HAITI | Tramways of Port-Au-Prince

[ruru]

The Republic of Haiti occupies the western third of Hispaniola, the Caribbean island which Christopher Columbus visited in 1492 and which was under French rule after 1664. Black slaves declared their independence in 1802 and established a republic in 1820 – the second in the Americas. The capital had two urban railway eras: a horsecar network between 1878 and 1888, and a second system which started with steam locomotives in 1897 and ended with internal combustion engines in 1932.
The first franchise for the construction of a street railway was awarded in 1876 to a group of New York financiers, who founded the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de Port-au-Prince. The CCFPP ordered six open cars from the J. G. Brill Co. in Philadelphia in October 1877 and inaugurated a tramway service on 17 January 1878. The first line, which connected Croix des Bossales with the Champ de Mars, was probably the first railway in the country.

The drawing below shows the tramway on Rue des Miracles near Port-au-Prince Bay. This is the only illustration that has been found of a horsedrawn tram in Haiti.



The tramway was a great success and in the following weeks CCFPP purchased four more cars from Brill and opened another line on the Grand-Rue. Unfortunately, construction of the line was mediocre, derailments were frequent, maintenance of the cars was nonexistent and omnibus competition began in 1880. The CCFPP went bankrupt in 1885 and the last tram of Port-au-Prince's first tramway ran in April 1888.

The second tramway was a more ambitious and complex affair, with investment from Haiti, the U.S., Belgium and Germany. In 1896 the Comité des Négociants d'Haïti began the restoration of the former tramway system and the construction of two new rural lines – all to be powered by steam locomotives. The new Société des Tramways de Port-au-Prince ordered an 8-ton locomotive from H. K. Porter Co. in Pittsburgh, U.S.A., five 12-ton locomotives from Lokomotivfabrik Krauss in München, Germany, and three locomotives (of unknown power) from Ateliers de Tubize near Brussels, Belgium. It also ordered ten open passenger cars from Jackson & Sharp Co. in Wilmington, U.S.A. – all with eight benches, larger than the Brill cars of 1878, which had disappeared. Here is an advertisement [Street Railway Journal, New York, 1/1898, p. 147]:



The following photograph shows a Jackson & Sharp car and the Porter locomotive in Port-au-Prince on 27 September 1896. The latter was baptized "President Sam" in honor of Haitian president Tirésias Simon Sam – but note the U.S. flag on the left [Street Railway Review, Chicago, 15/3/1897, p. 178]:



On 18 April 1897 the Société des Tramways de Port-au-Prince inaugurated the first line of its steam tramway system, from Portail St-Joseph along Rue du Quai and Rue des Miracles to the tramway depot at Champ de Mars, and thence to Rue des Casernes. The second line on the Grand-Rue, from Portail St-Joseph to the Cimetière (Cemetery), entered service a week later. In this postcard view the cars are pulled by a Krauss locomotive [col. AM]:



In its first six months of operation the tramway carried 250,000 passengers. Track gauge was 762 mm (30 inches). Here is a train on the Grand-Rue [postcard, col. AM]:



The Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de la Plaine du Cul-de-Sac [Dead End Plain Railway] operated the new rural lines, from Port-au-Prince to Léogâne, on the bay 36 km to the west, and from the capital to Manneville, 43 km to the east. Its track gauge, like that of the STPP lines, was 762 mm and the two companies shared their rolling stock. In 1901 the CCFPCS bought the STPP. Here is a mixed train, with Krauss locomotive, on Rue du Quai [pc, col. AM]:



For its rural lines, the CCFPCS imported 25-ton locomotives and large double-truck passenger cars. The interurban trains shared the streets with the urban vehicles [pc, col. AM]:



There is no way to know if the following train was doing local or rural service, but it seems that the locomotive was not a very good match for the little passenger cars. The view is south down the Grand-Rue [pc, col. AM]:



Frequent visits by the U.S. Navy produced a number of photographic souvenirs of Haitian transport [pc, col. AM]:



In 1905 the new Compagnie Nationale or National Railroad built a steam line between Port-au-Prince and Saint-Marc, 100 km to the north. Its track gauge was 1067 mm (42 inches), wider than that of the CCFPCS.

Between 1912 and 1918 the steam tramway company proposed electrification several times, at least of its urban lines, but made no progress in the plan. After the U.S. occupation of Haiti in 1915, the Haitian American Sugar Corporation ("Hasco") acquired the CCFPCS and renamed it Chemin de Fer Central or Central Railroad. Hasco attempted improvements, e.g., the enclosure of the locomotives [pc. col. AM]:



The postcard view below shows an enclosed locomotive with two trailers [col. AM]:



This train is on Rue des Casernes [pc, col. AM]:



The rails and rolling stock were aging and there was new bus competition. Between 1912 and 1922 the revenues of the Central Railway (ex-CCFPCS) dropped 64%, from $94,000 to $34,000. This view of Rue du Quai in the 1910s shows a train full of passengers [pc, col. AM]:



But the same view ten years later shows a tiny tram that is almost empty – and automobiles, which had been absent in all preceding illustrations [pc, col. AM]:



An American magazine described the new model [Popular Mechanics, Chicago, 5/1922]:



This postcard from the 1920s shows a four-axle tram with center door. Its origin is unknown [col. AM]:




The courageous tramway of Port-au-Prince disappeared completely in 1932. Its rolling stock was probably transferred to coffee or sugar plantations.

@by Allen Morrison

[Nikkodemo]

What a nostaglic moments....!

Thanks for the pics!

[carlosbe]

Waht a great collection!

Allen Morrison did also a collection of the Tramway of Asuncion, Paraguay.

[ElVoltageDR]

I didn't know there was such a system in Port-Au-Prine. Looked very nice

[funkydory]

Ruru

That posting is of very great interest to me. I'm doing a 10-year-or-die-trying University degree in Caribbean Studies and transport was my 25 year career previously,although my study project is more turning out to be architecture hence me being here in SkyscraperCity.

Have you by chance got a copy of "Railways of the Caribbean" by David Rollinson (Macmillan Caribbean 2001)?

Its the locomotive power featured there, although there are articles on tramways in Cuba and Jamaica also.

If anyone in this forum is interested, without cheating by relying on the internet I'll make an exercise book of my own to do with noting relevant articles I come across. I think maybe National Geographic may have some photos which may not be listed in their index.

[ruru]

Originally Posted by funkydory

Ruru

That posting is of very great interest to me. I'm doing a 10-year-or-die-trying University degree in Caribbean Studies and transport was my 25 year career previously,although my study project is more turning out to be architecture hence me being here in SkyscraperCity.

Have you by chance got a copy of "Railways of the Caribbean" by David Rollinson (Macmillan Caribbean 2001)?

Its the locomotive power featured there, although there are articles on tramways in Cuba and Jamaica also.

If anyone in this forum is interested, without cheating by relying on the internet I'll make an exercise book of my own to do with noting relevant articles I come across. I think maybe National Geographic may have some photos which may not be listed in their index.

I'm deeply sorry to say that but I don't have the copy that you mentioned. Those informations I posted about the railway of Haiti are from an add or blog (don't remember) on the internet. Although I've found this website http://www.sinfin.net/railways/world/index.html and the informations that it contains might be useful for your studies. Hope you find what you are looking for.

[BAP DOM]

I didn't imagine there was a tramway in Haiti. Haiti has really surprised me lately.

[almo]

Contributor ruru. I'm not real pleased that you hijacked my ENTIRE Haiti website, text and pictures, left the credits on the pictures but otherwise GAVE ME NO CREDIT WHATEVER FOR MY YEARS OF RESEARCH, TRAVEL AND EXPENSE. Do you think this material just falls out of the sky? Your behavior is very unethical. For those readers with an honorable, scholarly interest in the subject, I would like to point out that the English-language version of my page can be found at
http://www.tramz.com/ht/ppe.html

The original French-language version is at
http://www.tramz.com/ht/pp.html

Allen Morrison ["almo"]

[ruru]

Originally Posted by almo

Contributor ruru. I'm not real pleased that you hijacked my ENTIRE Haiti website, text and pictures, left the credits on the pictures but otherwise GAVE ME NO CREDIT WHATEVER FOR MY YEARS OF RESEARCH, TRAVEL AND EXPENSE. Do you think this material just falls out of the sky? Your behavior is very unethical. For those readers with an honorable, scholarly interest in the subject, I would like to point out that the English-language version of my page can be found at
http://www.tramz.com/ht/ppe.html

The original French-language version is at
http://www.tramz.com/ht/pp.html

Allen Morrison ["almo"]

Please give me a break, don't you see that I put your name at the end. I wanted to put the copyright sign but couldn't find it, so I put an @ in front of it.

[davsot]

Damn ruru you got flamed.

Anyways I see you're having trouble doing the copyright symbol. Just copy-paste...

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