Porto’s tram network once received its electricity from this very building. Finished as a power station in 1915, it produced enough energy for the system until the 1940s. As more electric trams joined the streets, the network began drawing part of its power from the city supply; generation here ended in the 1960s.
The site still serves as a substation for Porto’s three surviving tram routes. Once you are safely inside, the old industrial scale makes the museum’s subject feel tangible. One former hall holds the tram collection, while the other preserves the machinery that made their movement possible.
The museum opened here in 1992 and is run by Porto’s public transport operator. Its collection brings together 16 motor trams, five trailers, two maintenance vehicles, and the generating equipment. Among the vehicles is a horse-drawn car first used in Porto in 1872, long before electric traction transformed the city.
There is also a freight wagon that carried fish from the harbour at Leixões to Porto’s markets, pulled behind trams carrying fish sellers. This is not simply a display of handsome old carriages: it is the working history of how a growing city powered, repaired, supplied, and moved itself. The museum welcomes visitors from Tuesday through Sunday, 10 in the morning until 6 in the evening.
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