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Two interesting narrow gauge railways were within easy reach of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal:
The Gwalior Light Railway (119 kms from Agra) was a long two foot gauge system in Scindia State, all steam worked in the 1970s.
Not far away at Dholpur (53 kms from Agra) was a two foot six gauge steam railway. Both had healthy freight traffic as well as passenger services.
24 Inches Apart - Gwalior Light Railway
First section of the Gwalior Light Railways was constructed from 1895 onwards as 24'' gauge. The 1931 'Railway Year Book' shows it extended to 253 miles, all 24'' - or two foot - gauge. It had 31 locos, 105 coaches and 339 goods vehicles, a substantial railway. All locos at that time came from Kerr, Stuart and its successor W G Bagnall.
The enterprise was operated by the Gwalior Durbar and the Proprietor is shown as 'H H the Maharaja Scindia Alljah Bahadur of Gwalior' In those days it was classified as a 'Native State Railway' as opposed to those operated by the then Government of India or private companies.
In the 1970s it was part of the nationalised Central Railway zone. Two lines were in use from Gwalior, north-east to Bhind and north-west to Sheopur Kalan; a third line had been closed. It was still steam worked with around 25 locos which dated from 1914 to1959.
There were five classes of 2-8-2, NH/1, NH/2 and NH/3 were British, four NH/4 type came from Baldwin Loco Works in 1948 and the NH/5 class were four from Nippon Sharyo, Japan, basically copies of the Baldwins. NM class 4-6-2s were by Bagnalls of Stafford and ND class 4-6-4 were from Kerr, Stuart.
I paid a fleeting visit to Gwalior in March 1974 and a longer one in October 1976.
1974 visit
Two NH/4 2-8-2s have arrived at the station in March 1974, with a lot of passenger activity on the platform between the trains. One was on the 6.45am from Bhind, the other on the 6.10am from Sabalgarh.
A food vendor catering for train passengers, a man and his bicycle and a steam loco, one of the NH/4 2- 8-2s going to shed. There were four NH/4 loco which came from Baldwin Locomotive Works, USA in 1948.
One of the six NM Pacifics with attendant crew will head the 2.15pm train to Bhind. A stationary boiler is on the right.
Yard pilot was a Kerr, Stuart 2-8-2 by the water tower at Gwalior with a glimpse of a broad gauge loco, a WG 2-8-2, on the right.
1976 visit
View of the loco shed at Gwalior. Five were in steam when I visited in early October 1976. Two more were dead, three under repair and one - NH/1 748 - dumped.
Loco on the left is NH/3 755, the one on the right is NH/5 812. The middle one may be ND 747, not sure.
753 in the shed area was a Kerr, Stuart NH/3 2-8-2 looking in good order and ready to roll.
By way of contrast is this NH/4 Baldwin 2-8-2 759.
Gwalior narrow gauge station with NH/5 class 2-8-2 811, built in 1959, waiting departure for Bhind on train no. 659. Shunting loco is 745, one of the three ND class 4-6-4s.
Smartly maintained 811 makes plenty of black smoke as it leaves for Bhind. In 1976 it was still only seventeen years old!
745 is a class ND 4-6-4, a rare wheel arrangement on two foot gauge. It was station pilot at Gwalior during my visit.
NM Pacific 763 looks well tended by the shed staff and left shed to work train 663 to Sabalgarh, which is on the line to Sheopur Kalan.
Kerr, Stuart NH/3 754 at Bamourgaon managed to steam despite the smokebox seemingly sealed with mud - or something worse....Right: 754 arrives at Gwalior on its freight from Bamourgaon .
An important source of freight traffic was the cement factory at Bamourgaon on the line to Sheopur Kalan. NH/2 751 is seen at Bamourgaon waiting to go to a place called Samy where its empty wagons would be filled with limestone and brought to the cement works. Below left NH/3 754 waits to take a train from the works to Gwalior. Both freights were waiting for passenger train 664 Sabalgarh - Gwalior before continuing their respective journeys.
Below: 751 takes water while waiting for train 664's arrival.
Train 664 came in from Sabalgarh over an hour late with NH/5 812, but there were plenty of passengers - some aboard and some clinging on the outside. Loco 754 lurks behind the yellow station nameboard.
After departing Bamourgaon, 812 with train 664 heads for Gwalior alongside National Highway 3 from Agra to Bombay. This section was very much in the countryside with not a motor vehicle in sight when these pictures were taken.
Footnotes:
Diesel locos eventually took over from steam but it was not until 2020 that all the system was converted to broad gauge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwalior_Light_Railway has more details of the railway including a loco list.
Two NM class 4-6-2s have been brought back to the UK for display at the Vale of Rheidol Railway Museum.
A newspaper article in 2021 states that loco 812 is rusting away at Bengaluru’s Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park - there are plans to do some restoration on it.
30 Inches Apart - Dholpur
The 30 inch railway lines at Dholpur were sanctioned by the then Maharaja Ram Singh of Dholpur State and formally opened in February 1908. The main line went to Tantpur with a branch from Mohari Junction to Sirmuttra, a total of 72kms. There was stone traffic from large quarries in the area.
I passed by here on a train in March 1974 and glimpsed a 2-8-4T on the 4.40am from Sirmuttra and another on the 10.35am departure for Tantpur.
My visit in October 1976 was rather brief, but I saw six of the eight steam locos. The other two were out on trains which I didn't see.
In 1974 there was also a broad gauge pilot engine, an XA/1 4-6-2 - sadly it was no longer around in October 1976.
At the loco shed were ZA/5 2-8-4T 809, one of two built by Hunslets of Leeds in 1959 and ZA/4 2-8-4T 737, a Hunslet of 1951. Behind in the stone built older part of the depot were three more locos, apparently under or awaiting heavy repair - these were ZA/3 2-8-4T 735 a Kerr, Stuart of 1921 and two of the Hanomag class D/1 4-8-0 tender locos, 707 and 708. Unfortunately it was too dark in there to get a picture.
ZA/5 810 was busy making up a train, presumably bound for the stone quarries.
The two locos I didn't see were D/1 4-8-0 709 which had gone out on early morning train 671, while ZA/4 2-8-4T 736 was coming in on train 674.
The system, subsequently dieselised, was due to be converted to broad gauge around 2010, but carried on until December 2022 when it was closed for conversion.
Footnote:
More information about the Dholpur lines can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dholpur%E2%80%93Sarmathura_Railway
It was wonderful to have the opportunity to visit these two characterful narrow gauge systems, both appearing in good order and busy, plus having new steam locos as late as 1959.
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