Printed version here

About the book:

The more than century-old history of the Tua line is full of comical, dramatic and intense episodes, many of them portrayed here by the talented hand of Zé da Fonte. In the approximately 120 pages of this comic book, we follow the behind-the-scenes games of the influential people from Trás-os-Montes to provide the province with the improvement that meant progress in itself: the railway. We follow step by step the effort of the workers in opening the bed and laying the track, the difficulties they felt and the suffering they went through. We also know the paths of the men who took responsibility for the direction of the works and the challenges they faced: the striking workers, the insufficient budgets, the lack of money, the persecution of creditors... In particular, we experience the personal drama of João da Cruz, the man who personally committed to bringing the railway to Bragança. We also appreciate the other side of the coin: the inauguration parties and the enthusiasm of the people facing the infrastructure that promised to wake them "from the lethargy in which they have been lying", as the Bragança Gazette wrote in 1906. Finally, we watch the unfolding of history on the Tua line and outside of it. More than 100 years of changes, conquests, instability, disappointments in events that marked the history of the railway, of Portugal and of the world.