Bombay Railway & History Group: January 2019

31 January 2019

Restoration of India's WCG2 class Direct Current Locomotive at heritage gallery in Mumbai

FINALLY!!! One of India's last Direct Current locomotives -the WCG2 class - has now been saved at the heritage gallery at Mumbai CSMT by Central Railway Had been personally trying for this for quite some time time.

My report in MiD DAY today. Click HERE

By Rajendra B. Aklekar

One of the most versatile and common locomotives on the Ghat mountain ranges of Mumbai-Pune and Igatpuri inclines, one of the last of the Direct Current (DC) powered electric engines from the WCG-2 class, fondly called as Howlers for the noise they made, is back at Mumbai CSMT, this time as an exhibit on permanent display to the place where it started all. The other mixed class WCM-1 served till the end of the DC era.

The engine, formally withdrawn from service on 2010, arrived on a trailer truck by road all the way from Kalyan Electric Loco Shed on Wednesday. In its last days, it also hauled a few local trains in Mumbai during the motormen's strike

"Used mostly to haul freights, do banking duties on the Bhor and Tull ghats (push climbing trains from behind) and rarely haul express trains, the once-common loco with its blue and cream livery with little red stripes was first manufactured in the 1970s," a Mumbai division official said.

Officials said they were the heaviest engines (132 tonne), and powerful ones when launched.

They were manufactured at Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) and all the 57 that were built were assigned to Kalyan shed of Mumbai division of Central Railway.

"As of today all these Howler locomotives have been scrapped except one (20158) which had been originally earmarked for preservation at the National Rail Museum, New Delhi.But since Central Railway Mumbai now has its own gallery, the loco has been brought here in the heritage gallery," Central Railway chief public relations officer Sunil Udasi said

This is the second electric loco to arrive at the CSMT heritage gallery after India's first electric locomotive Sir Leslie Wilson was brought here, besides other steam engine from Barsi Light Railway and a few old wagons.

What's the book about?

My book on Bombay railway is the story of how the line came up to become India’s first railway line and to grow into the 7 million passengers that if ferries today. It is the story of each station and the relics of that glorious era that are still lying around at those stations. It’s the story of Bombay railway..the lifeline of now Mumbai city.

Halt Station India chronicles the dramatic rise of India’s original rail network, the arrival of the first train, and the subsequent emergence of a pioneering electric line—all in the port city of Bombay. Trains that once provoked awe and fear—they were viewed as fire chariots, smoke-spewing demons—have today become a nation’s lifeblood.

Taking a walk along India’s first rail lines, the author stumbles upon fragments of the past—a clock at Victoria Terminus that offers a rare view of a city; a cannon near Masjid Bunder Station that is worshipped as a god; a watchtower overlooking Sion Station, believed to have housed a witch. Each pit-stop comes with stories of desire and war, ambition and death—by Dockyard Road Station, for instance, author Laurence Sterne’s beloved, Eliza Draper, followed a sailor into the sea; or close to Parel Station, the wife of India’s governor general, Lord Canning found a garden rich in tropical vegetation; this, she replicated at Barrackpore.

Drawing from journals, biographies, newspapers and railway archives—and with nostalgic, first-time accounts of those who travelled by India’s earliest trains—the book captures the economic and social revolutions spurred by the country’s first train line. In this, Halt Station India is not just about the railways—it is the story of the growth of India’s business capital and a rare study of a nation.

To place an order in Mumbai..

Pls call for home delivery--

Mumbai number- 02223524655, 02223511381. Monday to Friday 9.30pm to 5.30pm. Saturday 9.30pm to 2.00pm, Sunday closed. Email at kgminternational@gmail.com

The book is also available online on Flipkart/Amazon and also at book stores

To buy in India

http://www.flipkart.com/halt-station-india-dramatic-tale-nations-first-rail-lines-english/p/itmefqakn8hhzq5b

http://www.amazon.in/Halt-Station-India-Dramatic-Nations/dp/8129134977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421582617&sr=8-1&keywords=halt+station+india

To buy in the UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Halt-Station-India-Dramatic-Nations/dp/8129134977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421582491&sr=8-1&keywords=HALT+STATION+INDIA

For the US and other countries

http://www.amazon.com/Halt-Station-India-Dramatic-Nations/dp/8129134977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421582579&sr=8-1&keywords=halt+station+india

The story of Bombay's railway heritage

The first passenger railway in the east (in Asia) ran between 21 miles of Bombay and Thane stations on 16 April, 1853, laid by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) that was originally set up under the Parliament of England Act. Citizens of Bombay celebrated the day as a public holiday.

The same 'experimental line' of the GIPR is today the lifeline of suburban Bombay, now called Mumbai, India's financial capital, ferrying a record 3m suburban passengers every single day. It is called the Central Railway today.

As the line even today runs on the same old blueprint, there are a lot of relics lying along it that attach are of national heritage. The group believes that it is important to document and archive those silent structures that so vividly tell the tale of the glorious past and is working towards it.

May it be that neglected, old and rusted metal shell lying in one corner of the line or a crumbling stone structure. It may be just a piece of scrap for everyone else, but here for members of this group, it's living history.

Rajendra B. Aklekar

91 9892 190 761