Santo Andr is an area of Brazil in the state of Sao Paulo. Paranapiacaba is a district in the Santo Andr area. 61 kilometers (38 miles) southeast of the city center, and 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) east of Rio Grande da Serra, it is in the middle of a very large area. People in the Tupi language use the word paranapiacaba to mean “where the sea is found.” About 1,200 people live there.
Sao Paulo Railway employees lived in Paranapiacaba, which was built for them as a place for them to live and work. An important industrial area is found just outside of the main road from Rio Grande da Sera to the main village. People and freight moved from the inside of Sao Paulo to the port of Santos by rail, truck, and on foot. The way the village is laid out is called panoptic.
In 1867, the city became the place where the English-owned Sao Paulo Railroad workers lived and worked. There are stone buildings outside of London, and a clock tower can be seen above the jungle of the old rail yard, which is now a jungle. The Sao Paulo Railway connects the city’s interior with the port of Santos, transporting both people and goods (mainly coffee). Its most important technological development was the Funicular, which was a train that could go up and down slopes.
This is how many people lived in Paranapiacaba at its peak: 4,000 engineers, people who worked there, and their families. However, because the fungus was more than a century old, automated technology was needed to move the depot down the mountain and the beach items. When Brazil became more integrated in the 1940s, the government bought the Sao Paulo Railway. Before 1980, the finer at the Paranapiacaba station was used. After that, it was only used by tourists, and no one else could use it. In the train yard, it has rust.
Paranapiacaba hasn’t been abandoned, even though the train station looks broken and abandoned. People live in the area, but most of the old houses have been torn down and left empty. People live in different parts of the village, which are separated by rail. One of the villas is on top of a hill and looks like it was built in the style of Portugal.
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At Villa Martim Smith, the train staff used to live in bunkhouses and small cabins. Now, they live in a big house. This is where the Museo Tecnológico Ferroviário is. It’s in a train building that used to be there. The museum shows off all of the technology that the British Railways used in Brazil. If you want, you can also take a tour of the train station with us! Even though the train isn’t running anymore, the station is dead. Industrial tracks, buildings, and equipment are being taken over by lush natural growth, making the station look like a ghost town.
The site called for investment in the World Monuments Watch (WMW) in 2000 and 2002 by the World Monument Fund to revitalize the village. With funding from American Express, the Fund assisted local stakeholders in implementing this initiative. By 2008, the WMW team had successfully restored conservation efforts to the Casa Fox ( archive), Castelinho ( now a museum), the Lyra Serrano Club, and the Old Market. Further renovations are underway. With so many improved facilities, the city has seen a dramatic change in its environment and the economic progress of the area.