada in the 1970s Broad gauge locomotive in the 1970s.  The day after we arrived I went down early to the harbour offices to try and find out what railway artifacts remain, if any.

In 2008 Mary and I took a trip to Portugal stopping off in the Azores for a few days. Coming in from the airport at Ponta Delgada we passed a rail mounted cement mixer. This was by a roundabout close to the end of the airport runway. The rails were wide gauge I knew that broad gauge equipment surplus from the Holyhead Harbour work had been brought to the Azores to build the breakwater here and this was an indication that some broad gauge railway relics might still be in existence here. In town and close to the hotel I spotted a water tank which had the feel of the Great Western Railway about it Clearly the tank had also come from Holyhead. It was dated 1862 on this side. No date on the other side but the origin was quite clear. Holyhead Harbour in Wales was built to the Great Western Railway broad gauge of 7' 0 ¼" and the cement mixer was obviously of the same gauge. I checked into the hotel wondering what other railway relics had survived.

  Two derelict shays at Sagay A derelict Mallet, also at Sagay Nothing moving at San Carlos but the location was great We had the opportunity to ride an unofficial trolley on the three foot gauge. I had to provide the motive power to a bicycle pedal arrangement.  It was pretty difficult as the pedals were set for the much shorter local people leaving me to do it bent double The wheel arrangement is very simple. Just two ball bearing races set at 90 degrees to each other, one to allow movement over the rail and the other to maintain the gauge. We returned to Manilla for our flight home but there was time to ride the relatively new metro This included a visit to the shops. Cebu We also made a number of non-railway trips The end of a wonderful visit.