Indian Railways in 1976 and 1980

[PhilH]

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Steam, Diesel and Electric Locos at Ahmedabad. The steam loco is Class WG 2-8-2 No.9333.


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Platforms on Indian Railways were sometimes used for more than just getting on and off a train as here at Agra Cantt Station - people selling fruit, cooking, washing - themselves and their clothes.

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People in India always seemed ready to have their photos taken, but its not so often you get them so neatly arranged ! The shed staff and others assembled on the turntable at Nadiad, the junction of a 2'-6" gauge line with the broad gauge north of Baroda. The turntable is worthy of note, and the inscription carefully picked out in white paint reads "BB&CIR, Ormerod Grierson & Co., Engineers, Manchester, 1874".
BB&CIR was the Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway. Ormerod Grierson & Co. had a works known as the St.George's Ironworks, off Hulme Hall Road, Hulme, in South Manchester, situated between the adjacent railway viaduct and the Bridgewater Canal. The works is long gone of course and the land now occupied by a block of flats. The loco by the way is a Bagnall 0‑6‑4T which you might see a bit more of later.

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Miniature Railway in a park at Baroda. The prototype the loco may be based on seems vaguely familiar. Unfortunately I didn't note the gauge or the name on the loco, although like the writing on the tender the name may have been in Hindi.

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One notable feature usually missing from Indian steam loco depots was the coaling stage, tenders being usually replenished with manual labour or occasionally with the aid of a steam crane. This is metre gauge Class YG 2-8-2 No.3114 being coaled at the Delhi metre gauge loco depot, where a couple of ladders, wicker baskets and plenty of labour suffice.

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At the broad gauge KKF Loco Depot in Ahmedabad, Class WP 4-6-2 No.7696 was being coaled using a portable staircase. The tenders of these locos take up to 17 tons of coal, so downtime while the tender is being filled must have been considerable.

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Conversely at the nearby metre gauge Sabarmati Loco Shed in Ahmedabad the rather smaller tender of YB 4-6-2 No.30029 is coaled with a steam crane equipped with a clamshell bucket.

 

[PhilH]

Loco data is largely taken from a series of three books published by the Continental Railway Circle in 1977-80 dealing with Broad Gauge, Metre Gauge and Narrow Gauge.

By independence in 1947 the management of all main lines had been taken over by the government and the system was reorganised into 9 geographical zones or regional railways - Central; Eastern; Northern; North Eastern; Northeast Frontier; Southern; South Central; South Eastern and Western. Each zone developed its own livery scheme, but individual sheds and footplate men often added their own variations and embellishments, especially to locomotives regularly used in passenger service such as the broad gauge WP Pacifics.

The Class WP Pacifics were introduced after WWII after several years of research and with bar frames as the result of experience with war time engines from the USA and Canada. The first locos were supplied by Baldwin from the USA in 1947 and by the time that the last was built in 1967 the total had reached 755, with 116 built in the USA, 320 in Canada, 30 in Poland, 30 in Austria and the remaining 259 in India by the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, West Bengal (CLW).

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Northern Railway 7162 and 7608 at Delhi broad gauge loco depot. The star round the headlight was the most common decoration seen on these locos. 7608 with Boxpok driving wheels was built by the Canadian Locomotive Co. Ltd. of Kingston, Ontario in 1956.

7162 with spoked driving wheels was built in India by CLW in 1965.


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Western Railway 7614 at Lower Parel Loco Shed, Bombay. Another Canadian Loco Co. product with Boxpok drivers built in 1956. The writing on the tender is a warning about overhead wires.

Northern Railway 7259 and 7687 at Delhi Junction. 7259 with the 'wings' is a Baldwin product of 1949, while 7687 was built by CLW in 1966


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Central Railway 7158 on the Taj Express at Raja Ki Mandi, between Delhi and Agra. Central Railway locos were normally green on lower cab and tender sides with black above but some WP locos regularly assigned to prestigious services such as the 'Taj' were blue with light grey above.

Central Railway 7095 arriving at Agra Cantt Station on a passenger train.




Southern Railway 7154 at Basin Bridge Loco Depot, Madras.




Eastern Railway 7109 at Asansol Loco Depot.​

7158, 7095, 7154 and 7109 were all built in India by CLW between 1963 and 1965.

 

[King Crab]

The WP were truly magnificent looking engines by any standards
Great images

Peter

 

[PhilH]

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7146 arriving at Patna Junction fairly early in the morning on the Toofan Express. We were travelling on this train to Howrah. An enquiry to the crew, who I don't think spoke any English, about riding on the loco brought a negative response.

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Approaching the station at JhaJha, 22515 a Class XE 2-8-2 was standing on an adjacent track ready to give banking assistance at the rear of the train for the next section of line.

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There was quite a long stop at JhaJha and I wandered to the front of the train to find that 7146 had been taken off and before long 7029 backed down and coupled up to the front of the train. One of the firemen was leaning out of the cab, he spoke English and another enquiry about a cab ride brought a positive response. There were 5 crew on the loco - a young lad sitting on the front of the tender on the left (I assume he was part of the crew, maybe a general 'dogsbody'); the driver and 3 firemen. I was standing on the right side of the tender behind the driver, which gave a much better ride than the loco itself. Once the train was under way the driver hooked a chain round the regulator handle to hold it in the required position and left it there for most of the time. The 3 firemen were kept busy on the other side of the cab and seemed to be firing in turn for most of the journey.

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I was a bit wary about trying to photograph the crew so I just took this view over the drivers shoulder looking through the front cab window.

Looking back along the train with banker 22515 at the rear of the 14 coaches. The banker was taken off at Simultala, 18 Km from JhaJha.


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I dropped off the loco at Jasidih Junction, took this photo and returned to the coaches. The two people at the side of the loco are looking for any unburnt or partly burnt coal in the loco's ashpan. 7029 continued to Asansol and an electric loco took the train from there to Howrah.

Giesl Ejectors were fitted to several of the WP and WG Class locos, like 7713 seen on a southbound train at Gwalior.






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[AndyB]

View attachment 188674

Miniature Railway in a park at Baroda. The prototype the loco may be based on seems vaguely familiar. Unfortunately I didn't note the gauge or the name on the loco, although like the writing on the tender the name may have been in Hindi.

Looks like 10 1/4" gauge. Possibly of Bassett-Lowke origin. Can you blow up the scan to read the name on the splasher?

 

[PhilH]

Looks like 10 1/4" gauge. Possibly of Bassett-Lowke origin. Can you blow up the scan to read the name on the splasher?

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That's about the best I can do, I think its in Hindi.

 

[Brian McKenzie]

Looks like 10 1/4" gauge. Possibly of Bassett-Lowke origin. Can you blow up the scan to read the name on the splasher?

It's one of H Bullock's 10-1/4" gauge 'A3' pacifics originally named 'Harvester', but later given an Indian name. The boiler expired early 1990s and the loco was moved to museum display.
I photographed the engine in 1978 and have seen the English version of the Hindi name, but don't recall it at this moment.

-Brian M.

 

[daifly]

More info on the miniature railway:

Flying Scotsman Train at LVP - History of Vadodara - Baroda

What is royalty without some extravagance !!! This sentence perfectly seems to reflect the lifestyle of Maharaja Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad of Baroda. In an incident reflecting this extravagance, the Maharaja gifted his children a working scaled down model of the Flying Scotsman. Set up in 1941 on...

historyofvadodara.in

Further searches can reveal videos and more on the railway.
Dave

 

[AndyB]

Further searches can reveal videos and more on the railway.
Dave

.. and on the loco's original home, the Surrey Border & Camberley Railway.
Thanks Brian for the pointer to Bullock.
Andy

 

[PhilH]

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There was also this miniature railway in a children's park at Delhi, with a gauge of 15". The loco was built by Krauss Maffei of Germany, works No.17655 of 1950, and the line included a tunnel and a bridge over a pond. Pity about the 'second storey' to the cab roof !

 

[PhilH]

This thread isn't intended to be a treatise on Indian Railways, but I haven't seen these photos myself for probably 30 years or more until I scanned them recently, therefore finding out any additional information about them is interesting to me and if I think its worth recording it goes in the captions, just bear with me on that.

Next a few perhaps fairly unexciting posts included just for completeness, dealing with post WWII locomotives of broad and metre gauge, then on to something possibly more interesting in narrow gauge.

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Northern Railway Class WG No.9809 on the turntable at Delhi Broad Gauge Loco Shed. The WG 2-8-2s were the freight equivalent of the WP Pacifics (the 'G' for goods instead of 'P' for passenger), with the same boiler but with larger cylinders and smaller diameter wheels. A total of 2450 were supplied to Indian Railways between 1950 and 1970. The first order for 100 went to North British, who built 90 with 10 built by Vulcan Foundry on subcontract. One of the North British locos, Indian Railways No.8350, was displayed at the Festival of Britain Exhibition in 1951: Festival of Britain 1951 - Indian Government Railways Class WG (broad gauge) 2-8-2 steam locomotive Nr. 8350 (North British Locomotive Co, Glasgow - NBL 26464 / 1950) - a photo on Flickriver
and there are several more photos on Flickr including one of it being loaded on the ship for transport to India. North British subsequently built another 25.
This class of locomotives must hold the record for being built in more countries than any other. The majority were built in India (1908) but others were built in Scotland (115); England (10); France (18); Germany (164); Austria (60); Italy (25); USA (50) and Japan (100)

Central Railway No.8643 at Agra Cantt Station.




Some WGs had knuckle or buckeye couplers for working block freight trains, seen here with a screw link coupling attached to the knuckle.





A comparison between the standard chimney and Giesl Ejector versions.


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As diesel locomotives were introduced on freight trains the WGs began to be used more on passenger trains, here 9811 is on a westbound passenger train late in the afternoon at Bandel.

That's what it says on the slide mount, and I must have been there so where the heck is Bandel. Thanks to Google Maps - its a junction station to the north of Calcutta (or Kolkata) on the west bank of the Bhagirathi or Hooghly River. A line continued south from the junction to Howrah on the west bank, while another turned east from the junction and crossed the river on the Jubilee Bridge (originally a single track bridge, recently replaced by a new two track bridge alongside) then continued south on the east bank of the river via Naihati Junction (seen in Post #18) to Calcutta. Using street view you can stand on the platform at Bandel, although unfortunately there's nothing more exciting in view than an EMU (Note that's E.M.U. not emu !)

 

[PhilH]

Metre Gauge was adopted as a cheaper alternative to broad gauge for some lines as the railway system developed in the 19th century. Apparently, so the story goes, the decision on the actual gauge was based on seating 4 people side by side in a coach which required an overall vehicle width of 6'‑6" and the track gauge to be half of that which gave a result of 3'‑3". As the introduction of the metric system was under consideration, although it wasn't adopted until nearly 90 years later, the gauge was set at one metre. Elsewhere in the world only Brazil had a metre gauge system larger than India. At the time of Independence in 1947 nearly half the Indian Railway System was in metre gauge - 44.28% with 46.14% in broad gauge and the remainder in 2'-6" and 2'-0".

Like the broad gauge, the metre gauge system required new locomotives after WWII and the bulk of these were the Class YP Pacifics and Class YG 2-8-2s.

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YP 4-6-2 No.2772 at Varanasi metre gauge loco depot. A total of 871 of these locos were supplied between 1949 and 1970. Like the broad gauge WPs and WGs they were built in several countries, the first 20 were from Baldwin in the USA; 100 from North British in Glasgow; 200 from Krauss Maffei in Germany and the remainder from the Tata Engineering & Locomotive Co. in India.
No.2772 was built by Tata in 1968. I think these are quite attractive looking locos and the addition of smoke deflectors gave more opportunity to add locally applied variations on the livery.

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A well decorated YP No.2537 at Idgah Agra metre gauge loco depot. I'm not sure whether the white blotches on the tender are part of the decoration or not.

Western Railway YP No.2587 departing from Surendranagar Junction on a short 3 coach passenger train.


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YG 2-8-2 No.3418 on the turntable at Idgah Agra. A total of 1074 of these locos were supplied between 1949 and 1972. The first 120 were built by Baldwin in 1949-50; 30 in Canada; 160 in Japan; 50 in Austria; 50 in Czechoslovakia and the remainder in India.

Some YGs were fitted with smoke deflectors, others were not like 4031 at Surendranagar Junction Loco Depot.




YG No.3539 shunting the broad gauge/metre gauge interchange sidings at Varanasi.


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When fitted with smoke deflectors there was little to distinguish a YG from a YP in a frontal view. This is 4041 (YG) and 2243 (YP) at Bangalore City Loco Shed, both assigned to passenger duties.

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A third metre gauge loco design introduced after WWII was the Class YL 2-6-2, with a lighter axle load intended for mixed traffic duties.
264 of these locos were built between 1952 and 1957, the first 10 by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns of Newcastle; 63 by Hitachi of Japan; 40 by Ganz of Budapest and 151 by Henschel in Germany. This is 5117 built by Henschel in 1956 at Sabarmati Loco Depot, Ahmedabad.

Since Independence any new lines (except for some metro systems) have been laid to broad gauge and some metre gauge lines converted to broad gauge as traffic increased. In 1992 a concerted effort was started to convert all lines, except for some heritage railways, to broad gauge and by 2022 metre gauge lines represented only 2.43% of the total with conversion work still being carried out.

 

[PhilH]

To cope with increased traffic during WWII the US and Canada supplied additional locomotives for both broad gauge and metre gauge, and most were acquired by Indian Railways when hostilities ended.

On the broad gauge a total of 909 locomotives were supplied - 60 Class AWC 2-8-0s built by Baldwin; 40 Class AWE heavy 2-8-2s also built by Baldwin; the rest were one 2-8-2 design classed AWD if built in the US and CWD if built in Canada. 96 of the AWD/CWDs went to Pakistan on Partition, leaving 713 on Indian Railways.

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Southern Railway Class AWC No.22631 built by Baldwin in 1944 at Mettupalayam. These were a 5'-6" gauge version of the S160 locomotives provided to Europe, several of which are preserved in the UK. Mettupalayam is at the end of a broad gauge branch and the bottom terminus of the metre gauge Nilgiri Mountain Rack Railway to Ootacamund.

Western Railway Class AWD No.12703 built by Baldwin in 1945 at Idgah Agra.




Northern Railway Class CWD No.12470 built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1945 shunting carriages at Agra Cantt Station.
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At the end of WWII Indian Railways acquired 358 of the metre gauge WD 2-8-2s, all built in the US. 87 went to East Pakistan on Partition while a further 33 locos were acquired new in 1948, giving a total of 304 on Indian Railways after 1948.

A rather scruffy Western Railway WD No.1506 at Idgah Agra. This was built by Alco in 1943.​

A rather smarter Western Railway WD No.1562 also built by Alco at Sabarmati Loco Depot, Ahmedabad.




Posed alongside each other at Idgah Agra Station - metre gauge WD No.1551 and broad gauge AWD No.12667.


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[PhilH]

The 2ft gauge Matheran Hill Railway is situated approximately 30 miles west of Bombay (Mumbai). It connects with the broad gauge main line at Neral and climbs 2363 feet in 13 miles to reach the hill station of Matheran. The line was constructed in 1904-07 under the supervision of E.R.Calthrop, better known in the UK for his work on the Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway.

Neral Station with 0-6-0T No.738 about to leave on train to Matheran.


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Motive power from the line's opening in 1907 until the arrival of the first diesel in 1956 was four 0-6-0Ts built by Orenstein & Koppel in 1905-7. To cope with the many sharp curves on the line, some down to 60ft. radius, the locomotives were provided with Klein-Lindner articulated axles (see: Klien-Lindner axle - Wikipedia). All four locos were withdrawn in 1982/3 and have since been preserved, three in India and one in the UK.
Steam has returned to the line recently for tourist trains with Class B 0-4-0T No.794 from Darjeeling, converted to oil firing.

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No.740 under repair at Neral. In November 1986 it was imported into the UK, initially at the Chalk Pits Museum in West Sussex. In 1991 ownership was transferred to Railworld in Peterborough and it was placed on loan to the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway where it was restored to working condition and saw some use. It last steamed in 2008 and was returned to Railworld after expiry of its loan agreement. In 2015 it was purchased by the South Tynedale Railway in a dismantled state, but they subsequently decided not to restore it so its currently (as at February 2023) looking for a new home.

No.741 at Matheran. Its now permanently at Matheran on static display.


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No.738 and Class NDM1 diesel loco No.504 at Neral Locomotive Depot. The diesel locomotives were supplied by Jung of Germany and consist of two separate 4 wheel powered units articulated to a centre cab unit.

No.504 and train departing from Neral.


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Railbus No.898 "Matheran Queen" at Neral, a converted ex road bus. The rear bogie is four wheeled but only the front axle is driven by a chain from the original road back axle.

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A similar railbus No.899 from Matheran at the Delhi Railway Museum. According to the museum's information this was converted from a 1932 Dodge bus.

 

[PhilH]

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An open wagon and van converted from a similar wagon at Neral. The brake on the wagon is unusual - I would guess that the brake is in the off position and would be applied by moving the vertical lever with the weight through 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Also the side doors are hinged at the top.

Second class open saloon coaches Nos.833 and 834 at Neral.




First class 3 compartment coach No.806 at Matheran.


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No.738 on an up train at Jumma Patti, approximately halfway up the line, where it crossed two diesel hauled down trains. The rails are being hand sanded ready for its departure.

NDM1 diesel No.502 on a down train approaching Jumma Patti.




A view from the train behind No.738 with a sign warning of sharp curves ahead.
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I didn't take many photos from the train, but some of the views were quite spectacular. There are several videos taken from the train on Youtube, where most refer to it quite annoyingly as the "Toy Train", for example this one: (ignore the avatar to the video - its the wrong railway !)

with fairly hair raising stretches of line at about 7.50 and 11.00 minutes from the start of the video. Not an ideal trip if you've no head for heights !

Matheran Station with No.741 and train.


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The layout at Matheran incorporates a return loop, although the steam locomotives always travelled up or down the line facing towards Matheran.

 

[simond]

When I lived in Pune, we travelled regularly to Matheran to go horse riding. Every attempt I made to travel on the line was frustrated by circumstances, though the kids did travel on it once, and didn’t care one way or the other .

Matheran is an interesting hill station. There is a large car park at the top of a precipitous hairpin-embellished road, and no infernal combustion passes that point. The only motorised road vehicles that I saw were an old Ambulance (possibly a Commer) and a small road roller. From the car park to “town” is not far, you walk, you hire a man-powered rickshaw, or you ride. The many horses appear to be the cast-offs from the horse racing studs, they are all geldings, or entire stallions, there are no mares at all.

We arrived on the first occasion with recommendations from a stable in Pune where we had ridden fairly regularly, as they knew we were not novices, we were supplied with some very decent horses, rather than the decrepit plodders that populate most ride-for-hire establishments in the uk.

The Verandah is worth a mention. It is an old-ish hotel, corrugated iron roof, open on four sides, with a large balcony on which lunch is served. We only stayed overnight once, dinner was served indoors, only about 20 guests, and the billiard table was in the next room. One could be transported back to the days of the Raj…

 

[PhilH]

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One of the more unusual exhibits at the Delhi Railway Museum was this 6 wheel Sentinel locomotive, works no.8135 built in 1930 for 2'-6" gauge. I thought it would be an interesting subject for a model and took several measurements, although I'll probably never get round to actually building it.

A total of nine of these locomotives were built in three batches of three between 1928 and 1930, for service on several 2'-6" gauge railways in India. They were geared up to a maximum speed of 31mph for use on passenger trains. Sentinel 8135 was supplied to the Bankura Damodar River Railway, a 60 mile line in West Bengal, where it was numbered 8.

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The loco was built to Sentinel's BE design (Balanced Engine) with a 2 cylinder vertical engine at one end and the vertical boiler at the other. Between the engine compartment and the cab is a large water tank, and the two coal bunkers are inside the cab. These are quite large locos with a weight of 18 tons and the six wheel design was necessary to reduce the axle loading. Overall length over buffer beams is 17'-7"; Overall height rail level to top of cab roof 9'-10"; Rail level to footplate 3'-5"; Width over footplate 6'-6"; Wheel dia. 2'-4"; Wheelbase 7'-6".
The cab sides are mainly open above the waist but closed off by removable sliding shutters.

End view with inspection door to engine compartment, and there are also hinged doors on the top panel.




Sentinel works plate


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There are drive chains from the engine to the first axle on each side of the loco, then a single chain drive from that to the second axle. There was no chain connecting the second and third axles, and if I recall correctly no sprocket wheels either. Whether it was originally built like that or not I don't know but it would seem logical to drive all the wheels for maximum traction.

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The cab end of the frame. The crank with a metal strip disappearing into the ashpan is to operate the rocking firegrates (corrected as per Post #39). The frame is I section 13" deep.​

The two injectors on the other side of the loco.


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Left: view of the boiler through the cab opening. The large lever on the floor is the reversing lever, operating transversely which might be confusing ! I think the small handwheels on each side of the boiler (the opposite one just visible) operate the regulator in that fixture under the nearest handwheel with the steam supply pipe dropping down then under the footplate to the cylinders.
Right: The two coal bunkers on the other side of the cab with the brakewheel in the middle.




Left: Corner of the cab with the pressure gauge and safety valves behind, venting to a pipe up to the cab roof.
Centre: Top of boiler with the two flues passing into a large box built into the cab roof (possibly some form of spark arrestor ????)
Right. The cylinder lubricator in the other corner of the cab.

 

[ianlbsc]

Fascinating, as ever. Thanks for these, most interesting! Cheers, Ian

 

[Super-Sentinel]

View attachment 213521​

One of the more unusual exhibits at the Delhi Railway Museum was this 6 wheel Sentinel locomotive, works no.8135 built in 1930 for 2'-6" gauge. I thought it would be an interesting subject for a model and took several measurements, although I'll probably never get round to actually building it.

A total of nine of these locomotives were built in three batches of three between 1928 and 1930, for service on several 2'-6" gauge railways in India. They were geared up to a maximum speed of 31mph for use on passenger trains. Sentinel 8135 was supplied to the Bankura Damodar River Railway, a 60 mile line in West Bengal, where it was numbered 8.

View attachment 213522​

The loco was built to Sentinel's BE design (Balanced Engine) with a 2 cylinder vertical engine at one end and the vertical boiler at the other. Between the engine compartment and the cab is a large water tank, and the two coal bunkers are inside the cab. These are quite large locos with a weight of 18 tons and the six wheel design was necessary to reduce the axle loading. Overall length over buffer beams is 17'-7"; Overall height rail level to top of cab roof 9'-10"; Rail level to footplate 3'-5"; Width over footplate 6'-6"; Wheel dia. 2'-4"; Wheelbase 7'-6".
The cab sides are mainly open above the waist but closed off by removable sliding shutters.

View attachment 213523

End view with inspection door to engine compartment, and there are also hinged doors on the top panel.


View attachment 213524

Sentinel works plate


View attachment 213525​

There are drive chains from the engine to the first axle on each side of the loco, then a single chain drive from that to the second axle. There was no chain connecting the second and third axles, and if I recall correctly no sprocket wheels either. Whether it was originally built like that or not I don't know but it would seem logical to drive all the wheels for maximum traction.

View attachment 213526​

The cab end of the frame. I would guess that the crank with a metal strip disappearing into the ashpan is to operate a hinged flap or damper. The frame is I section 13" deep.

View attachment 213527

The two injectors on the other side of the loco.


View attachment 213528​

Left: view of the boiler through the cab opening. The large lever on the floor is the reversing lever, operating transversely which might be confusing ! I think the small handwheels on each side of the boiler (the opposite one just visible) operate the regulator in that fixture under the nearest handwheel with the steam supply pipe dropping down then under the footplate to the cylinders.
Right: The two coal bunkers on the other side of the cab with the brakewheel in the middle.


View attachment 213529

Left: Corner of the cab with the pressure gauge and safety valves behind, venting to a pipe up to the cab roof.
Centre: Top of boiler with the two flues passing into a large box built into the cab roof (possibly some form of spark arrestor ????)
Right. The cylinder lubricator in the other corner of the cab.

Thanks for comprehensive photographic coverage of the preserved Sentinel 8135. In the view showing the cab end of the frame the crank with metal strip disappearing into the ashpan was to operate the rocking firegrates. The locomotive is commendably complete and in virtually original condition.