ODD BITS AND ENDS

Today we have a bonanza for our readers. Read on to find out little known facts and figures, secrets and trivia telling what the great system of railways in India was like in the past.
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1) A journey up the hills by the Darjeeling Hill Railway took only about 5 hours 15 minutes in the 1930s.
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2) A total of 42 railway companies were in operation before independence.
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3) Rail links over the Bhor and Thull ghats were opened for traffic in 1864.
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4) The Chief Mechanical Engineer was in earlier days known as Chief Locomotive Superintendent.
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5) The first electric train ran on 3 February 1925 from Bombay VT to Kurla.
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6) There were three kinds of goods trains in operation earlier, namely, Shunting, Van, and Through trains.
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7) Electric lights in railway carriages were first introduced in 1902 on the Jodhpur Railway.
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8) Line clear was obtained earlier using the electric telegraph. Following this, the ASM of a wayside station would lower the signals for the departure of a train by operating the levers of a ground-frame next to his office.
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9) Toilets on trains were introduced in 1891 in Ist class, and in 1907 in lower classes.
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10) Trains in earlier days (except Mails) “stopped at every station a quarter of an hour for purposes of gossip, and at all large stations half an hour or an hour” an early traveller in India once complained.
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11) The Commissioner of Railway Safety was earlier known as Government Inspector of Railways.
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12) Locomotives shipped to India from Great Britain were accompanied by the manufacturer's printed set of instructions for the workshop to assemble the machine correctly.
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13) Bogie carriages were introduced in 1903 with both 4- and 6-wheeled bogies. Carriages with inward opening doors first appeared in 1909.
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14) At many small stations a safety system known as Annets Lock and Key system was in use to prevent conflicting signals and points, later superseded by an invention known as Hepper’s Key Transmitter.
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15) On 9 August 1925 armed revolutionaries stopped No. 8 Down train near Kakori station and looted the British government treasury. Four of them were hanged but the incident fired up the nation’s patriotic spirit.
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16) At small and unimportant junctions a track formation known as a ‘triangle’ was often used in place of a turntable to reverse steam locomotives.
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17) The key elements of a steam loco shed were a store, office, repair shop, examination pits, well, overhead water tank, ash-pits, turntable, fuel platform, sick sidings and water column. An inseparable part of a locoshed would be a travelling steam crane often found busy chugging away, shovelling coal into the tenders of waiting locomotives.
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18) In 1923 there were over 500 different classes of steam locomotives in use. By 1952 the number of classes was brought down to 377.
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19) In the year 1900 the railways of India had a route kilometreage of 39,834 kms, there were a total of 3627 stations, 4629 steam locomotives, 17,272 carriages, and 88,612 goods wagons. By 1940 the railways had spread to 66,067 kilometres of track, with 7286 stations, 8414 steam locos, 72 electric locomotives, 23,450 carriages and 2,15,253 goods wagons.
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20) The G.I.P. Railway in 1856 charged 2 annas per mile to send a horse by train, and 3 annas per mile if two horses were sent together by the same owner. One groom in charge of each horse was allowed to travel free in the same vehicle as the animal. The lowest charge for sending a horse was Rs 2 annas 8. Carriages and palanquins could also be booked by train and if the owner chose to travel seated in his own carriage he was charged Ist class fare.
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21) In his book “Permanent Way Material, Plate-Laying, and Points and Crossings” (E. & F. N. Spon Limited, London, 1928), W.H. Cole, M.Inst.C.E., of the Indian State Railways recommended that in hot and dry weather, the gateman of a road crossing “ought also to water the crossing before a train is expected, to prevent dust from getting into the working parts of the engine.”
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22) A fine 19th century old 6-inch gauge display model of the East Indian Railway 2-2-2 well-tank locomotive 'Express' commissioned for the East India Railway boardroom in London was recently auctioned by Bonhams for 17,250 pounds. A similar 6-inch gauge display model of the EIR Class L1 4-6-0 locomotive of 1900 was sold for 9,200 pounds.

DORABJI'S STORY

Boys, we haven’t finished yet with Dr Damania : he is here to stay, and is as much an important part of this site as Karl Lobo, Terry Fletcher, Margaret Deefholts (who hates being called Maggie), Rajendra and others. Here’s an interesting tale he has compiled for us telling about his paternal uncle Shri Dorabji Damania who served on the railways long ago . . .  many thanks, doctor, for an outstanding post, you sure have an eye for history and heritage :
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MY FATHER’S OLDER BROTHER, Dorabji M. Damania, after having passed his Matriculation from the Parsi Orphanage at Lalbaug, Mumbai, found work as a clerk for a Parsi businessman who had a general store (hardware & provisions) in Lahore (now in Pakistan) around 1910s. He must be in his mid-20s. He was not happy with his salary and the treatment from the store-owner with whom he had many quarrels. One day a British gentleman walked in to the store to buy something and Dorabji made friends with him. During conversation the British man let out that he was actually a superintendent in the Northern Railway based at Delhi and gave Dorabji his official calling card. He was so impressed with Dorabji that he said that "If ever you are in need of help contact me." A few months later Dorabji had another quarrel with his boss the store-owner and left the job in a huff carrying only a single small suitcase in his hand and a few rupees in this pocket. He arrived at Delhi and sought out the British gentleman, presented himself at his office and said "Sir, you told me that if ever I needed help I should contact you. Here I am." The British gentleman, whose name I do not recollect, said "Very well, Dorabji. Report tomorrow to the station-master at the Delhi railway station with this note I am giving you". Dorabji was employed in the railways the very next day as "Ticket Collector" even before a railway uniform could be stitched for him. After a few years as ticket collector at Delhi he took some training and was promoted to a Guard on the goods trains of the Northern Railways (steam traction at that time).

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He used to speak to me of the very many lonely hours he would have to spend as a guard of a goods train at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes the goods train would lie in the siding of some obscure station for many hours. Being the last bogey at the end of 50-60 goods wagons inside the guard's wagon was a rough ride with lots of shaking, swaying, rattling, and noise (only those who have ridden inside the last bogey of a goods train can appreciate the hardship). There was no electricity in the guard's wagon only a kerosene hurricane lamp, a writing desk, red/green flags and the wheel with a mechanical emergency brake. After a few years, he was promoted to Guard of passengers trains and was posted to Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh (see 1907 photo of Saharanpur Railway Station), then on the North Western Railway (NWR). He was also provided with accommodation at the railway quarters. With a raise in salary and his own accommodation he thought it was time to find a life partner. He, therefore, took leave and came to Bombay in 1920 (see photo above). He soon married a very beautiful Parsi lady (Miss Dhun Fitter) and took her to Saharanpur with him. She was soon with child and Dorabji was extremely excited about becoming a father. Unfortunately, his wife died of postpartum sepsis only days after giving birth, leaving him with a female child whom he named Freny. Dorabji was grief stricken. Alone and far from relatives, and unable to care for a small baby all by himself and distraught at having lost his wife so soon after marriage, he took early retirement from the railways and returned to Bombay around 1935. He found a job with Tata Chemicals as a clerk till his retirement in the mid 1950s.

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I still have his Guard's Whistle (Made in England) at the end of a silver chain with a pocket clasp at the other end. Even today, after almost 100 years, when I blow it with full breath in my lungs, it is loud enough to be heard for at least half a km. It was supposed to be audible from the Guard's compartment at the end of the train right up to the engine driver who was 12-13 compartments in the front. The whistle was also for the passengers who had not boarded the train as well as for those who had come to bid farewell to their kith and kin. The whistle would be heard throughout the length of the platform from one end to the other. Dorabji would then wave the green flag or if it was night the green kerosene lamp. And the train would slowly start to move. He would only take his seat after his own guard's compartment at the back of the train had passed the outer signal cabin and the train picked up speed. He died in 1963.

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Dr. Ardeshir B. Damania

THE TRAVELLING TICKET INSPECTOR

Here is a charming little poem which appeared in the G.I.P. Railway Magazine in May 1915:
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THE FLYING SCUD
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We’ve heard of the driver, we’ve heard of the guard
Of the engine from cab to injector,
But a subject which hasn’t occurred to our bard,
Is the travelling inspector.
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When you rush for your train in the morning—perhaps
You’ve been out in the evening preceding
It’s most likely to happen that one of these chaps
A sight of your ‘season’ is needing.
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Then you feel in your pockets, you look in your hat,
Your co-passengers think it is quite funny
And it dawns on your wandering intellect that
It’s at home—with your keys, your money.
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But it isn’t a rule for the gay flying scud
To drop on the man who’s forgotten
His ticket. He really is after the ‘dud’
And the man whose excuses are rotten.
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He will smile as he says “Show your tickets, I pray”
For his manner is gentle and courtly,
But the ‘twister’ who never intended to pay
He will lay by the heels very shortly.
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The enemy sworn of the traveller by stealth
Of ‘bilking’ and fraud the detector
Let’s empty a glass to the jolly good health
Of the travelling ticket inspector!