Data sheet:
- Manufacturer: Lladró (País Valencià).
- Width tracks: 1.00 m
- Began service: 1928.
- Decommissioned: 1965.
- Restored: 1998.
Vehicle history:
Tram number 1 is one of the three vehicles that on 27 May 1928 was inaugurated by the company TRANMASA (Tranvía de Mataró a Argentona, S.A.) between Mataró and Argentona. In Catalonia, outside the Barcelona area there were only two electric tram lines, the Mataró-Argentona line and the Montgat-Tiana line, both designed by the industrialist Antoni Gaillard Cluchier.
Two very different worlds travelled on this tram; many working women from the textile industry in Mataró and the illustrious summer holidaymakers from Argentona, such as Eugeni d'Ors, Puig i Cadafalch or Pompeu Fabra. In 1848, when Barcelona and Mataró became connected by train, two events took place. First, Mataró developed an important industrial textile network that needed to transport a large number of workers to the factories. Secondly, Argentona became a summer destination for the bourgeoisie of Barcelona in search of peace, nature and the medicinal waters of the Font Picant. The tram replaced the intercity carriage service, making the journey between the two towns much easier, and at the same time it operated as urban transport within Mataró itself.
In 1965 a strong rainstorm made the Argentona river overflow, sinking the tram bridge and destroying the tram depots and flooding the sub power station. The damage was so devastating that the tram line could not be restored and was replaced by buses.
Tram number 1 was restored by the Fundación Museu del Transport (Transport Museum Foundation) to participate in the exhibition on the 150th anniversary of the Railway held in Barcelona in 1998.
