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E R Calthrop 1 Barsi Light Railway
Getting to the Barsi Light Railway from Bombay involved an overnight journey with my train, 9 Down Madras Mail, leaving the impressive Victoria Terminus at 22.00. Having made a reservation, I soon found my name on the board of the appropriate carriage as I walked along the platform and climbed on - everything was tickety boo.
Over the mountains, or ghats, the line to Pune (Poona) was electrified, quite an achievement when carried out in the late 1920s. From Pune the train was diesel hauled to Kurduvadi Junction (originally named Barsi Road Junction), where the 30'' - or 2'6'' - gauge Barsi trains were found. I arrived at Kurduvadi at 06.15 in bright early morning sun.
The Barsi Light Railway was a narrow gauge system still very much in business in 1976 – seeing busy services with well maintained locos and stock of substantial size for the gauge. A company to construct the railway was formed in London by E R Calthrop whose ideas provided the inspiration and who became the railway's Consulting Engineer. It has been said that this railway revolutionised the narrow gauge in India showing it was possible to have much larger and faster trains than hitherto. Two lines opened in 1897- one went roughly east to Barsi Town, 21 and a half miles, before extension in 1911 to Latur, 64 miles from Barsi Town. The other went south then west for 30 miles to Pandharpur, being extended a further 87 miles to Miraj in 1927. The company remained in British ownership until the start of 1954.
624 shunting at Kurduvadi. It is a class Bs 2-8-2 built in 1915 by the North British Loco Co for the Bengal - Nagpur Railway, so not native to the Barsi Light Railway.
Another of the type, 620, was on shed. Note broad gauge wagons alongside the narrow gauge tracks.
In the early morning sun, Barsi Light Railway class F 2-8-2 720 and class G 4-6-4 730 are being prepared for their day's duties. Nasmyth Wilson and Hunslet Engine Co provided thirteen class F between 1926 and 1949. There were nine class G locos - seven came from Nasmyth Wilson in 1928 and 1930 with two from Bagnall in 1939. Both classes had the same size boilers, but the F had driving wheels of 34'' diameter whilst the G 's were 52''. They all had bogie tenders. In 1954 the Hunslet Engine Co, Leeds, made a batch of new boilers for the class G locos
The loco seen behind the wagon on the right in the adjacent picture is class B/1 767 constructed by North British in 1917 for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Here is a closer view of 767, which was stored.
F 716 at Kurduvadi station waiting to depart on train 7KM going to Miraj. At Miraj the Barsi connected with the broad gauge line from Pune to Bangalore.
716 leaves on its journey to Miraj with plenty of passengers. Unfortunately I didn't have time to ride on a Barsi train - this one took around eight and a half hours to get to Miraj.
Soon after 716 left, it was time for class G 729 to depart with train 4KL, in the opposite direction, to Latur, journey time being around seven hours.
F 713 coasts into Kurduvadi on the morning 'rush hour' train 9LK from Latur with plenty of riders, some literally hanging on.
Some of the Kurduvadi station staff pose for a picture.
Everyone was very friendly including the security man!
720 gets plenty of attention on shed as it is made ready to depart for its duty. After it leaves, 730 moves off shed to go to the station for its train.
G 728 arrives on train 10PK from Pandharpur on the Miraj route overlooked by a semaphore signal.
F 722 rests at the loco shed after bringing in a mixed train at 06.45 from the Miraj line.
Everybody likes having their picture taken. 624 has the railway identity - South Central - shown as 'S C' on the tender, but in Hindi script on the other side as seen in an earlier photo.
Low sun glints off 624 sitting at the station while a broad gauge WG 2-8-2 does its best to blot out the light.
The system had 25 locos at the time of my visit and I saw 18 - 10 in steam - during my seven hours at Kurduvadi.
I got a favourable impression of the Barsi - it was tidy and working well, was still very busy doing the job it was built to do. And all steam!
On my return trip from Kurduvadi to Pune, I caught a glimpse of the 30'' gauge Daund - Baramati line. This was a relatively short branch with three class ZE 2-8-2s being sufficient to work trains, I saw them in passing and one was in steam.
Footnotes:
https://www.irfca.org/steam/history-ng1.html has a brief history of narrow gauge railways in India.
The narrow gauge Barsi railway no longer exists, being replaced, sometimes on a different alignment, by broad gauge lines fully open by 2008.
Some locos have been preserved in various places. Ex-Barsi 4-8-4T 711 - removed for preservation before my 1976 visit - is plinthed outside Railway HQ in Secunderabad.
https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Barsi_Light_Railway has a history of the Barsi Light Railway
A narrow gauge loco, class ZD 2-8-2 552 is preserved at Baramati station. The branch from Daund is now broad gauge and part of the Pune suburban system.
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