Museo del Tren de Puerto Rico
Isabela Station
At the entrance to the museum you are welcomed by a replica of the front of the Isabela station. This facade, built at 80% scale of the original structure helps us imagine this beautiful station built more than 100 years ago. Stop under the roof of the platform and enjoy this short reading about Puerto Rico's railroad history.
Isabela's Railroad station facade.
The Train Stations
American Railroad (A.R.R) trains carried cargo, mail, and passengers. Much more than just a train stop, stations were a center of economic and social activity in every town along the railroad. Train stations buildings varied in style and size depending on the volume of passenger and cargo traffic in each town served by the railroad. Designs were reused at different locations across the island to save money. The larger stations were built in San Jua, Arecibo, Aguadilla, Mayaguez, and Ponce, towns with a lot of economic activity. Buildings of more modest size were constructed in towns with less traffic like Isabela.
Photo of the original building of Isabela Station ca.1906.
Photo by Attilio Moscioni.
The Isabela Train Station
The Isabela train station, largest in the section between Arecibo and Aguadilla, was inaugurated in 1907, the year when this section of the railroad was completed. As many other stations built by the American Railroad during the first decade of the twentieth century, the structure had walls that combined a lower section made of stone with brick corners, a design style that we can still see today in many culverts, and bridge abutments along the route. A wood structure with a corrugated metal gable roof was built over this base. (Fig. 1). This roof was replaced with a pyramid-style roof at some point before 1930.
Figure 1. Structural model of the station.
The roof of the structure extended over the platform providing passengers with shade and protection from the rain (Fig. 2). The building measured 16 meters long by 6 meters wide. The platform extended along the length of the building and it was was around 4.8 meters wide. The building was divided into multiple spaces. All stations had a waiting room, ticket office (Fig. 2,3), and various spaces used as offices, telegraph services, or a storeroom. Larger stations included living quarters for the station master and their family. The blue print for Isabela Station includes a space for a kitchen suggesting that the residence was located in the corner opposite to the waiting room and away from the platform.
Figure 2. 3D model of the station illustrating the roof on both the station and the platform.
Figure 3. 3D model of the station showing the platform, waiting room, and ticket window.
Surrounding Structures
Most stations also had a second wooden building (later concrete at some locations) that served as a warehouse where parcels that arrived or were waiting to be picked up were stored. An out house (toilets later in the 20th century) were also part of the compound. In the case of Isabela Station the station also had a hotel (labeled "Lunch House" in the photo), at least in the early years of operation.
Figure 4. Photo captured ca.1909 of a building labeled "Hotel" that existed to west of the station. Observe the hand written note indicating that it served as a "Lunch house" suggesting it served food to the general public. Source: Field books of Lieutenant William H. Armstrong.
Memories...
Every train station had something that made it "special" and in Isabela it was two products sold by peddlers. One of these was the "quesito de hoja" (a local cheese). This product continues to be a favorite of many to this day as a visit to Isabela is not complete without a visit to Rancho LomaLinda or La Granja (in Quebradillas) where you can buy this characteristic product of the region.
Another interesting item for those that remember it was the so called "peces de colores" (colorful fish) that were sold to passengers by children that lived around the station. The small fish were captured by children between the ages of 10 and 15 who put them on glass jars that they collected from nearby rubbish piles and then sold on the train station. Close your eyes and imagine the scene! The sound of the locomotive getting ready to depart, the steam, the smell of burning coal, passengers running to board and the children shouting ¡VENDO PECES DE COLORES! (selling colored fish). Some passengers would stop to buy the fish creating some stress on their companions who would then shout to them ¡OLVIDATE DE LOS PECES DE COLORES! (forget the colored fish). This daily life scene of the time is said to have been the origin of the use of this phrase as used by the locals as a way to communicate urgency to others.
The model of Isabela Station
As many other old structures in Puerto Rico, the building of Isabel Station disappeared many decades ago. Fortunately, the blue prints of this beautiful building are preserved as part of the documents housed at the Archivo General de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico National Archives). In 2015 Redescubriendo a Puerto Rico, a microhistory blogging project of our collaborator Héctor Ruiz used the blue prints to build an interactive 3D model that you see in this page. We invite you to explore it...
Como muchas otras viejas estructuras en nuestra isla, el edificio de la estación Isabela desapareció hace muchas décadas. Afortunadamente, los planos de este bonito edificio han sido preservados como parte de la colección de documentos en el Archivo General de Puerto Rico. En el año 2015 el proyecto de microhistorias de Redescubriendo a Puerto Rico de nuestro colaborador Héctor Ruiz uso los planos como base para construir un modelo interactivo que aquí compartimos. Te invitamos a explorarlo...
This page was published in collaboration with Héctor Ruiz | Redescubriendo a Puerto Rico