oudh and rohilkhand railway
the oudh and rohilkhand railway battalion were an auxiliary regiment associated with the oudh and rohilkhand railway .
history of the oudh & rohilkhand railway urltoken includes a photograph of the oudh & rohilkhand railway volunteer rifles 1910 - 1911. in 1926 it became the 2nd battalion of the east indian railway regiment
around 1872, the indian branch railway company was transformed into oudh and rohilkhand railway. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] oudh and rohilkhand railway was merged with east indian railway company in 1925. [ 11 ]
the varanasi - lucknow - moradabad main line of oudh and rohilkhand railway was extended to saharanpur in 1886. [ 1 ]
the government of india took over the bengal and north - western railway and merged it with the rohilkhand and kumaon railway to form the oudh and tirhut railway in 1943. [ 12 ]
the oudh and rohilkhand railway (o & rr) took over the interests of the indian branch railway (ibr) and under a government of india (goi) guarantee. [ 1 ]
saharanpur marshalling yard under construction by the north western state rly. and the oudh and rohilkhund rly .
the curzon bridge across the ganges was opened in 1905 by the east indian railway company and the template: gauge broad gauge allahabad - faizabad line was possibly opened the same year. it was operated by the oudh and rohilkhand railway .
in 1952, eastern railway, northern railway and north eastern railway were formed. eastern railway was formed with a portion of east indian railway company, east of mughalsarai and bengal nagpur railway. northern railway was formed with a portion of east indian railway company west of mughalsarai, jodhpur railway, bikaner railway and eastern punjab railway. north eastern railway was formed with oudh and tirhut railway, assam railway and a portion of bombay, baroda and central india railway. [ 13 ] east central railway was created in 1996 - 97. [ 14 ] north central railway was formed in 2003. [ 15 ]
the oudh and rohilkhand railway opened the template: gauge broad gauge line from varanasi to lucknow in 1872. the line was extended to faizabad with the faizabad loop. then jaunpur junction was built .
oudh & rohilkund rly. opens line from benares (varanasi) to lucknow .
the rohilkhand and kumaon main line began beside the oudh and rohilkhand at bareilly. in some ways it was a pleasant station – platform one was wide and had comfortable wooden seats and a polished brass bell cast ‘bb & ci’ and engraved ‘eir’, while there were shunting 0 - 6 - 0’s on broad gauge, exceeding british engines heavily balanced on their three axles, and with next - to - no buffer beam .
bengal and north western, bengal central, rohilkhand - kumaon, and indian midland railways formed without guarantees; southern mahratta railways formed with guarantees .
indian railway staff and some mg locos are sent overseas to help build the uganda railway .
running north of the ganges and across the united provinces, there was a large metre gauge railway system comprising the bengal & north western railway and the rohilkhand & kumaon railway. these two railways were amalgamated in 1945, and became known as the oudh & tirhut railway. these fine names have been discarded by the indian authorities in favour of common zonal names. perhaps the old names were too imperialistic and british for the indian management !
indian railway standards renamed indian government railway standards. locomotive classification codes updated to include diesels and electrics .
wadi - secunderabad railway line built with financing from the nizam of hyderabad, and later becomes part of the nizam' s guaranteed state railway. secunderabad railway station built by this railway .
bengal and north - western railway is taken over by the state, after being merged with the rohilkund and kumaon rly. , the mashrak - thane extension rly. , the lucknow - bareilly rly. , and the tirhut rly. the new railway is known as the oudh and tirhut rly .
a number of rajput, gujarat and kathiawar state rulers also had their private railways notably the jodhpur railway, bikaner state railway, jaipur state railway and the gaekwads baroda state railway, to name a few. in the south, there was the mysore state railway .
october: sind, punjab, and delhi railway completes amritsar - saharanpur - ghaziabad line, linking punjab railway with the eir and providing connectivity between multan and delhi .
locomotives too were messed about and the bnr saddle tank locust began life as a broad gauge engine on the oudh and rohilkhand railway. only after 30 years service was she acquired by the bnr and then went through a slimming operation at the motibagh works in nagpur to emerge as a narrow gauge loco. in 1916 she moved to a third company the bdrr - - the target of my mission from ranchi .
railways act passed by the government defining the framework for railway construction and operation .
powers of the railway board are formalized under lord curzon. the board is under the department of commerce and industry, and has government railway official serving as chairman, and a railway manager from england and an agent of one of the company railways as the other two members .
a. h. wheeler and co. introduce their indian railway library series of publications .
railway finances separated from general finances in the general government budget after the first railway' convention'. railway board expanded to have a financial commissioner, a member in charge of ways, works, stores and projects, and a member in charge of administration, staff, and traffic .
railway line laid across the bolan pass to help move men and materiel during hostilities in afghanistan .
ajmer - ahmedabad line (mg) opens, and becomes part of the rajputana state railway .
east indian railway company taken over by the state on january 1; great indian peninsular railway taken over on june 30 .
bengal and assam were served by the bengal assam railway, which came into being on the 1st january 1942 by the amalgamation of the eastern bengal railway, which was one the oldest railways and part of lord dalhousie' s original plans for a network of railways in india, and the all metre gauge assam bengal railway. this railway also got fragmented following independence .
benares city branch railway, opened 1900 as branch of the owners o & rr; however worked by bengal and north - western railway (b & nwr) .
most main stations and mail trains in the 1950s had posh railway restaurants and restuarant cars with clean table linen and uniformed waiter service. alas with increase in air travel, the railways went dowbhill in the 1960s and 70s .
the jamnagar and dwarka railway procures a single mg diesel loco for its saurashtra passenger service, from brookville .
the railways were given grand sounding names by the british as they constructed them to all corners of the sub - continent, beginning with the great indian peninsula railway which was the first railway closely followed by the east indian railway. the punjab, sind, baluchistan and the north west frontier provinces were served by india' s largest railway system, the north western railway (the greater part of this railway went to pakistan following independence. )
the south was served by the madras & southern maharatta railway and the south indian railway. the gujarat, rajputana (rajasthan) and central india were served by the bombay baroda & central india railway, which had an extensive broad gauge and metre gauge network (nearly all the metre gauge has now been converted to broad gauge) .
the post of minister for transport and communications is created; the minister was a civil servant, and could decide on matters dealt with by the railway board .
moradabad and ambala cantonment on this line, are amongst the top hundred booking stations of indian railway. [ 7 ]
jaunpur junction (jnu station), also known as bhandariya railway station, is a railway station in jaunpur, uttar pradesh, india. this station is part of the northern railway lucknow division and the varanasi - lucknow line via faizabad. it is also part of the allahabad - jaunpur line and aunrihar - kirakat - jaunpur line. this station is a adarsh category railway station in northern railway. this station is situated in northeast jaunpur. nearby stations include jaunpur city railway station (jop) and zafrabad junction (zbd). jaunpur junction is a medium revenue station, serving over 16, 000 passengers and over 50 trains on a daily basis. it is under the administrative control of the northern railway zone' s lucknow division, and partly of the north eastern railway zone' s varanasi division .
the deccan was served mostly by the nizam' s state railway, which was also a broad and metre gauge system. the central provinces was served by the great indian peninsula railway. the ganges plain and northern india then known as the united provinces (up) was the monopoly of the east indian railway .
msmr' s workshops at perambur split into the carriage and wagon workshops and the locomotive workshops .
a petrol - driven 0 - 4 - 0 loco from kerr stuart is in use by the morvi railway and tramways company .
bnr' s satpura railway complete' s gondia - nainpur - jabalpur link .
two bg diesel shunters from william beardmore in use on the north western railway .
lucknow railway station is one of the two main railway stations of lucknow city for broad gauge trains, other one is
lucknow jn
( station code
ljn
). this page contains information about the lucknow nr railway station .
nalhati - azimganj railway, opened 1863. originally part of indian branch railway, unique 4ft gauge; worked by o & rr, 1863 - 72; run as state rly, 1872; leased to east indian railway (eir), 1892
delhi - bandikui, bandikui - agra lines of rajputana state railway opened, and alwar line is under construction (all mg) .
kaunia - dharlla mg line of east bengal railway extended to amingaon, where a ferry across the brahmaputra connected to the rail system of the assam bengal railway through guwahati .
famines in several areas of india result in more railway lines being bulit for relief .
marwar - pali section opened on june 24 as part of the new jodhpur railway .
eir taken over by the state (1879 ?), but the construction and operation of the railway are handed back to the company .
cawnpore - burhwal railway, opened 1896. , constructed and worked as state line up to 31 mar 1915, then government of india (goi); managed and worked by o & rr .
south india rly. is engaged in ultimately abandoned attempt to build a direct railway between india and ceylon with a viaduct over the panban viaduct .
the nizam of hyderabad pays for the construction of a railway linking hyderabad to the gipr .
nizam' s state railway' s main line is extended to bezwada (vijayawada) .
syke' s lock and block system of interlocking introduced on the bb & ci rly. and other railways .
the moradabad – ambala line (also known as moradabad - ambala main line) is a railway line connecting moradabad in the indian state of uttar pradesh and ambala cantonment in haryana. the line is under the administrative jurisdiction of northern railway .
sadly, john is now no longer with us, but long may he be remembered as one of india' s railway history champions. i hope my book and this article, will be a tribute to his efforts, and others like him, past and present .
maharaj scindia of gwalior opens ng (2') railway lines from gwalior to bhind and shivpuri. these later become part of the gwalior light railways .
22 march: matheran light railway opens, with 4 articulated 0 - 6 - 0t locomotives .
bangalore - chikkaballapur light railway (2' 6
) opens the bangalore - yeshwantpur section .
the shahdara - saharanpur light railway (sslr) was a 2ft 6in / 762mm narrow gauge (ng) privately owned railway with a length of line of 92 miles when completed in 1907. the shahdara (delhi) - saharanpur light railway company had been formed in 1905. [ 1 ]
is the first step towards better linkage. we strive to get better opportunities in transport to delhi and dehradun. the renovated track will help in better livelihood opportunities for locals, ” tamta said. sixty - km railway line between tanakpur and pilibhit was laid a century ago by the british to transport timber and sub - minerals like boulder and gravels from kumaon to the rest of india and abroad .
the answer to virginia wells is there were two routes from howrah to bombay victoria terminus. the first and original trans - indian route by the east indian railway and great indian peninsula railway which is 1358 miles via allahabad and took forty - two and a half hours starting at howrah at 20. 25 arriving at vt at 15. 10. this train had an air - conditioned coach and was usually made up of eir rolling stock and was the preferred train for calcutta business people and military top brass en route to the uk on furlough. the other bombay mail was the bengal nagpur railway and great indian peninsula railway mail which ran via nagpur and a shorter route of 1, 230 miles and took forty - one and a half hours (which meant it was a slower train .) this train never came into being till after 1905 about fifty - five years, after the eir - gip train, the year the bnr arrived at howrah. this train did not have an air - conditioned coach. both trains had a restaurant car. regards ken
kalyan - igatpuri - pune section is now completely electrified, and the quadruple line between bombay and kalyan is also electrified .
world war ii. railways under strain again. locomotives, wagons, and track material are taken from india to the middle east; 28 branch lines were completely cannibalized for this. railway workshops are used to manufacture shells and other military equipment. the entire railway system is in poor shape by the end of the war .
the first section of the ng barsi light railway is built from barsi road junction to barsi town .
the east coast between calcutta and madras was served by the bengal nagpur railway (bnr) with an end - on junction with the madras & southern maharatta railway at waltair, which is now part of visakhapatnam. the bengal nagpur railway also served the nagpur / chota nagpur area and the vast mineral districts of the area, and jointly with the east indian railway the industrial area of the damodar valley. in fact the first aim of the bengal nagpur railway was to connect the rich mineral sources in the nagpur district with the industry growing up in the asansol area; this was the bnr' s first main line. the bnr did not reach calcutta until 1905, and to bnr people that line was always referred to as ‘the howrah branch' !
o & rr were given operating rights of the opening in 1905 of the allahabad - fyzabad railway which included the curzon bridge, allahabad over the river ganges. this line and bridge were constructed by state railways and connected to the east indian railway (eir) to the south of the river ganges and a junction to the o & rr mainline. thus providing a direct link from allahbad to lucknow and the hill stations beyond. [ 2 ] .
the extraordinary workmanship that went into these old steam locomotives is what sealed the bond between a railway company and a distant manufacturer. for example the loco used for film
( 1877 ?) following an agreement between the british and the french, an mg line is laid between pondicherry and villupuram .
khandwa - indore mg line of holkar state railway under construction, passing the mhow ghat section by 1878 .
the government - built godhra - nagda link is handed over to the bb & ci railway for operation .
eir trackage totals 1350 miles; other railways: gipr - - 875, madras railway - - 680, sind and punjab - - 400, bbci - - 300, east bengal - - 115, and great southern - - 170 .
large numbers of american and canadian locos are imported (awd, cwd, along with awc, awe, and mawd classes) .
discover and book hotels, restaurants and local experiences in 50, 000 destinations worldwide. triposo works offline so you can wander freely .
sir thomas robertson committee submits recommendations on administration and working of the railways. an early version of the railway board is constituted, with three members serving on it at first .
assam rly. and trading co. opens dibrugarh / amlapatty - dinjan stream mg section as part of the dibru - sadia railway (section operational on aug. 15) .
railway mileage now at about 24, 750 miles in india, of which 14, 000 miles are bg, and most of the rest mg (with only a few hundred miles of 2' and 2' 6
gauge lines) .
railway board decides that lavatories will be provided in all lower class carriages for trains running more than 50 miles .
chandausi railway station is located in sambhal district in the indian state of uttar pradesh and serves chandausi. chandausi junction railway station falls on the aligarh - bareilly rail route. it is served by the northern railways. the main train connections include dadar - bareilly express, dehradun - allahabad link express, muzzaffarpur - delhi sadhbhavana express and sultanpur - delhi sadbhawna express .
the bb & ci suburban lines extended to borivili and virar. in the bombay area tracks in some places are doubled and even tripled or quadrupled (e. g. , between bandra and borivili) .
such mundane reckoning were soon forgotten when i cast my eyes over the railway station. tottering, tatty and woebegone, it was everything a narrow - gauge steam lover could wish for .
the railway board is reorganized with a chief commissioner of railways having overriding powers on technical matters. (1921? )
hardwar - dehra railway, opened 1900. small, privately - owned assisted broad gauge branchline worked by o & rr
history of railway construction
indian railways service of engineers [ see
martin & co
in table ] .
ambala has an outstation shed for shakurbasti wds - 4 locos. jagadhari has a carriage and wagon workshop and a bridge workshop. [ 5 ]
the most prestigious and luxurious train to ever run in india during the raj was the indian imperial mail, (the british loved the term ‘imperial') which was a joint east indian railway and great indian peninsula railway venture. it carried first class passengers only, and ran between calcutta and bombay in connection with berthing times at ballard pier in bombay of certain p & o liners to and from the uk this train ceased to run following the outbreak of world war ii. with the introduction of air conditioning on the bombay mail, there was no need to run the imperial mail when hostilities ended .
total trackage at 37, 000 miles (about 15% privately - held). the east india railway committee (chaired by sir william acworth, hence also known as the acworth committee) points out the need for unified management of the entire railway system. on the recommendations of this committee, the government takes over the actual management of all railways, and also separates railway finances from the general governmental finances (the latter step led to the practice, followed to this day, of presenting the railway budget separately from the general budget every year) .
these compartments gave excellent comfort and privacy, which made the long journeys enjoyable especially with a certain cosiness and privacy with night travel, when it was possible to lock the compartment doors and have a secure and good night' s sleep in your en suite compartment, which was solely for your use between the hours of nine in the night and seven the next morning .
july 11: a flash flood washes out portions of the tracks on the chappar rift of the sind peshin state railway (now in pakistan), and through running never resumes on this line .
south indian railway begins madras - tuticorin service connecting with the boat to ceylon, using vestibuled coaches for both first and second class. the trip takes nearly 22 hours for the 443 mile route .
the kandahar state railway from ruk to sibi is formed; 133. 5 miles of track are laid in 101 days !
the memories of those journeys date back to august 1931, when as a young lad, arriving at bombay from the uk, i made a journey of some one thousand two hundred miles from victoria terminus of the great indian peninsula railway to dhanbad on the east indian railway, where my grandfather was the yardmaster. till then i was familiar only with the trains of the southern railway in england with their corridor trains and similar trains in europe .
the journeys i made and enjoyed during the days of the raj, are recounted in a book i am completing and which i am giving the title ‘coupling across the peninsula.' it gives an insight to the glories of those railways, life in the railway colonies and a glimpse of an important part of the history of india' s railways .
the sind, punjab and delhi railway completed the 483 - kilometre - long (300 mi) amritsar – ambala – saharanpur – ghaziabad line in 1870 connecting multan (now in pakistan) with delhi .
the spur from the north - west territories into afghanistan, the only railway line in afghanistan at this time, is dismantled .
khyber railway' s last section from landi kotal to landi khana, 2km short of the frontier with afghanistan, is opened .
punjab northern state railway builds the lahore - jhelum line (parts that opened as mg in 1876 are converted to bg) .
construction of the siliguri - darjeeling line, the first hill railway in india (not counting the ghat sections near bombay) .
the darjeeling steam tramway (later the darjeeling himalayan railway) starts services on its first section, the siliguri - darjeeling line .
a petrol - driven 0 - 4 - 9 loco is supplied to morvi railway and tramways by nasmyth wilson. a couple of thornycroft petrol - driven parcel delivery vehicles are also in use by the eir .
jodhpur bikaner rly. split into jodhpur state rly. and bikaner state rly .
may 9: horse - drawn tram system begins operation in bombay, betwen parel and colaba. operated by stearnes and kittredge with a stable of 900 horses .
india' s first electric locos (two of them) are delivered to the mysore gold fields by bagnalls (stafford) with overhead electrical equipment by siemens. also among the earliest electric vehicles, electrically operated rail trolleys (
white' s patented rail motor trolleys
) are brought into use (by eir' s carriage & wagon workshops, by the oudh and rohilkhund rly. , by the eastern bengal state rly. , etc .) .
in 1925, the o & rr was merged into the east indian railway (eir) when the latter came into state management .
ex - gipr suburban line is electrified up to kalyan. main line electrified up to poona and igatpuri over the bhore and thal ghats (1500 v dc) .
there are three special courts namely special court (sc / st act) and special court (e. c. act) and special court (gangster act )
in 1928, the bombay baroda & central india railway introduced an air - condition coach on its prestigious train, the frontier mail, which was the first train in india to have air - conditioning. this was followed in the 1930' s by the east indian railway on its premier train the delhi - kalka mail and later on its calcutta - bombay mail. these were the last word in railway luxury at that time. though it was the preferred mode of travel for senior civil servants, top men in commerce and industry and the army top brass, it was available to anyone who could afford the fare, regardless of nationality or caste, and this was true for all ‘upper class' accommodation on all the trains .
grass grew between the lines that led to the loco shed and this held out the rare promise of some overlooked treasure rusting in the sidings, too modest in her scrap value to arouse the lust of railway economists .
the government purchases all major lines and re - leases them to private operators, with the exception of rohilkhund & kumaon rly. and bengal & north - western rly .
punjab limited express begins to run between mumbai and lahore, leaving mumbai on thursdays .
southern mahratta rly. co. opens hospet - bellary and gadag - hotgi lines .
list & morse interlocking system introduced for 29 single line crossings between lahore and ghaziabad .
in the days of the raj, there were four different class of carriages; first class, second class, intermediate class, and third class. first, second and intermediate classes had well upholstered accommodation. privacy and comfort were of paramount importance to the railways for first and second class passengers, who travelled almost like a privileged class !
nov. 9: kalka - shimla railway line opened, built at 2' 0
gauge (but relaid later, see below) .
bowringpet - kolar 2' 6
line extended to chintamani / chikkaballapur (forming the kolar district rly .) by the mysore state railway .
irca reviews experiments with wagon pooling and establishes it as a policy for all bg railways .
march 7: gipr connection over the thull ghat reaches jubbulpore (jabalpur) from itarsi, linking up with eir track there from allahabad, and establishing connectivity between bombay and calcutta .
masjid, parel, ghatkopar, diva, and chinchpokli stations opened for mumbai local services .
a select committee in the house of commons recommends continuing the policy of using mg for local and secondary lines only, and suggests that feeder lines to bg should also be bg .
ng lines opened: parlakimedi light rly. from navpada (bnr); rajpur - dhamtari (bnr). planning begun for matheran light railway .
kalka - shimla railway regauged to 2' 6
gauge under guidelines from the war department seeking to ensure uniformity in all imperial narrow gauge systems .
this photograph was uploaded on the irfca website by john lacey who gave me his permission to use it in my book together with several other photographs. john, like me was a great lover of the indian railways and uploaded several illustrations of indian railway history on the irfca website and who i got to know through the ‘net.'
the fashion to give steam shunters the blank armoured look arouse from the economic ascendency of diesel traction. the first main line diesel shunter in britain was introduced at this time and what a sad sight it looked alongside the steam master - - pieces of gresley and stainer. the leeds company of hunslet pioneered the painful switch in loyalties and in 1934 their first passenger diesel went into service - - on the egyptian delta light railway .
the jodhpur railway becomes the first to introduce electric lights as standard fixtures. (electric lighting had been tried by other railways starting in the 1890s. )
the survey for railway electrification of the moradabad - aligarh line, including the chandausi - bareilly sector, was sanctioned in the budget for 2012 - 13 .
rajputana - malwa rly. taken over by state and made part of bb & ci rly .
patiala state monorail obtains the four famed orenstein and koppel monorail locomotives for some of its lines .
sir on july 1 takes over gsir (bg) and carnatic rly. (mg) .
indian midland rly. opens lines from jhansi to gwalior, kanpur, manikpur, and bhopal .
mettupalaiyam - coonoor section of the nilgiri mountain rly. re - opens after repair and restoration .
ng lines: nainpur - chhindwara (bnr); howrah - tribeni (bengal provincial rly. co. , connecting to katwa line); gwalior light railway sections: gwalior - jora alapur (jan. 1), jora alapur - sabalgarh (dec. 1). construction begun on matheran light railway .
madras mg suburban railway line completed. (( april 2 ?) may 11: tambaram - beach has electric traction). the first mg emu service .
in a reversal of the broad - gauge policy instituted under lord salisbury, the rajputana - malwa railway is authorized to build its lines to meter - gauge .
a monorail of the ewing system (double - flanged wheels and an outrigger wheel for balance) powered by ponies is installed for transporting tea and other light goods at the high range near keranganie .
may 1: the flying queen (predecessor of flying ranee) is introduced between bombay and surat, hauled by an h class 4 - 6 - 0 and making her run in 4 hours .
world war i places heavy strain on the railways. railway production is diverted to meet the needs of british forces outside india. at the end of the war indian railways are in a total state of dilapidation and disrepair. all services are downgraded or restricted .
oct. 1: mysore darbar takes over nanjangud - mysore - bangalore and birur - shimoga lines .
jodhpur rly. acquires two drewry railcars, one for the maharaja and the other an inspection car .
following political and passenger demands, toilet facilities are introduced on a large scale in first class carriages .
nov. 1: through bg connection between bezwada (vijayawada) and madras (chennai) opens .
first and second class carriages had superior fittings and en suite toilet facilities in the western style, while first class also had the added luxury of a shower unit. there was good electric lighting with each berth also having individual reading lights, and a minimum of two electric ceiling fans. these were either four berth or two berth compartments; the two berth variety were known as ‘coupes.' coupes had one lower and one upper berth, while the four berth compartments had two lower and two upper berths .
to every railway man jamalpur in west bengal rings a bell of pride. not only did this original railways township produce india' s first locomotives (from the ingenious fashioning of imported spare parts) but it continues to produce another crucial asset, the line of mechanical experts who are considered the best material for chairmanship of the railway board .
refreshing & rewarding. recollections of royal splendor. as a former railway official, i felt privileged to read tha article. i look forward to the book being published ,
first automatic colour - light signals in india, on gipr' s lines between bombay vt and byculla .
april: msmr merged with the lines worked by the sir company, and taken over by the state .
two new branches of the darjeeling himalayan railway opened to traffic. the kalimpong road (now gelkhola) branch followed the teesta valley (hence known as the teesta valley line) and the kishanganj branch (built in the preceding year, 1914) ran west - southwest of siliguri .
the o & rr established workshops at alambagh (1865) and charbagh (1867) to provide capacity for the major broad gauge (bg) line from benares to lucknow, to the north of the river ganges, which it opened to traffic in 1872. in 1874, the line was extended to moradabad and in 1876, to saharanpur where the o & rr met the north western railway (nwr). on 31 december 1888, the goi assumed both ownership and management of the o & rr .
calcutta tramways' electrification and conversion to standard gauge from meter gauge begins. total system size is at 30km .
wedgwood committee makes recommendations for public relations, advertising, etc. which until then had been neglected. also recommends faster and more reliable passenger services and expansion of freight activities, for the railways to compete with road transport .
the building was commenced in the month of may 1878, and was completed in the month of may 1888 .
south - east of kalyan, the gipr line extended over the bhore ghat to reach raichur, connecting with the madras railway, whose branch line out of arakkonam reaches raichur by now .
jodhpur is connected (via luni) to the rajputana malwa railway network (first train on march 9) (mg). this line later becomes part of the jodhpur bikaner rly .
tilhar - budaun - hapur railway survey. under survey by o & rr, 1909. ref civil list 1909 page 379 – railways o & rr - unable to determine if constructed .
goa - guntakal mg line completed by the southern mahratta rly co. , with branches from londa to poona (connecting to mysore via bangalore, and also with gadag - hotgi), and bezwada (vijayawada) to marmagoa .
this is a photograph of the inside of the restaurant car on the indian imperial mail. it is typical of the restaurant cars attached to the important trains on the east indian railway, where silver service meals were served in clean hygienic surroundings and where the cuisine and service was of an excellent standard. it was services like this that made an added joy to rail travel in the days of the raj and completely lost to the present day traveller who is subjected to dubious food quality served from questionable hygiene standards prevalent in the pantry cars where it is prepared. the father of pop idol sir cliff richard was once the manager of a restaurant car on the east indian railway similar to one shown in this photograph .
india was handed a splendid railway system by the british when they left india with excellent designs of travelling conveniences and facilities. service standards have been allowed to slip to these unacceptable depths, particularly for those indians who well remember travelling conditions on the railways of the raj and to foreign tourists who visit india. it is a shame that the indian railway managing authorities, while they have raised the standard of third class travel have lowered the quality for the more expensive ticket holders to unacceptable standards of comfort and privacy. perhaps the quality of upper class accommodation that existed before independence was too british for their liking; or is it they were a reminder that the british introduced those standards which were typically british but not indian ?
early attempts to set up a horse - drawn tram system in calcutta, between sealdah and armenian ghat street (3. 8km). this service opened on feb. 24 and closed by nov. 20 for lack of patronage .
started working west of lucknow and it reached bareilly in 1873. a line connecting moradabad to chandausi was also built in 1872 and it was continued up to bareilly in 1873. the bareilly - moradabad chord was completed in 1894. the former main line became chandausi loop and the one via rampur became main line. it was extended to shahranpur in 1886 .
entire calcutta tram network is now electrified and converted to standard gauge. the howrah station to bandhaghat line opens in june .
sirhind - morinda section of the patiala state monorail is opened, powered by oxen and army mules from 1907 until 1927 .
8 - coach emu rakes are introduced on the main line in mumbai and 4 - coach rakes on the harbour line .
early use of simple mechnanical interlocking devices (list and list & morse systems) at six single line crossings of nwr .
kenneth hugh staynor was born at madhupur on 16 september 1927. in 1929, his family went to the united kingdom, and returned to india in 1931 to kurseong, where his father was a teacher, and later headmaster, at victoria school. kenneth was educated at st. josephs college, darjeeling, and st mary' s high school, mount abu. he left india in august 1951 for permanent residence in the uk to get into research and development in engineering, which was not available in india, and because his ancestral roots were in the uk. he lives in south wales after retirement. his wife passed away in january 2010; he has three sons, five grandsons, five granddaughters and one great granddaughter .
the engine of 55364 up pilibhit - bareilly city passenger train derailed in pilibhit on sunday morning. the derailment took place when the engine was being shunted and was to be attached to the standing bogies before leaving for izzatnagar railway station in bareilly. however, no injury was reported, so far. according to rajendra prasad, official spokesperson of the izzatnagar division of the north eastern (ne) railway, “the derailment of engine number 11264 took place between two points of barha railway crossing’s stretch at around 9. 15am on sunday after it reached pilibhit junction at 9. 10 am with the 55361 down pilibhit - bareilly city passenger train. it was scheduled to take the 55364 up train back to bareilly at 10 am. ”
february 3: first electric railway operates on harbour branch of the gipr from victoria terminus to kurla (16 km), using 1500v dc overhead traction. the section is designated as a suburban section. emus from cammell laird and uerdingenwagonfabrik are used. in the same year electrification of vt - bandra is also completed and emu services begin there as well, with an elevated platform at sandhurst road. the gipr suburban line is later electrified up to kalyan .
( late 1890' s) lighting in passenger coaches introduced by many railway companies. lower classes tended to get gas lamps, whereas upper classes sometimes got electric lights, but often gas or oil lamps .
the station is also proposed as an intersection for lucknow metro routes i. e. north - south corridor and east - west corridor. it will be a terminal station for east - west corridor. line first operational stations length (km) terminals east - west corridor under construction 12 11. 098 lucknow charbagh railway station vasant kunj
the morning train from gauri phanta – indeed its one daily train – connected at dudwa for mailani, and that train connected at mailani for the end of the r & k at bareilly, and that train connected at bareilly for the north - west .
dec. 6: the grand chord via gaya, which significantly shortens the distance between delhi and calcutta, opens on the eir' s calcutta - delhi trunk route (inaugurated by the earl of minto, the viceroy and governor - general of india .
indian standard time (ist) comes into force for timekeeping in british india (except for calcutta and some other regions) .
mandra - bhaun and sialkot - narowal lines opened (both now in pakistan; the former was closed in the 1990s) .
both bagnali and delta class lie in bankura and when i was there a few years back some of the handsome cc class had been sent up from the baripada shed in orissa to help out in handling the traffic. these locos of the north british co predate the bagnall fleet and i felt privileged to watch the last paintings of these 1906 engines doing their thing 70 years later .
informative article. i am writing a story of the raj period in india. can you tell me how long the train journey took from bombay to calcutta and even the arrival and departure times. would like to know when the book comes out. cheers
to the north the cloud was thicker, and in the stillness when the train stopped we could hear its low, boiling thunder. when we were moving we could put out our hands and feel the tiny droplets of water hitting them like pins and needles. but pulling away from lalauri khera we noticed a faint vertical division in the sky, grey on our side, yellow - grey ahead. we entered the yellow - grey. the carriage was hit from the left and leant over on its side. this was more than a wind; it was a mass of air, neither swirling nor eddying but travelling south, solid. it was thick with dust; there was no more any colour save yellow - grey. our vision of dark tossing trees and moving ground cut out beyond fifty yards. as the wind buffeted and the dust permeated we thought of trains that had been blown off the rails, and estimated the height of the embankment we were on. and the dry grit turned to mud hitting hard against us, and this to heavy rain which rebounded from the earth in a scudding ground - haze. still there was no colour – the rails of pilibhit yard, where we took refuge, and the trees beside it, were all in different densities of the all - grey .
bhusawal loco shed set up by gipr; at the time the largest loco shed in asia and the third largest in the world .
retrenchment committee under lord inchcape recommends drastic cuts in working expenses and other measures designed to produce a fixed annual profit for the state .
railways (like everything else !) hit by the 1929 wall street crash and the ensuing global depression; severe economy measures undertaken .
a 2' gauge diesel loco from maffei is supplied to c k andrew and co. (probably used on a plantation? )
cabin interlocking introduced in some places by the gipr on the bombay - delhi route. (equipment supplied by saxby and farmer. )
bangalore - mysore mg line opened by the mysore state rly. (this line later went to the southern mahratta railway co. which was chartered in 1882 to operate some famine - relief lines opened by the state) .
mcleods like the gaekwad' s dabhoi line, favoured the stafford company of bagnall and all four lines were serviced by a sturdy tank engine, followed by a slightly lighter version called delta class. this did not refer to the delta of the ganga but to that of the nile where the engines ordered for the egyptian delta light railways were found ideal for bengal. the bankura - damodar river railway still runs two mixed trains daily from bankura to rainagar (some 97 kms distant) though the bdr on the side of the tank should actually read ser (south eastern railway) .
the robertson report recommends re - laying all bg and mg lines to standard gauge, but this report seems to have been completely ignored .
23 - ton bg bogie hopper wagons brought into use by bengal nagpur rly. for transporting iron to the tata iron and steel works .
jamnagar - kuranga mg line opened by the jamnagar & dwarka rly. , and the kuranga - okha mg line by the okhamandal rly .
samdari - raniwara section opens as the first phase of a rail connection between jodhpur - bikaner and gujarat. phalodi - jodhpur section opens .
first locomotive built in india at the ajmer works, an' f' class 0 - 6 - 0 mg loco for the rajputana malwa railway (f - 734). this is now preserved at the national rail museum .
( possibly 1876 ?) emile moreau, a french author, and t k bannerjee, an indian businessman, start the bookstore chain' a h wheeler & co.', which later spread to have its book stalls in a great many small and big railway stations in india, especially in the north. the company was also the one that published rudyard kipling in 1988 when he was all but unknown. the company' s name was borrowed from a then - successful london bookstore, arthur henry wheeler' s .
this is a far cry from the days of the refreshment rooms at important stations and restaurant cars with their silver service on important trains, which usually served vegetarian and non - vegetarian meals - all part of a forgotten era of the indian railways. these were excellent facilities which the present generation of indians never knew ever existed for the convenience of rail travellers. part of the joy of a long train journey in the days of the raj was walking along the platform to the restaurant car at stations designated in the time table for lunch or dinner. here the hygiene, cuisine and service was of the highest standard, and managed by a dining car manager, who actually dressed with bow tie and tuxedo for the night time meal. like in an expensive restaurant, he made a point of enquiring of every diner if all was to their liking and saying ‘enjoy your meal.'
colaba terminus commissioned, envisioned as a temporary station pending completion of a permanent line between marine lines and churchgate, making marine lines the new terminus .
lord mayo introduces meter gauge as a compromise between proposals for narrow gauges less thand 3' and broad gauge, for use in areas with limited traffic .
getting away from the bay platform, the midday train for ramnagar passed a small transfer yard and continued along the broad gauge to the kathgar bridge, on which the gauges were gauntletted along with paving for road traffic. only when on the further bank did the train set its course across the plain for the hills. as elsewhere the plain was grey fallow and completely flat, and often treeless for miles. the grey river stones that ballasted the track merged with the colour of fallow, though there might be a close cropped grass verge. deliberate and slow, the train progressed from small hot halt to small hot halt, and one felt the lack of fans in its carriages, though under the last coach a generator belt was slipping in a constant thread of noise .
the visit of the prince and princess of wales gives eir a chance to build a special train with coaches rivalling the luxury saloons used by nobility in europe .
construction begins on a new, larger howrah terminus station with six platforms and provision for four more, to replace the older howrah station in use from 1854 .
in the mumbai area, suburban terminals are opened at kurla, kalyan, thane, and one at the bb & ci station at bandra for gipr trains .
but the storm passed, and the bedraggled men who boarded the train at pilibhit took off their clothes to shiver, cadging dry cigarettes and matches, wringing out clothes till the compartment smelt like a football changing room after a hard match. it was pleasant and now cool to walk on the platform, looking at the yard as it glistened with water; at the shiny engines that puffed white steam and best at the delicate pale blue that appeared, edged with white cloud, in the western sky. this turned to red and darkness, but the telegraph line was down on the tanakpur branch, the tablet instruments would not work, so a pilot engine had to be sent. we were held up at pilibhit half the night but no worry; there was a luggage rack to sleep on .
the emphasis of the present managing hierarchy of indian railways has been to concentrate on changing the names of stations, usually to past political heroes, gauge conversion and political ‘one - upmanship' and the lowering of traveling standards of comfort with second rate catering facilities in ‘pantry cars' with dubious hygiene standards and serving up prepacked mediocre meals of questionable quality, so that most passengers prefer to carry their own food, which is not always convenient on journeys that may be of several days duration.
oudh and rohilkhand railway was an extensive railway network in the north india , mostly north of the ganges , starting from benares and subsequently up to delhi . 
oudh and rohilkhand railway was an extensive railway network in the north india, mostly north of the ganges, starting from benares and subsequently up to delhi.
oudh and rohilkhand railway was an extensive railway network in the north india, mostly north of the ganges, starting from benares and subsequently up to delhi.