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Online history of Indian railways under British rule


Jim Martin

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This was a chance discovery while looking online for something else, but I thought that it might be of interest to somebody.

 

The Imperial Gazetteer of India was a reference and statistical digest about British-ruled India, originally published in 1881 with later editions in 1908/9 and 1931. It eventually totalled 26 volumes, including an atlas, four volumes of historical and reference content and no fewer than twenty volumes describing the various provinces, towns and cities.

 

You can find a copy of the 1931 edition in the Digital South Asia Library, which is part of the University of Chicago website. The section on railways begins here (for some reason the link on the contents page takes you to a point a couple of pages before this in the book) and there's an appendix at the end of the section with various tables, including a list of railway companies. The atlas also includes various maps of the railway network.

 

I should say that I haven't read the entire thing, and I dare say that a modern Indian historian could find points on which their interpretation of events might differ from that of the author of the Gazetteer. Nevertheless, if you have a passing interest and you don't know your Bengal & North-Western from your Bombay, Baroda & Central India, you might find this an interesting read.

 

Jim

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