North West Frontier

[nomisd]

I'm now going to throw a spanner in my own works. I have just been reading a 1904 copy of the august journal Indian Engineering (no home should be without a set) and it has this picture in it

 

 

of what is described as a new type of four wheeled, side door composite carriage for the North Western Railway. Its livery is described as "cream white with chocolate and gold lining". So much for Midland red carriages.......

[Mad Carew]

Perfect coach!  First-Second composite?  

 

Interesting that the colour coding has gone.  Second was generally green, and I think First was white.  Third was generally dark red, so perhaps those Midland Red coaches were All Thirds?

 

The colour illustration is a south Indian metre gauge coach, but I understand the colours were fairly standard throughout India, as a seating guide for the illiterate. 

 

Pale coloured coaches seem to be in evidence on the NWR earlier than 1904, too.  Below are some pictures I've found.

 

Shela Bagh station, showing the southern portal of the Khojak Tunnel, surely is a 'must-model' scene.  Some coaches look pale sided, others, not so sure.  I would guess this is 1890s.  The closer view is said to be 1895.

 

The close up is of a VIP special at Quetta, 1894.

 

You posted the Attock Bridge shot, also apparently dated 1895 - are the train coaches of different colours or is it just dirt?

 

In about 1904-5, A M Bell of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway introduced coaches constructed with non-conducting material inserted between the inner and outer layers of the coach sides and roofs.  By these means he was able to dispense with the need for the overhanging wooden sun-shades or awnings.  He also dispensed with the class colour coding and went with a rather british two-tone livery, darker lower panels and lined pale upper panels. 

 

Other railways followed suit and I include a picture of two-tone NWR coaches without awnings.  Pictures in the 1910s start to show NWR trains without awnings. Inclidently, one is tempted to view the later NWR coaches as even more LNWR-like given their livery!

 

Your 4-wheel coach is, perhaps, on the cusp.  The class colours appear to have gone (perhaps they never held sway on the NWR?) but at the awnings are still in use.

 

 

 

[Edwardian]

Great pictures, and certainly enough to attempt an approximation of a NWR train with characteristic stock. On scale, I particularly like the closer of the two views of Shela Bagh station, with two 1/72nd scale Britishers standing in front of the awning of the HO (1/87 scale) station!  

[Ohmisterporter]

Couplings to the Khyber is an excellent book on the subject. There was a copy in the local library many years ago: I could tell from the date stamps that I was the only person borrowing it. One day they had a clear out and it was sold, along with many other books. Unfortunately I only found out about the sale when it was too late. I was grieved by the knowledge that someone paid fifty pence for a book they didn't want to read when they could have had it for nothing. If you can find a copy it is a worthwhile addition to your library.

[nomisd]

Perfect coach!  First-Second composite?  

 

It is indeed a First/Second composite. Interestingly, most of the photos that I have ever seen of Indian carriages have had the class indicated by lettering in some form. Usually this takes the form of Roman numerals, presumably as these would be easier to understand than actual numbers? However I have never really taken any notice of the dates so couldn't really say what the trend was. I agree that the train on the Attock bridge would seem to have coaches of at least two colours, suggesting that NWR used white for First class and another darker colour for lower classes.

 

I have found some more passages of passing interest in Indian Engineering. The following is all taken from the January to June 1887 volume. It mostly concerns the Bolan Pass line as this was being built at the time and so was news. The first extract is an excellent description of the way they moved BG stock over a MG line.

 

Receiving a few days leave for Christmas, I determined to spend it out of Quetta, and my way led me over the metre gauge line down the Bolan Pass. Perhaps a short account regarding this line may be of interest to your readers. The length of the line is nearly 10 miles, and the sharp curves with heavy grades form one of its main features. Curves of 200 feet radius on a grade of 1 in 23 occur in several places, and the whole line is one series of sharp curves. The turn is not out of one before it is on another, and its progress through the gorge has been compared not inaptly to a skater cutting figures on the ice, as he leans over first to one side and than the other. The only engines and waggons that can be used are on bogies. The Fairlie engines are run without their tenders to save weight, and as a consequence watering stations are placed very close together. The load for one of these engines is 2½ waggons each, having a carrying capacity of 1.5 tons each, and a train generally consists of two or three engines with their loads. The engines and waggons are provided with Westinghouse brakes, thus ensuring the safety of the train.

 

Another novel feature is the arrangement for the conveyance of 5' 6" gauge rolling-stock over the line. The idea is that of a young Cooper's Hill Engineer (Cooper's Hill was the Royal Indian Engineering College near Egham in Surrey which operated from 1870 to 1906 when it moved to India), and is effectd by special bogies contrived to receive the axles of the BG vehicles and lift them off their. wheels in the following manner : — The bogies are first run into a pit, something like an ordinary ashpit, but with a ramp on one side to lead to the floor along which the metre gauge line runs, while the broad gauge runs on the top. The bogies being ready, a BG vehicle is drawn over them and its axles clamped on to the V which is fixed on top of the frame. One bogie is required for each axle. When ready, the bogies are drawn up the ramp and the waggon is lifted off its wheels on the MG bogie. In this manner a number of locomotive waggons and carriages have been transported to the broad gauge line beyond. Admirable as the arrangement is for the transport of empty vehicles, however, the extra dead load and its top-heaviness make it objectionable for the conveyance of loaded ones, and the break of gauge has been found so troublesome, and the carrying capacity of the metre gauge so insufficient, that a survey for a broad gauge line to be constructed on the Abt System has been ordered.

 

I have included the next extract to show the perils of working a heavily graded line

 

The Bolan Railway has been opened for goods traffic to Quetta, but the opening for passengers has been delayed owing to insufficient passenger rolling-stock on the metre gauge section. It is also intended to fix vacuum brakes on all passenger vehicles. This is a most necessary precaution. An accident took place on the 29th March last that would never have happened had these brakes been in use. Two trucks were cut off a ballast train in a station, through siding on the metre gauge line which is on a grade of 1 in 30, while the engine was required to water. The "sprags" to fasten the wheels were either not used on this occasion or slipped out and the wagons got away. The engine was in the way and the driver seeing the wagons coming at him ran away from them, hoping to gradually stop them by coupling on while in motion and using the engine brakes. A very high speed, however, was got up before this could be done and a derailment occurred near a catch siding, resulting in rather a bad accident. It is needless to state that had either the Westinghouse or vacuum brake been in use this would not have occurred. The train which took up the Duke and Duchess of Connaught was provided with the latter, and previous to taking them up was tried with the utmost success. Perhaps they will be speedily adopted now for ordinary use.

 

The next extract is included as it has an interesting snippet about the goods traffic carried in the frontier areas

 

Our Correspondent writes: General Browne has started for Simla preparatory to proceeding on furlough, and Mr. O'Callaghan has taken over the Sind-Pishin Railway. General Browne, starting from Quetta, accomplished the journey to Sibi via Bostan and Sharig in less than ten hours, though he was delayed over two hours on the road, which speaks very well for the state of the line. The whole of the line from Quetta to Sharig vid Bostan and the Bostau-Gulistan section is shortly to be opened for goods traffic, and has been inspected by the new Superintendent of Works, Sind Section, and the District Traffic Superintendent. There is a considerable passenger and goods traffic over the Bolan to Quetta, and even the local goods traffic between Sibi and Sharig is much larger than was expected, consisting principally of goats' skins. One more district is to be added to the number on the NWR, as it is found that some of them are too long to be under proper supervision.

 

I include the last extract as Patrick Doyle, the editor and proprietor of Indian Engineering was, from reading the journal, a very opinionated man who liked to prick what he perceived as the pompous and incorrect. The journal is full of the most splendid put downs, most of which are only slightly veiled! I have no idea what Doyle did before he started the journal but he was obviously an Engineer of some description. He didn't hold back from the the beginning as the journal was less than five months old when he published this. 

 

The Great Railway Engineering Feat — Some of our readers, who read the remarks of the Pioneer (a long established daily English language newspaper, of which Rudyard Kipling was the editor for two years just after this and which may be mentioned in the film of the The Man Who Would Be King? Indeed, there is a splendid piece he wrote for the paper on a visit to an East India Railway colliery where he describes in great detail the internal railway system of the colliery but I digress!) on the bridge which has lately been opened at Chupper on the Sind-Pishin Railway, will be surprised to learn that the bridge consists merely of one span of 150 feet and seven spans of 40 feet girders, and is thus under 500 feet in length. The foundations were dry and exceptionally easy, as rock is found directly on the surface. As to the height, we believe one of the piers is somewhat more than sixty feet high, but the other piers and both abutments are very much less in height. Some difficulty would no doubt be experienced in lifting the 150 feet girders, as the nullah (a nullah is a dry river valley that becomes a river during either the thaw or the rainy season) in the centre of the large span is at a great depth, some 250 feet below girder bed level. The launching of a girder of this size, however, though no doubt requiring much care and forethought, can hardly be considered an operation of great magnitude. We do not wish to underrate the bridge. The work is no doubt one of considerable importance, but the phrases "skilful piece of engineering" and "greatest railway engineering feat" which meet one's eye in the Pioneer's article are quite out of place and applicable neither to the bridge nor to the Sind-Pishin Railway. The truth is that there are no great engineering feats on the Sind-Pishin Railway. The work is very heavy throughout, but there is no really long tunnel or even one of those large bridges (of half a mile in length and upwards) which are found on nearly every Indian railway.

[Mad Carew]

Fascinating stuff, many thanks

[nomisd]

This offering is from the July to December 1887 volume of Indian Engineering. The first gives some idea to the reason why these railway lines were being built

 

The North-West Frontier Railways — The Lahore paper observes that last March saw the remaining length of rails linked through from Sibi to Quetta, and between Bostan and Gulistaa on the one side, and Killa Abdula on the other, or up to the Kojak and the Gwaja Passes respectively. So that we have now uninterrupted railway communication between our principal military base in the Punjab, our seaboard at Karachi, and the Khwaja Amran Range. The line over the range itself is being surveyed, and, in the hands of Mr. O'Callaghan, its completion is not likely to be long delayed. The remaining 80 or 90 miles of railway required to carry us into Kandahar itself, if not to be laid down as yet, is practically already on the Pishin plateau and could be finished almost as rapidly as our troops could march. Although there is a good deal still remaining to be done in connection with the Bolan, either by applying the Abt system to the small section of narrow gauge, or by adopting an improved alignment, which recent surveys have shewn to be perfectly feasible for a standard-gauge line throughout; the completion of these two lines, connecting Sibi and Pishin, have alone changed the whole aspect of affairs. We can now not only place an army on the Helmand (plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose) at short notice, but rail its supplies and supports direct from the depots in India.

 

The next two show what a grim environment it was to be working in. I think that at such a distance of time, we have no real concept of the privations the engineers who built these railway lines in such inhospitable areas really went through. The second, I think, really brings it home. Every week IE had an obituary section and most of the time the engineers were in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Mr Fitzhugh Cox however got a whole column rather than a couple of lines, you can see why - he really had achieved an immense amount.

 

The Khojak Survey — A telegram to the Bombay Gazette says that Mr. O'Callaghan and staff, having completed the Railway survey over the Khojak Pass, break up their large camp at Shellabagh and return to Quetta. Mr. Wood, with a small survey party, will remain at Chaman for the present. Rumour says that the Engineers will return in September, when the actual work of construction will be commenced. Captain Duperier, R.E., and Captain Harvey, R.E., are surveying for a new road with gradients of 1 in 25, as the old military road is considered too steep, although it has been repaired and widened. The correspondent adds that the weather is very hot, the thermometer standing at 103° in the tents.

 

We regret having to record the death of Mr. Fitzhugh Cox, who died from cholera at Sheikhidin a few hours after arriving there from Bannu, where he was in charge of the Bridge Division on the Frontier Road. Mr. Cox was a "Stanley" Engineer appointed to the Department as a third grade Assistant in 1867. His first important charge was the Umballa Division, including Viceregal and all Government Buildings in Simla with the Simla-Umballa Cart-road and the Grand Trunk- road from Peepli to Loodhiana. He went on Furlough in the autumn of 1880, and on his return was posted to the Amritsar Division where he designed and carried out the Amritsar Drainage Scheme. He was recently transferred to the Bannu Bridge Division, from whence his name has not been unfamiliar to our readers. Mr. Cox was a warm supporter of this Journal. He had also been a contributor to the Roorkee "Professional Papers." The whole tenure of Mr. Cox's service was in the Punjab, and that Province loses by his death one of its most energetic and capable Engineers who combined attainments of a rare and high order. Mr. Cox was a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. His age was 40 years.

 

And as some light relief and nothing to do with our subject....The Nalhati State Railway was a odd railway. Built as 4ft 0in gauge it opened in 1863 and was the precursor to the MG system. 

 

The Nalhati State Railway — We are told in the last official Report on Railways that this line was maintained up to the standard necessary to permit of a speed for trains of— ten miles an hour. Also, that " nothing of any importance occurred during the year." Why not make next year important and memorable by converting this slow rolling stock into wheelbarrows and perambulators and employing ayahs( Hindi for nanny) to propel them? There are general store dealers in Indian Bazars who would buy up the engines now in use as old metal. And only think what an appeasing sacrifice that would be to the dominant genius of economy!

 

​It ended up being re-gauged to BG in 1892. However, Doyle was somewhat wide of the mark on the six locos. Most were converted to MG and went to the East India Railways collieries. The other two were converted to BG and found use in EIR and Eastern Bengal State Railway's workshops. One of these ended up working for the Calcutta Corporation, long enough for it to to find a home in the Railway Museum in Delhi (fourth photo down in this link)

 

http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Delhi/delhi3.htm

[Ohmisterporter]

There was a layout on the show circuit based on the early days of the Uganda Railway when second hand Indian railway equipment was used. I haven't seen it for a while and don't know if it is still extant. 

[Moxy]

There was a layout on the show circuit based on the early days of the Uganda Railway when second hand Indian railway equipment was used. I haven't seen it for a while and don't know if it is still extant. 

 

I don't know if this is the same one Geoff, but there was a 009 layout called 'Eitomo,' which was retired in 2008, having appeared at over 100 shows.

 

http://www.everystockphoto.com/photo.php?imageId=2844625&searchId=683fe9deb79ff614ae2dac8ccece91cd&npos=3

 

HTH

 

Moxy

[Ohmisterporter]

An interesting layout Moxy but the one I am thinking of was a larger scale, perhaps even gauge 1 on 32mm track. (I could be seriously wrong here). There was an Indian hill railway at Preston show last month with several Darjeeling locos on N gauge track. Obviously that was two foot gauge prototype.

[Scottish Modeller]

An interesting layout Moxy but the one I am thinking of was a larger scale, perhaps even gauge 1 on 32mm track. (I could be seriously wrong here). There was an Indian hill railway at Preston show last month with several Darjeeling locos on N gauge track. Obviously that was two foot gauge prototype.

HI Geoff,

 

The Indian hill railway layout at Preston was Darjeely.

 

Now in the ownership of Eddie Bristow of Kyle MRC.

 

It's a regular on the Scottish exhibition circuit and Eddie wanted to spread his wings and do shows 'down south'.

 

He is also the person who I am doing the Darjeeling builds for that are on here.

 

Thanks

 

Edit - Darjeely was sold by Eddie just over a year ago. I don't know who to, but it is supposed to be going to exhibitions once the new owner gets to grips with operting it.

 

If you know who bought it - please let us know!

Edit - Link to website for Darjeely

 

http://www.brycgstow-layouts.com/darjeely.html

 

Edit - Link to YouTube for Darjeely

 

 

Edit - Link to FlickR for Darjeely

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fairlightworks/10091147643

 

(Search on same user for other photos)

 

Edit - Link to 009 Society page for Darjeely

 

http://www.009society.com/darjeely.php

Edited February 15, 2018 by Scottish Modeller

[nomisd]

Volume 3 (January to June 1888) of Indian Engineering was concerned wit two things from the area. The first were the two broad gauge Abt rack locos that had been acquired to test their capabilities on the heavily graded lines north of Quetta. An edition in February had an extended description of them

 

Two "Abt Engines" are in course of erection at Sukkur, one of them being nearly ready for the road. The principal features of the engine are four cylinders, two for the main engine placed outside the frame, and two cylinders between the frame to drive the rack gear; the main cylinders are 19, and the rack cylinders 1.3 inches diameter. The engine is six- wheel, coupled with a pair of small trailing wheels on radial axle boxes. The rack gear is carried on frames hanging from the driving and leading axle boxes — the latter being joined to each other by an iron box over each axle — giving it the appearance, when looked at from above, of a solid axle box from one side to the other There are two sets of spurs, each of three steel wheels, arranged so that one tooth is in gear, one tooth just entering, and one tooth leaving the rack, they are lubricated with oil from a feeder-box on the foot plate. The rack engine is worked by separate starting gear, and is entirely independent of the main engine, having its own link motion and so forth.

 

The boilers are huge and have immense fire-boxes, giving one the idea that they are only fed once each trip; these huge fire-boxes are no doubt very necessary. The capacity of the engines is stated to be 200 tons over a grade of one in six. They are fitted with water tanks and coal bunkers. The water capacity is limited to a run of four miles. It is stated that the makers here preferred to build larger water tanks, but the India Office authorities intervened. Water taps and pipes are connected to the steam chest, so that a flow of water is permitted to play on the valve faces when coming down hill, the water is run off by two extra cocks on the bottom of the cylinders at command of the driver on the foot plate. The water gauge glasses are fixed on the side of the boiler just behind the dome and are worked off the foot plate by a system of levers.

 

The driving and trailing coupled wheels are fitted with hand brake gear and wooden brake-blocks, but by a system of levers the top of the exhaust pipe can be closed and a valve opens the bottom, thus permitting the pistons to take in air through the exhaust ports, which, acting on the reserve side of the pistons, form a formidable brake. This system of brake power was extensively used on Continental railways sometime ago. There is a combination of lines and handles about the footplate, which are viewed with disfavour by the engine-drivers who have been deputed to see the engines erected, and afterwards run them. They are considered to be well finished and were built at Esslingen.

 

By April word had reached Calcutta that all was not well with the experiments

 

The Abt Railway System. — A Quetta telegram says: — During the past week there has been a trial of the Abt system on the two miles of line which have been completed. The system did not stand the tests satisfactorily; and it is not unlikely that the idea of having the Abt system from Mach to the Katal will be entirely given up. The Abt system does not work well on curves, and the engines can only climb hills provided that their heads are kept straight. Perhaps the engines and materials collected at Hirok will be utilized at the Kojak.

 

By the end of May, it had all ended in ignominy

 

The Abt System for the Bolan. — We glean that the experiments recently made on the Bolan Ghat with the Abt system proving it to be practically a failure cannot be considered as conclusive. For purpose of experiment a length of 7 miles of Abt rack road and two Abt engines were got out from Germany at a cost of over four lakhs of rupees (a lakh is a unit equal to 100,000; the customary exchange rate in the late 19th century was 15 rupees to the pound); the late Member for Public Works being determined to thoroughly test the system. This road was to have been laid on a gradient of 1 in 25 and would have more than sufficed for the length of the Bolan Ghat above Hirok, now being converted from metre to broad gauge. Sir Theodore Hope having left India, other counsels seem to have prevailed, and but one mile of Abt rack rail was laid down to experiment on. This is considered an inadequate length for trial of a locomotive engine. It is no test of steaming capabilities: and as the Abt engine boiler has to supply two pairs of cylinders, such a test is absolutely necessary. We hear rumours that Mr. Graff, the Austrian Engineer engaged by Colonel Wallace to lay this experimental line, has resigned, the management of these experiments having been so unpractical.

 

They were converted to conventional locos and ended up as shunters. A photo of one can be seen here

[nomisd]

The other thing that was on teh table in the first half of 1888 was the opening of lines, mainly the Sind-Pisin line. The following are all pretty detailed descriptions, if sometimes written in a late Victorian melodramatic style. If the commas in the numbers over 100,000 look like they are in the wrong place, they are not - it was the Indian way of writing them down, weird I know.

 

THE KANDAHAR EXTENSION OF THE NORTH-WESTERN STATE RAILWAY.

 

As there seems to be a good deal of ignorance about the nature of the country into which the extension of the Sind-Pishin line is to be carried during the present year, perhaps a few words of description will not be unwelcome to our readers.

 

This ignorance is not dispelled by the few statements which have been published from time to time by the newspapers. The Pioneer (which should know better) talks for instance of the range of hills through which the tunnel is to be driven as the Khojak Amrdn instead of the Kwaja-Amran, as it should be called, and its description of the approaches to the tunnel are also inaccurate. The St James Gazette describes these hills as " razor- backed ; " one epithet is perhaps as good as another if you are addressing an ignorant public, but if we had wished to describe exactly what the Kwaja-Amran range was not we should have used this expression. The range of hills where the line is to cross is about 2,500 feet above the Pishin Valley on the east, and 3,500 feet above the Reghistan desert on the west. The line as now laid out has a ruling gradient of 1 in 40, and rises to a summit height in the main tunnel of 6,400 feet — Killa Abdiilla, the present terminus of the Sind-Pishin Railway, being at an elevation of 5,100 feet above sea- level.

 

The first five miles of the new line from Killa Abdulla are of an easy character, and only two of the remaining five before the tunnel mouth is reached can be described as at all heavy. The tunnel entrance is nearly a mile below the zig-zag road referred to by the Pioneer, and the exit at the western end is also some distance from the foot of the zig-zag on that side.

 

The tunnel itself will be about two and one-third miles in length, the eastern half being nearly level, and the western on a falling gradient of 1 in 40. While the piercing of the mountain will be facilitated by two shafts being sunk at a distance of about 1| miles apart, the ruling gradient is nearly continuous from the tunnel mouth to the temporary terminus, a little below Chaman, a distance of 13 miles. On this section also very little heavy work is necessary, two small tunnels, about 200 yards long each, being the only works on it requiring other than coolie labour — the extent of the earthworks being light, except in the first three miles from the tunnel mouth.

 

Work is at present entirely suspended owing to the heaviest fall of snow ever recorded in those regions. The season has up to date been remarkable for a complete absence of the terrible north-west wind so well-known, and so dreaded. The snow, however, has the advantage of ensuring a good supply of water during the summer months, so that it has some compensating advantages.

 

To facilitate the transport of materials while the tunnel is being driven , a temporary line is to be constructed over the top of the pass. This line will have gradients of 1 in 15 up to the foot of the road zig-zags mentioned by our contemporary, for which special locomotives are being sent out from England. The remainder of the ascent on the east side, and descent on the west, will be overcome by means of stationary engines and inclines worked by wire ropes. These inclines are expected to be in working order during the present year, and we hope to describe them in more detail later on.

 

 

There is an extensive history of these incline in teh Industrial Railway Society's Rope and Chain Haulage book. Here is photo of one in action.

 

THE SIND-SAGUR STATE RAILWAY.

 

The Bhukkiir-Malickwal Section of the Sind-Sagur State Railway was opened for every description of traffic on the 1st August 1887 ; thus completing one of the frontier protective Railways, as the section from the Chenab River near Sher Shah to Bhukkur was opened for traffic on the 1st January 1887.

 

This line leaves the North-Westem Railway System at Mooltan, crossing the River Chenab by a steam ferry near Mozuffergurh, some 12 miles to the west. From here it runs parallel to the River Indus in a northerly direction east Leiah, Bhukkur and Kodmdian, from which station it takes an easterly course along the foot of the Salt Range past Khushab, then follows the northern banks of the River Jhelum past Piud Dadan Khan until it reaches Haranpur, near which point the line is carried over the river by the recently completed Victoria Bridge, and is continued due east until it joins the North- Western Railway at Lala Musi, a station between Jhelum and Wazirabad.

 

The "Eastern Section" from Lala Musa to Malickwal, is 43 miles long, and was recently converted from the metre to the broad gauge ; the "Western Section" the last length of which has just been opened, is 295 miles long, or, including all its branches, 136 miles. There are four branches, viz. : from Haranpur to the Mayo Salt Mines at Khewra ; from Koondian to Mianwali ; from Bhukkur to the bank of the River Indus, opposite Dera Ismail Khan; and from Mahniood Kote to the bank of the River Indus, opposite Dera Ghazi Khan, all of which are also now open for traffic.

 

The works are generally rather light, but the first 60 or 80 miles at each end of the Western Section are some- what heavy, with a considerable number of bridges over hill streams and inundation canals ; the centre part from Khushab to Bhukkur being mostly through a sandy desert.

The line is on the broad  gauge, and laid throughout with permanent-way of flat footed steel rails weighing 75lbs. to the yard mostly on steel transverse sleepers ; some short lengths where the salt in the soil is excessive have transverse wood sleepers instead of steel.

 

The first surveys were taken in hand in November 1884, the earthwork was commenced in 1885, and the line was opened in August 1887, that is, in about 2½ years from the first orders for the survey, or in rather less than 2 years after the first sod was turned.

 

The Victoria Bridge over the River Jhelum is a little more than half a mile long, being of 17 spans of 150 feet girders, spaced 160 feet from centre to centre of the piers  The foundations are on single wells, 25 feet in diameter, built on wrought-iron curbs 26 feet in diameter, and sunk 120 feet below the rail level, or 82 feet below low water level. The brick stiening is 5½ feet thick, and all the wells are hearted with semi-hydraulic lime concrete. The wells from low water level are carried up to girder bed level in solid brick work as circular piers 25 feet in diameter finished off with plain massive cap projections, the bottom of the girders being 10 feet above high flood level.

 

The girders are of steel and iron 160 feet long. They are of the ordinary triangulated type with the roadway on the bottom flange, and the cross girders have been lengthened out on both sides to carry a footway 5 feet wide outside each main girder. Each span complete

weighs 175 tons. The sinking of the well piers was commenced in September 1885, and was finished in December 1886.

 

The first delivery of girder work at Bridge site was in November 1886, and the last girders were erected under considerable difficulties, owing to floods, on the 29th April 1887, the bridge being opened for traffic on the morning of the 16th May 1887, the whole structure having been completed in 20 months from start to finish.

 

The estimate for this bridge, and the somewhat extensive protective banks formed of large boulders up-stream to steady the river through the bridge, as well as the buildings and offices connected with it, amounted to Rs. 25,70,000, but the actual cost is Rs. 19,00,000. The total cost of the Western Section including this bridge was estimated at Rs. 2,37,32,186, or at the rate of Rs. 70,632 per mile complete in all respects, including rolling stock and steamers for the steam ferries. The actual cost of the line complete is about Rs. 2,27,32,000, which at the present rate of exchange amounts to £1,610,196 sterling, giving a rate for 336 miles of Rs. 67,768 and £4,792 per mile.

 

The Inspecting Engineers expressed themselves very highly satisfied with the substantial manner in which the whole of the works on this Railway have been executed, and the neat and the pleasing style in which the stations, engine sheds and houses for the accommodation of the staff have been finished. The Government of India have thanked Mr. James Ramsay, M. Inst. C.E., the Engineer in Chief, and his Engineering staff, for the satisfactory and economical manner in which the whole of this Railway has been completed.

 

By the opening of this Railway and its branches, the Viceroy was lately able to visit with ease and comfort two of the important frontier military stations west of the Indus, Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan, where durbars for native chiefs were held, and he saw representatives of some of the wild tribes on the frontier. He also visited the Mayo Salt Mines, and was much interested with all he saw there.

 

THE SIND-PISHIN RAILWAY

 

The recent issues of Engineering give some very interesting (interested?) articles on the Sind-Peshin Railway, pointing out the difficulties encountered during the construction. Condensed, it states that in the summer the thermometer registered 124 degrees Fahr. in the shade, and in the winter fell to 18 degrees below zero. The cholera raged, carrying off thousands of victims. Food there was none on the spot, water was often absent for miles, and timber and fuel were unknown. Added to this the few inhabitants the region possessed were cut-throats by profession, and amid such surround-ings a line 223 miles long ascending in 80 miles to an elevation overtopping Mont Cenis and St. Gothard, and then crossing a summit of 6,600 feet was constructed. The work was pushed on with feverish haste to satisfy the wishes of a Viceroy who had a Pendjeh incident unsettled on his hand, and found himself with a broken link in his chain of attack within possible distance of the greatest struggle England ever had entered into since the Napoleonic wars. The articles are a tissue of eulogy and appear to us to be drawn up in a "defensive" strain.

 

And the "absolutely nothing to do with our subject" entry comes in the form of the following

 

 

A Remarkable Hand at Whist. — An extraordinary incident in a game at whist, the only bona fide one of the kind recorded, occurred at the United Service Club, Calcutta, a few days ago. The players were Mr. Justice Norris, Dr. Harvey, Dr. Sanders and Dr. Reeves. Two new packs were opened and were trayed and shuffled in the usual way. Dr. Sanders had one of the packs cut to him and proceeded to deal. He turned up the knave of clubs and on sorting his hand found that he had the other twelve trumps.

[Ohmisterporter]

Found some pictures of the Uganda Railway layout that uses Indian railway equipment. About two thirds of the way down the page. It gives an idea of the size of equipment and length of trains used in those early years both in India and East Africa.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/67526-older-inspirational-layouts/page-13

[Mad Carew]

Volume 3 (January to June 1888) of Indian Engineering was concerned wit two things from the area. The first were the two broad gauge Abt rack locos that had been acquired to test their capabilities on the heavily graded lines north of Quetta. An edition in February had an extended description of them

 

Two "Abt Engines" are in course of erection at Sukkur, one of them being nearly ready for the road. The principal features of the engine are four cylinders, two for the main engine placed outside the frame, and two cylinders between the frame to drive the rack gear; the main cylinders are 19, and the rack cylinders 1.3 inches diameter. The engine is six- wheel, coupled with a pair of small trailing wheels on radial axle boxes. The rack gear is carried on frames hanging from the driving and leading axle boxes — the latter being joined to each other by an iron box over each axle — giving it the appearance, when looked at from above, of a solid axle box from one side to the other There are two sets of spurs, each of three steel wheels, arranged so that one tooth is in gear, one tooth just entering, and one tooth leaving the rack, they are lubricated with oil from a feeder-box on the foot plate. The rack engine is worked by separate starting gear, and is entirely independent of the main engine, having its own link motion and so forth.

 

The boilers are huge and have immense fire-boxes, giving one the idea that they are only fed once each trip; these huge fire-boxes are no doubt very necessary. The capacity of the engines is stated to be 200 tons over a grade of one in six. They are fitted with water tanks and coal bunkers. The water capacity is limited to a run of four miles. It is stated that the makers here preferred to build larger water tanks, but the India Office authorities intervened. Water taps and pipes are connected to the steam chest, so that a flow of water is permitted to play on the valve faces when coming down hill, the water is run off by two extra cocks on the bottom of the cylinders at command of the driver on the foot plate. The water gauge glasses are fixed on the side of the boiler just behind the dome and are worked off the foot plate by a system of levers.

 

The driving and trailing coupled wheels are fitted with hand brake gear and wooden brake-blocks, but by a system of levers the top of the exhaust pipe can be closed and a valve opens the bottom, thus permitting the pistons to take in air through the exhaust ports, which, acting on the reserve side of the pistons, form a formidable brake. This system of brake power was extensively used on Continental railways sometime ago. There is a combination of lines and handles about the footplate, which are viewed with disfavour by the engine-drivers who have been deputed to see the engines erected, and afterwards run them. They are considered to be well finished and were built at Esslingen.

 

By April word had reached Calcutta that all was not well with the experiments

 

The Abt Railway System. — A Quetta telegram says: — During the past week there has been a trial of the Abt system on the two miles of line which have been completed. The system did not stand the tests satisfactorily; and it is not unlikely that the idea of having the Abt system from Mach to the Katal will be entirely given up. The Abt system does not work well on curves, and the engines can only climb hills provided that their heads are kept straight. Perhaps the engines and materials collected at Hirok will be utilized at the Kojak.

 

By the end of May, it had all ended in ignominy

 

The Abt System for the Bolan. — We glean that the experiments recently made on the Bolan Ghat with the Abt system proving it to be practically a failure cannot be considered as conclusive. For purpose of experiment a length of 7 miles of Abt rack road and two Abt engines were got out from Germany at a cost of over four lakhs of rupees (a lakh is a unit equal to 100,000; the customary exchange rate in the late 19th century was 15 rupees to the pound); the late Member for Public Works being determined to thoroughly test the system. This road was to have been laid on a gradient of 1 in 25 and would have more than sufficed for the length of the Bolan Ghat above Hirok, now being converted from metre to broad gauge. Sir Theodore Hope having left India, other counsels seem to have prevailed, and but one mile of Abt rack rail was laid down to experiment on. This is considered an inadequate length for trial of a locomotive engine. It is no test of steaming capabilities: and as the Abt engine boiler has to supply two pairs of cylinders, such a test is absolutely necessary. We hear rumours that Mr. Graff, the Austrian Engineer engaged by Colonel Wallace to lay this experimental line, has resigned, the management of these experiments having been so unpractical.

 

They were converted to conventional locos and ended up as shunters. A photo of one can be seen here

 

Great picture of the ex-Abt. system loco in 1890 - I am tempted to interpret that lining as LNWR! 

 

A fascinating read.  Thank you again.

 

It seems it took the NWR several goes at finding suitable motive power for the Bolan Pas line.  After the Abt, according to Hughes, they had a pair of Neilson 0-6-0s of 1888 with small wheels and backed onto a shared tender. 

 

Next, and more satisfactory, seem to have been 0-8-0ST, which also appear to have been Neilson products of 1888, and of which I have no picture, but which Hughes says were similar to the Ghat engines of the GIPR.

 

These were followed in 1896 by Neilson 2-8-2Ts (TA Class), for which, again, I have no picture.

 

Finally, according to Hughes in 1900, came the 'Anglo-American' TAA Class 2-8-2Ts, built by the Pittsburgh Locomotive Works, but using some British parts (picture below).

[nomisd]

Volume 4 of Indian Engineering has a very interesting description of a group of Engineers on a tour up to the new railway in the Chapper (or Chupper as it is spelt in the report - the spelling of place names, the bane of researching British India) Rift.

 

The remnant of the Conference had a fairly good time on the Brake trials. The meals in the mess carriage were for the most part pleasant re-unions, and the ice only failed once.Down-country Delegates didn't seem quite satisfied that several hundreds of miles of howling wastes are flanked by rich tracts of irrigated land, and more than one energetic Engineer seemed to itch for the chance of combining Railway works with irrigation schemes that should make the desert smile. The new Chenab Bridge, of which Mr. F. J E. Spring, a well-known Calcutta Engineer, is in Executive charge, was reported to have made a very good start, but the site was not visited by the Conference train, as it was timed both ways to pass Mooltan in the dark.

 

At Sukker a happy day was spent visiting Mr.Diernecki's workshops, and the magnificent Sukker cantilever bridge. This work is making rapid strides under the skilful care of Mr. Robertson and his able assistant Mr Hecquet, and if all goes well, by next year's high floods the very ingenious ferry arrangements for taking carriages and wagons across the Indus will be a thing of the past. When the river channels shift about, such ferries have their dark days, but that they can be made wonderfully efficient in favorable cases is shewn by the fact stated that a few days ago 397 vehicles crossed the Indus during the then 15 hours of daylight. Electric light arrangements are fitted up, but at the rate of progress quoted, they could never be required for ordinary traffic.

 

There is a beautiful view from the top of the bridge towers, some 200 feet above water-level, and doubly interesting to Engineers who then, saw the details of Mr. Robertson's ingenious and effective hoisting machinery. Later in the day the Delegates viewed from the deck of a steamer kindly placed at their disposal, the operation of hoisting a girder web some 80 odd feet tons, weighing fifteen tons. In the course of an hour this huge mass was hoisted, hauled over and landed in its final position where it slopes downwards from a height of 200 feet to perhaps one of 150, with the most exact precision, apparently under the guidance of a few hand signals given from his boat by Mr. Hecquet and with far less noise than it takes to manoeuvre a penny steam boat.

 

Those who visited the Loco Shops, saw and heard a good deal in connection with the long run system, by which mail engines run through between Sukker and Kurrachee, some 320 miles, changing drivers, of course, along the route. Next day, the ascent of the Harnai Ghat, General Browne's Chef d’ouvre was performed by most of the party in an open truck fitted with garden seats like the new-fashionad London 'busses and propelled in advance of the leading engine. The train of 17 vehicles had also a push engine behind. This delightfully novel way of travelling afforded a perfect view all round, free from dust and smuts, and indeed of every discomfort except the heat, which, however, was by no means overpowering. The view, though fine, was terribly dead and sterile and thoroughly justified Lord Lytton's witty epithet of a camel-colored (yes thats the spelling - maybe the 'Muricans aren't so wrong?) country.

 

Above Harnai the grades get steeper and the curves sharper, and the combination of 1 in 43 with curves of, it is said, some 450 feet radius might well make the powerful engines pant stertorously (reading Victorian literature can sometimes be like a game of Call My Bluff). One very quaint effect is produced by each bridge having one or more large central spans, while the end spans are small. The large spans have broad iron floors that only require paving to fit them for the use of road vehicles, artillery, &c, while the small spans have no floor at all and are no wider than the rails and sleepers. The appearance of a fine broad bridge thus cut off entirely from the land is exceedingly peculiar and unsatisfying.

 

Above Sharigh, while we came upon an engine changing station in the wilderness, the hills on the left hand contain a seam of coal tilted up at an angle of some 40 degrees. The fuel is clean to the touch, but when burnt has an abominably foul odor, and the lot of any passengers stuck in a tunnel behind any engine that burns the Khosht coal is not likely to be a happy one.

 

Clinging to the left side of the valley, we pass three mighty rifts that intersect an otherwise smoothly rounded hill, the Chupper Mountain on our right. So clinging and even clinging we ascend close to the head of the valley and then double hack in a still climbing horse-shoe curve, and instead of skirting the rounded hill in an open cutting, we run into a tunnel so thickly roofed with rock on our right side, that at each of the numerous oblique oeil de boeuf one is thankful that the vigorous blast from the engine's funnel doesn't blow the tunnel's flimsy roof up to fall again upon the train.

 

Emerging from this Karez tunnel, which the punster of the party insists on calling Karezy, we find our course still returning on, and climbing the far side of the valley, till it crosses the first rift on the Louise Margaret Bridge, a work of no great height as to the piers, for these stand on rocks far, far above the bed of the narrow gap under one of the spans. Like Columbus's egg trick (no, I didn't know what this referred to), it is rather a disappointing performance, after it is done, but you may be sure the erection was no easy matter in such a place and such a climate before the Railway got there.

 

Beyond the Bridge another Karez tunnel set deeper in the solid rock turns us round at right angles and brings us into daylight on the right scarf of the great rift, and certainly a more uncanny place to take either road or Railway through cannot well be imagined. On your right, terrific Cliffs jut out half over the line in places, while the slope of debris on your left run down to incredible depths. Here and there odd stones, up to a ton or two in weight, lie on the side of the formation and seem to indicate the sort of hail-storm to which the locality is liable ; and further on the vertical wall of rock takes one horizontal step forward and entirely bars the further open air path.

 

To make an effective model of this interesting place, take the slab of paving stone in front of your door, and with it your nice white stone door step, and turn both these objects as they stand up on edge, so that the pavement stands on your right and the rise of the step in front of you. Pile a mound of sand half way up against the paving stone and form a line of Railway along its summit that enters the rise of the step by a tunnel. Let the half of the door step and of the paving slab that stands above the Railway be, say, 400 feet high, and the width, i.e., the rise of the step be, say, 30 or 40 feet. On this scale the outer wall of this tunnel, the piece of rock that is between the Railway and Eternity, doesn't look at all too strong for its work, especially when you espy far overhead a crevice running down between the door step and the pavement for, say, 200 feet or so from the top.

 

Viewed from the open car, these imposing cliffs and jumbles of mountains, cracked and tossed about, are liable to make the conceit, if there be any, out of Engineers at large. The Harnai Railway, and indeed all the Railway works inIndia, are but very temporary scratches after all. There is, however, some balm in the Indian Gilead, for those of the party who have lately explored America via Japan, and took various routes across the great Western Continent, were of the unanimous opinion that there is never a canon in all the Rockies that can hold a candle to the terrific grandeur of the great Chupper Rift.

 

After the Chupper the glories of Mudgorge and its embankment, a good 100 feet high, that looks as if a shower of rain might sweep it all away, fall on yon, and soon after that, you cross the summit, the two engines get both in front, the gondola car goes behind and the drivers alone have the pleasure of noting the dangerous entrance to Fuller's Camp Station, which they have happily nick-named Fool's Camp.

 

Man, it has been observed, is prone at times to play fantastic tricks; and the Engineer of the comparatively easy descent upon Bostan, seems at a first glance to have been at that game when he made his corkscrew spiral. One naturally supposes such a thing devised to circumvent, and at the same time climb a more or less circular hill; but making a mile of line to avoid embanking .across a hollow, may be the right way to treat the case, but it has a very disappointing effect on the spectators. 

 

Other than this, the volume is full of articles and letters decrying or not the achievements of the Sind Pishin line. One interesting thing is a copy, in two editions in August, of the opening inspection report for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - for those interested in such things, various types of electronic versions of the journal can be found here. And finally, the "people write novels about this sort of thing" entry (I would love to know the story behind this) - 

 

Mr. A. W. Crawford, Supervisor, P. W. D. — Sometime ago this man was imprisoned on an alleged offence of getting up a conspiracy to murder his Executive Engineer at Shwebo in Upper Burma. We are glad to learn that Mr. Crawford has been exonerated by being reinstated in his appointment.

[Mad Carew Too]

I suspect I have sinned.  I have been away and on my return I found that I could not find a record for password for RMWeb, or for the email account to which the reset is sent, and I found that my verification email address for that email account had been wrongly entered.

 

So, I have had to register again in order to get back here.  Now that I am no longer muzzled I am sure some kindly Mod can sort out the tangle in due course!

[autocoach]

Welcome back.  Let the durbar begin....

[Mad Carew Too]

Well, to be quite frank, all I have achieved in the meantime is once more to become a victim of two minds.

 

I like modelling in 4mm.  Not that I have tried it since the days Yore, but I also have dabbled with 1/76and 1/72 wargames.  I just feel comfortable with the scale.

 

I had concluded that the best gauge/scale combination was 3mm using 16.5mm gauge track.  15mm wargames figures should be compatible.  The more I looked at this, though, the more it seemed to me that shrinking 4mm scale locos to represent small Victorian engines in 3mm scale wasn't realistic.

 

Having looked at what Edwardian is doing, launching straight into building track for his first layout, can I do less?  I would have to cut longer PCB sleepers, and I would have to make a couple of 22mm gauges.  Point-work will always be a challenge, but one step at a time.  I am wondering if 4mm scale 22mm gauge might be easier after all.

 

That leaves locomotives.  Unless the motorised chassis is to be entirely scratch-built, I would have to under-take a re-gauging that would make conversion to EM look like a walk in the park?  But, wheel sizes, wheel centres and the overall dimensions of the models themselves in 4mm scale will be a better match  than they would be if I were trying to make them represent 3mm scale.  Some sort of 2mm rod cut to length for axles would seem to be the answer. 

 

Oh, and 4mm scale means I need a bigger room.  Oh well.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Mad Carew Too

[Echo]

There are plenty of chassis kits on the market for 4mm scale - all you have to do is widen them to suit the new gauge with wider spacers. Personally, I think the superstructures are likely to be the most difficult bit, though even here you may be able to adapt RTR loco bodies and kits. Just choose your prototypes very carefully. Some were very similar to UK locos..

[Mad Carew Too]

Right-Ho. 

 

Indian Broad gauge locomotives. 

 

On its mainlines, e.g. Karachi-Lahore, the NWR ran some lovely 'flyers', 2-4-0 'Mail' Engines from the 1890s, 4-4-0 M Class from 1902 and the Standard Passenger 4-4-0s from 1904.  For traffic across the Indus and into the debatable lands of the North West Frontier, I suspect that the abundant small-wheel types would predominate, like the well-known L class 4-6-0s and H class 4-4-0s.

 

Below I list of some of the locomotives that I tentatively suggest might reasonably be included on a fictitious NWF-themed layout.  As you can see, I have picked types for which I have at least a photograph and the coupled wheels dimensions, but often I have little else.

 

As these tend to be UK manufactured (sometimes a type would be built by more than one UK builder), I wonder if GAs might still exist in UK archives?  Any help or suggestions in obtaining drawings would be must welcome.

 

Passenger & Mixed Traffic Classes

NWR KS Class 0-4-2 (ex SPD^[1], 1869)    5’6” Drivers                                        Nock (1851-1895) pl.41, Hughes p75, Photos.

NWR 2-4-0 (ex SPD) (Dubs, 1884)                5’ Drivers                                            Photo of No.11.  Hughes p75

NWR L Class 4-6-0 (Neilson/VF, 1880s)       4’2” Drivers                                       Nock (1851-1895) pl.124. Photo of 448. Hughes p76

NWR HL Class 4-6-0 (Dubs, 1901)                4’3” Drivers                                        Hughes pp76-7

NWR HB Class 4-4-0 (Neilson, 1901)           5’6” Drivers                                        Hughes pp76-7

 

Goods Classes

NWR KR Class 0-6-0 (Vulcan, 1896)            4’7” Drivers at 7’3” centres            Vulcan works photo.

 

Bolan Pass Banking Engines

NWR Bolan Pass 2-8-2T (Pitts., 1900)        4’3” Drivers                                        Nock (1895-1905) pl.50 

                                                                         3’1” Leading & Trailing                  

‘Victoria’

BB&CIR A Class 2-4-0T (RS, 1881)               5’ Drivers                                             Photo. ‘Palej’.  Hughes p24

[1] ‘Eagle’

[nomisd]

Whilst not really helping with the question in hand (the locos to use), I thought that subscribers to this thread may be interested in these films. They were taken by PSA Berridge (the author of Couplings to the Khyber) during his time working for NWR, from the mid 1930s to the late 1940s. They are also a bit outside the timescale but there are some fine things over the six films, that you don't get to see everyday.

[Mad Carew Too]

I have continued my researches, fitfully it must be admitted, and came across a piece on the 1959 film, North West Frontier, which must bear the ultimate blame for this topic!

 

There is, I warn you, a certain amount of politically correct breast-beating to endure - and I regard myself as a liberal, a pluralist and a citizen of the world as a say this - because the fact remains that the warlike and untamed tribesmen from either side of the North West Frontier who plagued the Raj were muslim and, as the site acknowledges, the film was made only a few years after Partition, so not to show the massacre would seem like glossing over unpalatable reality, though he is correct to point out that both sides did such things at the time. 

 

Anyway, it is interesting in identifying a few more of the Indian locations

 

Here is the link: http://www.willylogan.com/?tag=pakistan

[Mad Carew Too]

My thoughts are tending to a spin off project just to get started while I continue to wrestle with insufficient information and skills to attempt Indian Broad Gauge at the turn of the Century.

 

So, a very modest station (loop and a siding or 2) and just one or 2 locos and a little bit of stock, in 4mm scale, but using 12mm gauge track to represent (a little under scale) metre gauge.

 

The origin of metre gauge is interesting.  When narrower gauge  feeder lines were being proposed for the Indian Broad Gauge system in the 1870s, there was draft legislation to adopt the metric system for India, so, meter gauge was adopted, but, of course, India retained the Imperial system.  Apart from the gauge, all other standards were in Imperial, giving us a prototype precedent for the strange combination that is 4mm to 1 foot! 

 

This will allow me to use certain off the shelf elements, including track, wheel sets for stock, NG centre couplings and, perhaps, some plastic kits as a basis for stock conversions.  This is a gentler start than hand-built track to 22mm gauge and building all the stock without so much as a axle available!

 

The link to the North West Frontier theme, is, of course, the metre gauge railways of Rajasthan used in the film.

 

There is one major difficulty.  I would have to scratch-build outside frame locomotives to 12mm gauge. 

 

Allan Gibson supply wheels to the correct diameter, and they supply outside cranks.  I suppose I could substitute the axles supplied with rod to the same diameter. 

 

However, as a novice, any help or suggestions would be most welcome.

[ed7]

I have been thinking of an Indian-based model railway (just thinking - no more than that so far!).   For scale my inclination is 4 mm due to availability of figures, although 3 mm fits the gauges better (16.5 mm = 5'6", 9 mm = metre approx, 6.5 mm = 2'6" approx).    S scale (1:64) is another possibility - so 16.5 mm is approx metre gauge, and 12 mm is narrow gauge- and could 1.72 figures be used?  

 

For 4 mm, I am thinking of 9 mm narrow gauge.   There were some of these lines on the northwest frontier.   Have a look at Red Box model soldiers in 1:72 - both British colonial and Afghan warriors.   There are a couple of possibilities for outside frame chassis  - Rocco HOe 0-6-0 and Graham Farish 08 class diesel shunter with cylinders and motion available from RT models, or for smaller 0-4-0, Minitrains F&C.   I recommend joining the 009 Society where a number of members have built models of colonial lines. Charlie Insley exhibited his Fort Whiting at Warley this year.  

 

Good luck,    

 

Edward