Scenic route
Maria Fumaça de Tiradentes
São João del-Rei → Tiradentes · Brazil
- Distance
- 12 km
- Fastest time
- 35 min
- Top speed
- 30 km/h
- Operator
- VLI
- Train
- 19th-century Baldwin steam, 762 mm gauge
- Countries
- Brazil
- In service since
- 1881
- Runs
- Wed–Sun, 1–2× daily
Baldwin steam locomotives have worked this 76 cm-gauge line ever since Emperor Pedro II opened it in 1881.
Emperor Pedro II rode the first train when the Estrada de Ferro Oeste de Minas opened in 1881, and its 76 cm-gauge Baldwins have been at work between São João del-Rei and colonial Tiradentes ever since — Brazil’s oldest steam service still in regular operation. The half-hour amble follows the Rio das Mortes beneath the Serra de São José escarpment. At the São João roundhouse, locomotives are still turned on the period turntable in what is now a working railway museum.
Along the way
- São João del-Rei roundhouse and museum
- Rio das Mortes valley
- Serra de São José escarpment
- Tiradentes’ 1881 station
More scenic routes
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