'La Pepa' Tram

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Memory spaces · Year: 1890

On 1st October 1890 a tram service started up from Las Palmas to Port of La Luz. The metric gauge line was 6 kilometres long, and joined the old town centre in Las Palmas to the then new port facilities, following a dirt track road layout. 

In 1893 an extension to the tram route was authorized around the harbours at Port of La Luz, which at the time was an important coal supply base for steam vessels. The rapid growth of maritime traffic at the Port of La Luz was astonishing. In 1910 over 4,400 steam boat arrivals were accounted for. Precisely this year, the tram line went electic. The original steam tram had become totally obsolete in just 20 years, due to the lack of new investment. The town was tired of its defficient service, and called the locomotives "coffee pots". The coal it used was low quality, and what with the smoke and the dusty road, there was a constantly filthy atmosphere. 

People were frequently being knocked over, especially young children, adding to the tram's bad reputation. Within a few days of the service starting up, newspapers were already reporting the first death. As years went by, and accidents were not abating, an employee was forced to walk ahead of the locomotives, in its stretch along calle de Triana [...]

The electric tram from Las Palmas to the Port of La Luz was in service from 1910 until the Civel War. This progress was highly praised, but years later, and due to lack of investment, the service deteriorated with its ownership changing several times. In the 1930s competition from the buses (called "guaguas" in the Canaries) was now a reality. When the then municipally owned tram service was suspended, the buses took over. However, following the tough post war years, and with liquid fuel scarce, the Town Hall set up the tram service once more.

'La Pepa' was the name known for the train, made up of a steam locomotive that pulled up to eight carriages of the former electric tram, which had had their electric components taken away. From February 1944 this was the tram format, which was regularly packed at rush hour. 

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