Trolley Thursday 2/10/22 - The Panama Tramways

If one talks about the country of Panama (and its identically named City of Panama), most conversations stop at the giant canal built through gunboat diplomacy by 1914. However, the history of Panama does go on beyond the giant Canal, as the city had famously been sacked by privateer Henry Morgan in 1671 and reestablished a distance away by 1673. With the new Panama eventually came a new streetcar system that, like the Canal as its contemporary, continued to be a hotbed of constant reorganization, interruption, and commercial importance to the slender isthmus. On today's Trolley Thursday, we look at how electric streetcars built up Panama and what came after, if anything came after.

Trolley Tuesday 2/8/22 - Las Sistemas de Tren Eléctrico Urbano de Guadalajara

Offsetting the large urban metropolis that is Mexico City in the East lies the city of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco on Mexico's western side. Today, it is the third largest metropolitan area in Mexico, and second in urban density to Mexico City, with varied commercial businesses ranging from technology to finance. Back in the days of horsecars, however, the city was just finding its feet; it was both a constantly-changing site of revolution and agricultural and textile enterprises, setting the stage for a modern transit system by the late 1800s. Where is this streetcar system today, and why is there a trolleybus going into a highway underpass? All of this and more in today's Trolley Tuesday report, all about the Guadalajaran streetcar system.

Trolley Thursday 2/3/22 - Sociedad Cooperativa de Transportes Urbanos y Sub-Urbanos de Veracruz

As the first port of call for explorers, pirates, and immigrants alike, Veracruz has been held in high regard as a part of Mexican history. For railway enthusiasts, it was the eastern end of what became Mexico's first steam railway to Mexico City, some 273 miles away and for many immigrants, an entire world. For traction enthusiasts, it was site of only the second horsecar railway in the entire country, and one with a very descriptive but unwieldy name. Despite this, and being in the shadow of the Mexico City Streetcar system in both size and reach, the Sociedad Cooperativa de Transportes Urbanos y Sub-Urbanos de Veracruz (SCTV) remained a stalwart part of the city for nearly eighty years, and a welcome haven for sold-off, secondhand streetcars. On today's (belated) Trolley Thursday, we're at the True Crossroads as we look back on the streetcars of this Heroic City.

Trolley Tuesday 2/1/22 - The Streetcars of Mexico City

Bienvenidos, amigos, to another month of streetcar history from us at Twice-Weekly Trolley History! As previously announced, this month will be covering streetcar history all over Central and South America, with some rather interesting familiar faces along the way. First on our "South of the Border" tour is Mexico City, the national seat of government and one of the oldest cities in Mexico, all built on what was once Lake Texcoco and the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlàn. As well as being one of the country's largest cities, Mexico City was also once home to one of the largest and most storied streetcar networks in the country. On today's Trolley Tuesday, let's look back on the oft-forgotten but never-gone history of the Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos and its predecessors!