The 'Mad Maria' Railway: History of the Amazon's Most Tragic Infrastructure
The Estrada de Ferro Madeira-Mamoré — known as the 'Mad Maria' for the deaths of its workers — was one of history's most costly railways; the Porto Velho museum preserves the locomotives and the tragic story
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The Mad Maria Railway History
The Madeira-Mamoré railway was built in 1907-1912 to bypass the Madeira Falls and connect Bolivia's rubber-producing hinterland to the Amazon river system; an estimated 6,000 workers died from malaria, yellow fever and accidents
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Percival Farquhar's Vision
American financier Percival Farquhar contracted the railway — one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects of the early 20th century; the economic and human disaster that followed is documented in the museum
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Railway Museum Locomotive
The Museu Ferroviário at Porto Velho station preserves the original steam locomotives, carriages and equipment from the railway era; the collection is one of Brazil's most important industrial heritage
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Rubber boom Connection
Mad Maria was built at the height of the Amazon rubber boom — the rubber from Bolivia that the railway was designed to export became useless with the arrival of plantation rubber from Asia before the railway was completed
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Workers' Cemetery
The Cemetery of the Mad Maria Workers - where thousands of workers from the Caribbean, Europe and northeastern Brazil are buried - is one of Porto Velho's most sobering historical sites
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Railroad Town Urban Heritage
Porto Velho was founded as the railway terminus in 1907 — the city's layout, its historic buildings and its commercial geography all derive from the railway; the station is the ur-monument of the city's founding