NARROW GAUGE STEAM LOCOMOTIVES

LOCOMOTIVES ON PEDESTAL

 

A.K. Jhingron,

General Manager, WR

For preservation of heritage, it is essential that the various items of heritage are kept in a manner that they are safe from vandalism, daily wear and tear and neglect. If amenable to shifting, they should also be kept at a place where they could be seen and appreciated easily. Normally items having heritage value are preserved in museums, either public or private. But locomotives being heavy and huge in size, their preservation in museums can only be done selectively. Besides, such museums where locomotives could be preserved, are difficult to set up and maintain. Hence, for preservation of locomotives, they are placed on a pedestal at such public places where they could be seen and appreciated by a large number of people. As far as locomotives in India are concerned, they have been put on pedestals outside Railway offices and stations at various places.

 

On Western Railway, six steam locomotives have been restored and preserved on pedestals outside Railway buildings. These locos have been preserved in the premises of Divisional Railway Managers' offices at Vadodara, Rajkot, Ratlam and Bhavnagar and in the station premises at Indore & Mumbai Central stations. Out of these, with the exception of the steam locomotive outside Indore railway station, which is a metre gauge locomotive, others are narrow gauge.

 

Narrow Gauge steam locomotives have always been a centre of attraction on account of their diminutive size and pleasing aesthetic designs. Western Railway has been fortunate that it had and still continues to have, a vast network of narrow gauge lines. The region covered by the present Western Railway extends over an area where numerous large and small ruling houses and principalities flourished before Indian Independence. Amongst such principalities having a railway network was considered to be a sure sign of progressiveness and prosperity of the ruling house. Hence the principalities and states built a network of narrow gauge lines, as narrow gauge was cheaper to construct and easier to maintain. Such narrow gauge lines flourished on present Rajkot, Ratlam, Vadodara and Mumbai Divisions of Western Railway. Hence, Western Railway inherited a large number of Narrow Gauge locomotives. The area of Western Railway was also served by a wide metre gauge network. In fact, on the erstwhile Western Railway, before a major part of it went for formation of North Western Railway and West Central Railway, four divisions viz. Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Ajmer and Jaipur, had only metre gauge lines. Thus, Western Railway also had a large number Metre Gauge steam locomotives of which several have survived even today.

 

 

 

 

 

Little Red Horse at Mumbai Central

Narrow Gauge Loco No.K-563 has been kept outside Mumbai Central station. It was manufactured in the year 1928 by M/s Kerr Stuart and Co. of England. The locomotives was procured for Rs.34,423 for use on Devgarh-Baria Railway which was a small Railway owned by the Princely state of Devgarh-Baria. The Devgarh-Baria Railway was opened for traffic in 1929, was merged into the BB&CI in August 1949 and subsequently became a part of Western Railway. The locomotive was in service for 61 years, was shifted to Pratapnagar workshop for shunting duties in 1990 and subsequently was placed in front of Mumbai Central station in 1991 to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee year of Mumbai Central station. The locomotive attracts a large number of visitors, more prominently during the night when it is illuminated.

 

The technical details of the locomotive are as under:

Class	K
Type	2-6-4T
CW	27
Cyls	10 ½ " x 15"
Maker No.	KS-4416
Year of Manufature	1928

 

 

Loco No.603T at Vadodara

Narrow Gauge Steam Loco No.603T at Vadodara was manufactured by M/s W.G. Bagnell Ltd., U.K. Stafford (England) Ltd. in 1925.

 

The locomotive was procured for operations on 2'6" gauge NG section operating from Bhavnagar to Mahuva. This line was initially opened from Bhavnagar to Talaja (58.8 kms) in 1926 and was extended upto Mahuva in 1998. The 108.58 kms byline came to be known as Bhavnagar Tramway. This line remained in operation till May 1987. The locomotive was based at the Narrow Gauge steam loco shed at Bhavnagar. The locomotive remained in service till the closure of Bhavnagar Tramways in 1987. The locomotive was trasnferred for display outside Divisional Railway Manager's office in 1995.

 

Technical details of the locomotive are as under:

Type	4-8-0
CW	28
Cyls	12"x16"
Maker No.	WB-2538
Year of Manufacture	1925
Length of buffer	39', 5"x8"
Empty weight	38.14 tonnes
Tractive effort	9875 lbs.

 

 

Pappu at Bhavnagar

Locomotive No.558B has been put for display in the Children's park opposite the Divisional Railway Manager's office at Bhavnagar. Perhaps, the name 'Pappu' has been given to draw the children towards the locomotive. This locomotive was built in the year 1912 by M/s Hudswell Clarke and Co. for being used on the Narrow Gauge Gujarat Railway Co., gauge being 2'6". The Gujarat Railway Co. came into existence in March 1911 and survived till March 1922 when it was merged into the BB&CI Railway. The Gujarat Railway comprised of three rail lines, viz. Champaner-Shivrajpur Pani-Light Railway; Godhra-Lunavada Railway and Nadiad-Kapadvanj Railway. The locomotive bore the Makers' No. HC-996. It had side tanks with water storage capacity of 800 gallons. The locomotive having a length of 31' 10.75" was procured at a cost of Rs.25,851. This locomotive after remaining in service till 1990 has been put on display at Bhavnagar since 1999.

 

Technical details of the locomotive are as under:

Class	B
Type	2-8-4T
CW	13
Cyls	12.3/4x16
Maker No.	HC-996
Year of Manufacture	1912

 

 

Loco No. NB-564 at Ratlam

This locomotive was used on Narrow Gauge Ujjain-Agra Railway and was based at the Loco shed located at a placed called Makodia-Aam. Ujjain-Agra railway was a part of the Scindia State Railway which merged into the Indian Railways on regrouping of the Railways. Gwalior State Railway was merged with the Central Railway. However, Ujjain-Agra section on account of its physical proximity to Western Railway was subsequently taken over by Western Railway from Central Railway in 1957. This section was the only 2' narrow gauge section on Western Railway, and was in operation till 1975. The locomotive NB-564 was manufactured by M/s Kerr Stuart and Co. England in the year 1915. It remained in service for the next 59 years and was withdrawn from service in 1974. On closure of Ujjain-Agra section, this locomotive was sent back to Gwalior for working on the Narrow Gauge of the erstwhile Scindia State Railway and remained in service till 1989. Thereafter the locomotive was restored for display and has been put outside the Divisional Railway Manager's office at Ratlam, since 1997.

 

Technical details of the locomotive are as under:

Class	NB
Type	2-6-2
CW	33
Cyls	11"x18"
Maker No.	KS-2370
Year of Manufacture	1915
Tender capacity/Weight	1000 gallons/14.5 tonnes
Weight of loco	27 tonnes
Tractive effort	9864 lbs.

 

 

Loco No. 577W at Rajkot

This locomotive has been put on display outside Divisional Railway Manager's office at Rajkot. It was procured for service on Gaikwad-Baroda State Railway. The Gaikwad-Baroda State Railway had a wide Narrow Gauge network with 2'6" gauge. The locomotive was manufactured by M/s W.G. Bagnell Ltd., U.K. Stafford (England) Ltd. in the year 1914. The locomotive served on the Baroda State Railway till it was merged into the Western Railway and became a part of the Baroda Division. The locomotive continued to be in service till 1986, thereafter it was withdrawn and was stored at Pratapnagar Loco Shed, where it was restored for display. It has been on display outside Divisional Railway Manager's office at Rajkot since 1997.

 

Technical details of the locomotive are as under:

Class	W
Type	0-6-2
CW	36
Cyls	11"x15"
Maker No.	WB-1992
Year of Manufacture	1914

 

In addition to above locomotives, at Pratapnagar Workshop at Vadodara, three Narrow Gauge steam locomotives are available. These locomotives were originally based at Dabhoi and Ankleshwar steam locomotives sheds. Dabhoi was the biggest narrow gauge junction with lines moving in five directions, and was home to a large number of steam locomotives. These locomotives bear distinct No.60ZB, 77ZB and 91ZB, while No.60ZB was manufactured by M/s W.G. Bagnell Ltd., U.K., the other two locomotives are France-German lot Corpet Louver make. Loco No.77ZB has been restored and is proposed to be put on display outside Ujjain Railway station.

 

One Narrow gauge locomotive No.73ZB which was earlier available at Pratapnagar workshop was restored and sent to Patna for display. This locomotive has been put on display at Sanjay Gandhi Biological Gardens at Patna since 15th August, 2004.

 

A W class NG locomotive No.585, manufactured by M/s W.G. Bagnell Ltd., U.K. in 1922 which saw service on Billimora-Wagai NG section of Mumbai Division is available at Bilimora loco shed.

 

In addition to Narrow Gauge locomotives, a Metre Gauge locomotive has also been put on pedestal for display at the Western Railway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loco No.4028 at Indore Railway Station

This metre gauge locomotive was utilised for hauling goods trains on the metre gauge sections of Ratlam and Ajmer Divisions. The locomotive was manufactured by M/s Nipon Sharyocizhokaisa, Japan in the year 1955. While in service, the locomotive was based at metre gauge Loco Shed at MHOW. The locomotive hauled goods trains between the year 1955-98, and was withdrawn from service in 1998 after which it was restored and put on display outside Indore Railway station in the year 2000. The tender capacity of the locomotive for coal is 10.65 tonnes and for water, it is 13638 litres. The working steam pressure of the locomotive was 14.65 Kgs/Sq.cms; capacity of hauling of load upto 850 tonnes.

 

On Western Railway, Wankaner and Rajkot Loco Sheds which were part of Rajkot division, were home to a number of metre gauge locomotives. With the gradual conversion of metre gauge lines on Rajkot Division, the metre gauge locomotives were withdrawn from service and condemned. Still a large number of metre gauge locomotives have survived and are presently available within the premises of the Loco Shed at Wankaner. The details of these locos are given below. Although efforts are being made to keep these locomotives in a state of preservation, yet open to the vagaries of the weather, these locomotives are surviving at the mercy of elements and are awaiting their redemption, for being put on display at prominent places where the Railway lovers particularly the lovers of 'black beauty' can enjoy their view.

 

 

Steam Locomotives at Wankaner

Metre Gauge Loco

Western Railway’s Steam Heritage