FIRST TRAIN OF INDIA WAS DESTINED TO RUN FROM HOWRAH TO HOOGHLY, NOT FROM MUBAI TO THANE

We all know that First Train in India ran on April 16, 1853 from Bombay to Thane under Great Indian Peninsular Railway, but not many know about the fact that the First Train of India was destined to start from Howrah to Hooghly under East Indian Railway since the 24 Miles (38 KMs) long Rly Track from Howrah to Hooghly was ready before April, 1853, but it did not happen due to two incidences. Incidence no. 1: HMS Goodwin - the Ship carrying the first Model of the carriages, got sunk at Sandhead of the Hooghly River and Incidence no. 2 was that, the Ship carrying the first Locomotive went to Australia by mistake and finally reached Calcutta in 1854. Finally, the carriages were made by John Hudson, a Locomotive Engineer with East Indian Railway (EIR) at Two Coach Building factories at Calcutta viz. Steward and Co. and Seton and Co. There was also another factor – Serampore to Hooghly being under French area, there arose some disputes between East India Company and French East Indian Company about passing of the Rly track to French area, and it took time to get this settled.

First Train from Howrah to Hooghly made its Journey on Aug 15, 1854, although the Track from Howrah to Pandua (38 Miles) was ready by the end of 1853.The track to Pandua was thrown open on September 01, 1854 and up to Ranigunge on February 03, 1855.

Applications were invited for riding this first train and 3000 applications were received, out of which only few hundred were taken. The train started from Howrah at 08-30 AM and took 91 minutes to reach Hooghly. It consisted of 03 First Class Coaches, 02 Second Class Coaches and 03 Trucks for the Third class passengers. The 1^st Class and 2^nd Class Fares were Rupees Three and 07 Anas respectively.

GARBAGE RAILWAY OF CALCUTTA

GARBAGE RAILWAY OF CALCUTTA

Other than the normal railways, there was also Industrial Railways in the latter half of 19^th Century meant for being used mainly on temporary building projects.

However, there was a such a railway system inside Calcutta city having Broad Gauge Track operated by Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC, presently KMC), but to be used for carrying the refuse of Calcutta to a dumping ground at Dhapa, (then known as the Square Mile). Commonly known as 'Rubbish' or 'Garbage' train, this Railway system was officially known as “The Municipal Railway, Calcutta”.

The line ran from Bag Bazar on the Hooghly River to Circular Road and down its whole length as far as Theatre Road. There were two junctions opposite Dharamtala Street (Entally crossing), where the line travelled off east towards the Square Mile. These formed a triangular junction with the Square Mile branch. The line then followed the outfall sewer canal, passing the workshops and shed at Entally. It then carried on down passed the drainage pumping station at Tangra and followed the line of the high level sewer, past the Municipal Slaughter House and on to the Square Mile. There were six platforms on the system where refuse was transferred from carts to railway wagons.

The system opened in 1868 when there were eight miles of track. By 1895 there were 23 miles of track, including sidings. As well as carrying the city refuse and offal from the slaughterhouse, the system was also used to deliver road-building materials to various Corporation depots around the system, there were on average 15 wagons used for this purpose.

After the closure of the present 'Swabhumi' area, the dumping place was shifted to the area opposite Science City where present day Energy Park/PC Chandra Garden have come up.

I have personal knowledge about it in that, My father was posted at Central Medical Stores, Govt. of West Bengal Health Department  from 1955 to1957, hence I stayed at the Residential Building attached to the opposite Dental College as a boy of 7 years in 1955. I remember clearly that there was a single Broad gauge Line alongside Lower Circular Road (now AJC Bose Road) on the side of NRS Medical College & Hospital wherein such a train pulled by Steam Engine with 2 to 3 Boggies containing waste used to run once or twice a day up to the place where the then Famous "Rather Mela" of Entally used to be held at Dharamtola Crossing. I used to see running of this train from the first floor window.

The Tram Line was in the centre of the Road at that time. After closure of the Dhapa Train, the Tram line was shifted to its present position (besides NRS).

It is unknown when the system closed; it would appear to be sometime in the mid 1970s.

[ Reference : Discussions in the Forum of IRFCA (Indian Railway Fan Club)]

It is mentioned at this juncture that there was a Tram Depot in front of Sealdah Station, part of which is now under Fly over and the remaining part is the present Car Parking Area..The Tram Routes passing through this area were as follows as far as I could recall, there might be one or two more routes :

1.Ballygunge - Park Circus - Dharamtala - Sealdah - Harrison Road - Howrah Bridge – Howrah Stn.

(Route No. 24 or 25 -the other route being Ballygunge - Park Circus - Elliot Road - Esplanade - High Court - Strand Road - Howrah Stn.)

2. Route No. 12 : Galif Street - Shyambazar - Rajabazar - Sealdah - Dharamtala Street - Esplanade - High Court - Strand Road - Howrah Stn.

3. (Route No. forgotten) : Galif Street - Shyambazar - Rajabazar - Sealdah - Dalhousi Square via Bowbazar

(This route is existing even today, but the sector Sealdah - Dalhousi Square via Bowbazar has been replaced by Amharst Street - Bowbazar - Dalhousi Square.)

4. Sealdah - Dalhousi Square via Bowbazar.

KALIGHAT FALTA RAILWAY (KFR)

KALIGHAT FALTA RAILWAY (KFR)

Other than the zonal Railways detailed in my earlier posts, there were also some Private Railways as distinct from the Private Railways run by the Princely States. McLeod & Company, a subsidiary of McLeod Russell & Co. Ltd, London built four such Private Railways in the early part of the 20th Century, to open up undeveloped parts of India. The running of the trains were managed by a company called the McLeod's Light Railways. These were

• Kalighat Falta Railway (KFR)

• Ahmedpur-Katwa Light Railway      

• Burdwan-Katwa Light Railway        

• Bankura Damodar Railway

KFR was 26.95 miles (43.37 km) long Narrow Gauge 2' 6" Track, opened on 28 May 1917 from Gholeshapur in Behala to Falta and was extended a further 0.92 miles (1.48 km) to Majherhat on 7 May 1920. Some Photographs of KFR are given below:

The Northern end of KFR was Kalighat ( as the name suggest) which is now known as Majerhat railway station,where coal required for the Steam Engine was transferred from BG Box cars to Narrow-gauge line cars for continued shipment, the Station Kalighat being on the BG Route of Sealdah – Budge Budge as may be seen from the Photograph below:

 

 

( Photo Source : The Hensley Collection, Life in Calcutta (Kolkata) – 1944,Old Indian Photos)

This line was closed in 1957, some years after the independence of India, when the British owners, McLeod, folded up their operations in India, and the new Indian and West Bengal government thought it best to close down this stretch of railway tracks. The reclaimed land, from where the tracks used to be, has been used to construct a road - the wide James Long Sarani in Behala.

 

I could get the names of the stations in this route as follows from Bradshaw of 1944 - I have kept the spellings exactly as stipulated in the ibid bradshaw:

Majherhat Jn – Gholeshapur – Sakherbazar – Thakurpukur – pailan – Bhasa – Halt No. 1 – Udayrampur – Amtala Hat – Halt No. 2 –  Halt No. 3 – Shirakole – Shivanipur – Dighirpar – Harindanga – Halt No. 4 – Sararhat – Falta.

It is to be noted that at the initiation of this railway, it was from Majherhat of tody, but the name of it was Kalighat at that time, hence the name "Kalighat - Falta Rly" (KFR). That is why the starting station has been shown as Majherhat Junction, since this line was meeting the Sealdah – Budge Budge line. Originally, Majherhat was the first station on the Sealdah –Budge Budge Line after bifurcation from Ballygunge Stn. The stretch being too long, an intermediate Stn with the name Kalighat was created subsequently, thereby renaming the-then Kalighat Stn. as Majherhat. During my childhood in the 50s, the Stns were Ballygunge - Kalighat - Majherhat - Brace Bridge ---- and so on. Much later, the Stn. Lake Gardens was introduced between Ballygunge and this Kalighat – the latter being renamed as New Alipore. There is thus no stn now as Kalighat in that Line.

 

(Data Source : Wikipedia plus Personal Knowledge)