Urban Tramway Video Clip

Came across this on a random stroll through You Tube. It's Lisbon tram route 28, at night. Vintage tramcars in daily service, some fierce gradients and impressively rapid hill starts, interlaced trackwork and clearances which make you look at the idea of the WLLR extending back to Welshpool Station .... and wonder what the hell all the fuss is about!

I wonder if the long gone 3'6" gauge Brighton Corporation Tramways sounded anything like this? Hope you enjoy!

 

It's a fantastic ride and all available on a standard day travel ticket at no extra cost. The only point to watch is the queue on a sunny day. I have waited for over 90 minutes in August. Night time is a great experience but check the finishing times of the last 'historic' tram as I seem to remember that they finish before normal trams. Hotels are relatively cheap, food and drink is available for all budgets. What's not to like?

 

Being the first time I've seen this route on video, the speed of the climb up through the narow strets of Barrio Alto was quite a surprise (I kept expecting something to fly out of one of those small side roads). There was a building on this stretch which reminded me of one of the old Metropolitan stations ... up to 1st floor level. I've rewatched the descent from the Barrio and still can't spot what told the driver there was a tram coming t'other way over an interleaved portion of track.

With all that derelict steam kicking around the country, it's a very tempting destination ..... though I've got enough on my plate attempting to learn Spanish right now, without confusing myself with Portuguese too!

 

We got on fine with the language. The written is not so far from Italian but the spoken took some getting used to. Look for the traffic lights which act as the signals along the route.