THE RAILWAY HERITAGE IN São LEOPOLDO - BETWEEN REMEMBRANCE AND FORGETTING

Abstract

The article proposes to research the meanings and representations that the remains of the railroad heritage of the city of São Leopoldo have for some city dwellers and railroad employees. The municipality maintains some traces of the railroad, despite the abandonment and deterioration process that it has been undergoing since the 1980s. Currently, these fragments serve as sociotransmitters of memories and histories of the railroad's trajectory, which through the interviewees' narratives are constantly remembered. So, having as research object the traces of the railroad, the study sought as a theoretical basis in cultural history and testimonial sources and documents, photographs and bibliographies to talk about the representations that the community has about the railroad. Therefore, when discussing the subject, one will inevitably talk about the abandonment of some railroad assets in the city of São Leopoldo considering the issues of memory and oblivion and thus, and perhaps thinking about possible potentialities of the railroad's heritage for construction of historical knowledge.