Hill Railways of the Indian Subcontinent E-Book

Richard Wallace

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

This book describes seven branch lines which climbed into the mountain ranges that span the length and breadth of the countries of India and Pakistan. Some - like the Darjeeling Himalayan - are well known, but others - like the Zhob Valley, Khyber Pass and Kangra Valley lines - are less so. Several of these railways were also the last bastions of steam operation in the sub-continent. Unsurprisingly, as hill railways, most of them reached remarkable heights, many using ingenious feats of engineering to assist their climb into seemingly impenetrable terrain. These lines served diverse locations, each with its own characteristics, from the hostile territories of the North-West Frontier, along the spectacular foothills of the Himalayas, skirting the Western Ghats of the Deccan down to the gentle rolling landscape of the Nilgiris, or Blue Hills, of South India. The book gives the histories of the seven hill railways including summaries of their operations and routes. Maps and gradient charts for all seven railway lines are given as well as listings of the locomotives operating the hill railways.

Leseprobe

HILL RAILWAYSOF THE INDIANSUBCONTINENT

A stunning scene on the Zhob Valley Railway near Khanai with the backdrop of the foreboding Sulaiman mountain range in 1984. The sunset glints on the mixed train in charge of two G Class 2-8-2s. robert kingsford-smith

In January 2006 HG/S 2-8-0 No. 2277 makes an impressive entry to the first reverse at Medanak on the Khyber Pass line with No. 2306 at the rear banking the train.

HILL RAILWAYSOF THE INDIANSUBCONTINENT

RICHARD WALLACE

First published in 2021 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

[email protected]

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2021

© Richard Wallace 2021

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 809 2

Front cover – A young bride travelling on the Nilgiri line looks back as X Class 0-8-2T No. 37393 crosses Kallar viaduct in January 2003.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1:The Zhob Valley RailwayChapter 2:The Khyber Pass RailwayChapter 3:The Kangra Valley RailwayChapter 4:The Kalka–Shimla RailwayChapter 5:The Darjeeling Himalayan RailwayChapter 6:The Matheran Light RailwayChapter 7:The Nilgiri Mountain RailwayPostscriptAppendix IWorking Arrangements for Indian Rail Companies Operating Hill Railways (March 1937)Appendix IILocomotives Operated on the Hill Railways of the Indian Subcontinent

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgements

This book records the histories of seven hill railways operating across what was once British India, today India and Pakistan. While lines such as the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway have been well documented, many of the others have not. My work has been assisted through help from a number of groups and individuals and to them I am indebted. These include members of the Pakistan Railways Yahoo Group with special thanks to Ajai Banerji, Malcolm Peakman and Owais Mughal, the Indian Railways Fan Club (IRFCA) and Michael Smith and David Evans of the Bournemouth Railway Club Trust, who provided details of the logs written by the renowned railway photographer and Indian Railway engineer W.H.C. Kelland CBE as well as a selection of his photographs. Other individuals who provided important information include Roy Laverick, Andrew Smith, whose log of his trip on the Zhob Valley was invaluable, and Simon Darvill of the Industrial Railway Society, who provided historical information on both the Zhob Valley’s mining activities and the system of cableways at Shanan on the Kangra Valley line; Rakesh Kumar of Barot provided further information regarding the latter.

The Darjeeling Himalayan is without doubt the most iconic of the hill railways in the Indian subcontinent. The oldest B Class on the line, No, 779 dating from 1892, brings a tourist ‘Joy Train’ around Batasia loop in November 2000.

Photographs are individually credited where appropriate; all others were either taken by myself or from my collection. However, special mention must be made of two members of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society, David Churchill and David Charlesworth, who not only provided photographs but also much historical background information regarding them.

Lastly, thanks to my wife, Anne, who has, once again, put up with my long hours in isolation over a few years whilst I put this book together.

Richard Wallace MA FCILTKenilworth, March 2020

The pretty little station of Coonor on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway nestles in the hillside, belying the busy nature of the town. Here, in January 2003, it is framed between two lower quadrant signals as X Class No. 37393 shunts into the depot.

Introduction

The hill railways that operated in the Indian subcontinent have a special place in the hearts and minds of many people, not only those from India and the United Kingdom, with which they have a heritage connection now going back for over a hundred years, but also for others from across the world who have been lucky enough to ride on their rails. The purpose of these lines was to enable faster, easier travel up the mountains rather than having to undertake the arduous journey up steep and dusty tracks by bullock cart, palanquin or rickshaw. They transformed lives: journeys that previously occupied two or three days took only hours after the railways had been built. They transported people from the searing heat of the Indian plains to the cooler, calmer climes of the hills. Their role eventually evolved to be primarily for leisure but trade was their initial driving force, while some had a strategic military role or contributed to the governance of this massive nation at a critical period in its history.

Establishment of Indian hill stations began in the early part of the nineteenth century. The interest of the British in India increased over time, first with the East India Company and then, after 1857 and the First War of Indian Independence, or ‘Mutiny’, through direct governance, which saw an expansion of the British presence in India. Many of the British, used to the chilly, damp climate of England, could not cope with remaining on the plains during the summer and sought to escape into the cooler foothills of the many mountain ranges on the subcontinent. Soon settlements grew up, and when wives and families followed their husbands out to India, many of them preferred to remain in these extremely pleasant surroundings, leaving their husbands to endure the heat, hustle and bustle of the big cities, which contrasted vividly with the calm of the hills. Thus the hill stations became established; they developed throughout India although only a few were served directly by rail, and it is these lines that are the subject of this book.

The term ‘hill station’ is perhaps a misnomer; many of them were situated in the foothills of massive mountain ranges, at heights way above any ‘hill’! To reach these heights, many railway companies employed ingenious feats of engineering with numerous tunnels and bridges, while others resorted to somewhat idiosyncratic means of climbing the hills, such as loops and reverses.

Epitomizing the Indian hill station is Shimla, its buildings cascading down the hillside and crowned by the very English church that overlooks the Mall, the gathering place for walks, meetings and gossip.

Many buildings in Ootacamund reflect its earlier days as an escape for the British from the plains. Regency Villas, now a small hotel in the grounds of Fernhill Palace, could have been transplanted from Edwardian Sussex or Surrey.

Seven lines are described in this book. Two, in what is now present-day Pakistan, have closed; these are the Zhob Valley Railway and the Khyber Pass Railway. The remaining five are in post-Partition India: the Kangra Valley Railway, the Kalka– Shimla Railway, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the Matheran Light Railway and the Nilgiri Mountain Railway. While the selection is the subjective choice of the author, certainly the last four listed, all in present-day India, are accepted as genuine hill railways; they all serve popular hill stations, although the Matheran line does not reach the dizzy heights of the other three, which climb to around 7,000ft (2,134m) or more. The Matheran achieves only just over a third of that height. The other Indian hill line, the Kangra Valley Railway, while not directly serving a hill station, runs close to that of Dharamshala, and the line’s Kangra station is the closest jumping-off point on a railway for that part of the hills. The line also ascends to a height of around 4,000ft (1,219m), so is not exactly a lowland railway.

Frontier enginemen! The author, under the tutelage of driver Ghulam Farid of Peshawar Shed (also pictured), has just brought HG/S No. 2277 up to Shahgai in January 2006.

The inclusion of the two Pakistan lines may seem contentious but not when it is realized that the Zhob Valley Railway reached similar altitudes to the highest Indian lines, while the Khyber Pass Railway used reverses to reach nearly 3,500ft (1,067m), no mean feat for a broad-gauge line; most railways of this gauge were confined to the level of the plains. The Indian broad gauge was not the typical choice of gauge for a line that had to climb up through narrow valleys into high mountain ranges. Most other such lines were, of necessity, built to narrower gauges in order to negotiate the steep gradients and sharp curvature necessary to circumnavigate the mountainous foothills. The Khyber Pass Railway was, however, a line of strategic military importance, possibly the most important in British India at the time, situated as it was on the war-torn border with Afghanistan. There was a need to avoid delays of transhipment of military personnel and equipment so continuity of gauge at Peshawar with the main line coming up from Lahore and Delhi was essential.

There were also other exceptions, however, where the broad gauge ascended to similar heights as some hill lines. Two broad-gauge lines crossing the Western Ghats from Bombay (present-day Mumbai) built by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) originally featured reversing stations to ease the climb up the Ghats, although they only attained heights of 1,918ft (585m) at Thul Ghat and 2,027ft (618m) at Bhor Ghat. Both were busy main lines and were electrified in the 1920s, their reversing stations replaced by new alignments.

Three other broad-gauge lines in pre-Partition India rose to even greater heights, all operated by the North Western Railway (NWR), which also operated the Khyber Pass Railway. Two were built to access Quetta from the main line between Karachi and Lahore at Rohri and dividing at Sibi. The Bolan Pass route, with an intermediate metregauge section, was built on a temporary basis and completed around 1886–7. It was eventually opened as a through broad-gauge line by 1897 but on a different alignment. The short-lived metre-gauge section used some Double Fairlie locomotives, four of which later ended up on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway. The Bolan route reaches 5,900ft (1,798m) at Kolpur.

The alternative line via the Chappar Rift to Quetta, the Sind Pishin State Railway (SPS), was completed earlier, opening on 21 August 1887. This line went even higher, attaining 6,533ft (1,991m) at Kachh Kotal. The SPS was washed out in 1942 and never rebuilt, although part of its western extremity was taken over by the narrow-gauge Zhob Valley line. A further broad-gauge line running from Quetta to Chaman, near the Afghan frontier, attained 6,394ft (1,949m) at Shelabagh, similar to the SPS, which it met at Bostan; there it reversed to then head westwards to Chaman. It was completed on 1 January 1892 but had reached Bostan in 1887.

All of these three lines were operated as mainline routes and so do not really qualify as hill railways in the accepted sense although they all climbed to heights similar to or greater than some of the other lines described in this book.

The successive chapters will take the reader from the notorious war-torn tribal lands of the North-West Frontier, along the southern rim of the Himalayan foothills down the western edge of the Deccan plateau to the cool Nilgiris, or ‘Blue Hills’ of south India. It is a journey of variety both in terms of railways and the country traversed.

Every effort had been made to ensure that the text is factually correct as far as is known and that all pictures included and works referred to are correctly attributed. However, mistakes do occur. Any such omissions or inaccuracies are entirely down to the author and apologies are tendered in advance for any errors so made. So now sit back in a comfortable chair and get ready to be transported into the mountains by the hill railways of the Indian subcontinent!

Indian Railways – Notes and General Explanations

Indian Railway Companies

The Indian railway system comprised many different companies operating widely differing networks in terms of route miles and earnings. The massive NWR organization had a network of over 7,000 miles (11,265km), while the Bengal Nagpur and East India Railway (EIR) operated large networks although only half the size of the NWR. Systems such as the South India Railway (SIR) were much smaller in terms of the broad-gauge lines operated but had extensive metre-gauge networks, and all were classified as Class I railways. There were no fewer than thirteen of these Class I railways operating in what was then British India, excluding Burma (modern Myanmar) and Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), and further explanation of this classification system is set out below.

In the text, reference is often made to the ‘State’; this term is used widely throughout the book as in India, government- or provincially run railways were generally all known as State Railways. However, the situation was more complex than that as there were three different categories in the days of British India: those lines coming under the control of the British government through the Presidencies of Bengal, Bombay or Madras were ‘imperial state railways’; other lines owned by the British-controlled provinces were titled ‘provincial state railways’; lastly, some were owned by the ‘native’ states, which had a degree of autonomy but were ostensibly under the rule of the local maharajah or nizam. All of the lines covered in this book were either running as constituents of government-run companies or operating as private concerns. Therefore any reference to the State means the British government of India in one of its incarnations rather than the local native state.

Apart from the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and the Matheran Light Railway, which worked as independent concerns until the advent of Indian independence, all the remaining hill railways were operated as part of larger concerns, four eventually all becoming part of the NWR, the Shimla line coming briefly under the management of the EIR before transfer to the NWR, and the Nilgiri line becoming the responsibility of the SIR after a number of failed private ventures and a period under the Madras Railway.

Guaranteed Railways and the Indian Classification System

India, from an early stage, wished to encourage companies to build lines across the country, although the government recognized that many were reluctant to invest in a project that could result in a loss on their outlay. It was argued that private railway companies needed an incentive to promote and build railway projects. After some debate, it was eventually agreed that, in most cases, the State would provide land free of charge for the permanent works of the railways. Furthermore, an agreement was finally reached on introducing what was termed a ‘guarantee’ system whereby the State (and before that the East India Company) paid a percentage guarantee on a company’s capital outlay that eventually ended up at a rate of 5 per cent – fairly generous terms. The State soon realized that it would be more cost effective to both construct and operate railways itself and also to take control of the various guaranteed railway companies. Thus it embarked upon both the creation of State railways, which it financed, built and operated, and gradual purchase of the former private concerns (State-guaranteed railways), as was provided for in the contractual agreements. However, this process also saw a number of those private lines at first leased back to their original companies, ensuring continuity of operation.

Eventually all the major lines were fully nationalized; one of those featured in this book, the EIR, was taken over on 1 July 1925 and was involved, briefly, in the operation of the line to Shimla. However, the NWR, which operated many of the hill lines covered later, was fully taken over many years before, in 1886, probably reflecting its strategic location in the northwest. As the State began to take greater control and responsibility for all the major undertakings it was decided to categorize them based on their gross annual earnings. This classification system involved the creation of three categories subdivided as follows:

Class I – gross annual earnings over Rs50 lakhs

Class II – gross annual earnings Rs10–50 lakhs

Class III – gross annual earnings under Rs10 lakhsNote: a lakh equals 100,000 rupees (Rs)

This system was known to be fully introduced by 1925–6. In the introduction to each line, a reference to its categorization is given and also a snapshot of its earnings and profitability (or not, in many cases). As many hill railways were constituent parts of larger companies, the most notable being the NWR, eventually responsible for operating four of the lines described in this book, these were not given a separate classification as they came within the remit of the larger concern. Fortunately Indian government papers split out the earnings of all except one of the seven railways detailed here until at least 1933–4. Thus the snapshot of profit or loss for each line is based on the figures of the mid-1930s. Conversion rates to pounds sterling have been arrived at using rates recorded in the 1930s and also updated to today’s prices.

CHARGEABLE DISTANCE VERSUS ACTUAL DISTANCE

The operation of hill railways – and indeed other lines – today is no longer a profitable business. To ameliorate this, Indian Railways adopted the concept of ‘chargeable distance’. Normally fares are based on a price per kilometre, enhanced for first-class travel or air-conditioned carriages, for example. However, such a standard rate does not reflect the higher operating costs of some lines. Chargeable distance is greater than the actual distance and is commonplace on most Indian hill railways. Thus the Kangra Valley line’s chargeable distance is some 50 per cent greater than its actual distance, while the Kalka–Shimla line is a staggering three times as much for second-class passengers! However, the first-class chargeable enhancement on this line is only twice as much, reflecting the higher fare already paid. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway has its chargeable fares enhanced by just over double compared to the actual distance whilst the Matheran line surpasses them all: while the actual length of that line is 13 miles (21km), the chargeable distance for a trip has now risen to a staggering 78 miles (126km), six times greater than the actual distance. The odd man out is the Darjeeling Himalayan, which used standard tariffs although its Joy Train operation has charged an enhanced rate for many years. The concept is also applied to other Indian lines, but Pakistan Railways did not adopt the idea and retained a standard rate enhanced for first class, sleeper trains and so on.

General Notes

All the lines covered in this book are of single-track configuration with passing loops or sidings, and thus no further detailed reference to this fact is made in the individual chapters unless relevant.

In more recent years, the former names given to major cities and other towns have been changed to reflect their indigenous origins. Thus Bombay has become Mumbai, Calcutta is now Kolkata and Madras is Chennai. In this book, the general convention adopted is to give the earlier British Raj names as these were in use at the time the hill railways were constructed, although reference is made to the current name at the first point of use in each chapter. The exception to this is where reference is made to present-day events, such as the construction of new locomotives at sites in India. Lastly, as well as this, the spelling of a good few place names in India vary – considerably! Often this reflects different language origins and thus the traveller may be confronted with one, two or three spelling variations of the same place. In this book the convention has been to use the spelling as featured in rail timetables, but these are also known to vary over time.

Maps of each line are provided but these are not to an exact scale, and the access links shown to depots are for guidance only and may not be an exact representation of the track layout. Approximate route mileages can be derived from the gradient profiles provided for each line.

Standard conventions have been used for locomotive descriptions and wheel arrangements – so ‘T’ indicates a tank engine with conventional side tanks while ‘ST’ means saddle tank and ‘WT’ well tank. Omission of the descriptor indicates that the locomotive is equipped with a tender. In some cases the abbreviations ‘bg’, ‘mg’ or ‘ng’ are used on maps. These mean broad gauge (5ft 6in/1,676mm), metre gauge (3ft 33/8in) and narrow gauge (either 2ft 6in/762mm or 2ft/610mm), respectively. A general railway network map is provided at the start of the book showing the locations of each of the seven lines in what was termed ‘British India’ during the 1930s.

CHAPTER 1

The Zhob Valley Railway

The narrow-gauge Zhob (Fort Sandeman) line was a later addition to the network of the North Western Railway (NWR) and built largely for military purposes, initially to extract chromite ore needed to satisfy the demands of munitions during the First World War. It was later extended to the remote outpost of Fort Sandeman, in the depths of Baluchistan, to support the garrison there, and eventually became known as the Zhob Valley Railway (ZVR) after the river that rises near Kan Mehtarzai and flows northeastwards, eventually joining the Indus. Fort Sandeman was named after Sir Robert Sandeman, governor-general of the area in the late nineteenth century when it was under British colonial rule. The line became the longest narrow-gauge line in the Indian subcontinent, stretching some 184 miles (296km) in length at its furthest extent, a record that is unlikely to be surpassed.

Fort Sandeman was based around the village settlement originally named Apozai but, at the wish of the Pakistani Prime Minister, renamed Zhob in 1976 after the river. A remote and dangerous area, its history is littered with repeated skirmishes between the British and local warlords, often ending in murder. Small wonder then that western rail enthusiasts rarely visited the line. However, a small number of hardy travellers made the trip before increasing political unrest along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border rendered this impossible without serious risk to life and limb.

An early photograph taken in the 1930s of one of the redoubtable G Class operating the ZVR. No. 73 is at Khanai, heading some chromite empties bound for Hindubagh. Compare the running plate and cylinders with those on the G/S No. 64 pictured later.W.H. KELLAND/BOURNEMOUTH RAILWAY CLUB TRUST

The known summit of the line at Kan Mehtarzai was first recorded as 7,221ft (2,201m) above sea level in timetables of the 1930s and 1940s, which qualified it as the highest station on the NWR, well above the summits of both the NWR’s Kangra Valley and the Kalka–Shimla lines and only just below that of the Darjeeling line’s summit at Ghum of 7,407ft (2,258m), the highest station in the Indian subcontinent. However, a photograph at Kan Mehtarzai from 1984 shows the height displayed at the station as 2,224m, which is around 7,298ft – over 70ft (21m) higher than originally recorded. Andrew Smith, who travelled the line in 1969, notes that the actual summit was not at Kan Mehtarzai station but a short distance west of it where the line crossed the main road and at a slightly higher level. This could explain the later change to 2,224m on the station building, reflecting the actual summit height a little further to the west.

The difference in height from Fort Sandeman to the summit is around 2,750ft (838m) although the overall length means that the average gradient is only around 1:90 on its main line so did not approach the steepness of the other three NWR hill lines, where the ruling gradients varied between 1:25 and 1:33. While the maximum gradient on the ZVR is recorded as 1:40, over the section between Khanai and Hindubagh, that on the longer chromite branch probably approached 1:32, but this climb would be for empties only.

The line was classified as a military railway by the Indian Railway Board due to the strategic importance of the garrison at Fort Sandeman, and its operating statistics came under the umbrella of the NWR so it never had a formal classification. However, statistics were published separately up until 1933–4, which show that the low level of gross earnings would have seen it as a Class III railway. The highest gross annual earnings recorded were in 1929–30 and these were only Rs4.6 lakh, equivalent to £34,590 (£2.2m at 2020 prices). The net figure for the same period showed a significant loss, reflecting the high costs of operating such a long line. The deficit was Rs –10.9 lakh, equating to around –£82,000 (–£5.2m today), a not inconsiderable sum. These figures exclude revenue from transporting the chromite ore and there is no mention of the chromite branch in Indian Railway Board statistical papers. Presumably the strategic military value of the ore meant that these figures were not publicized for security reasons.

History

Chromite ore had been mined in the area first known as Hindubagh at least from 1901, and camel trains were used to transfer the ore southwards to the nearest railhead at Khanai on the Sind Pishin State Railway (SPS), which had opened in 1887. This was the first through line to connect Baluchistan’s principal town of Quetta with the NWR’s main system down at Ruk Junction/Rohri on the Indus floodplain via Jacobad, Sibi and the Chappar Rift. A link via the Bolan Pass, which went direct to Quetta and not via Khanai, had opened a year earlier but involved an intermediate section of metre gauge; it would take at least another ten years before an alternative through route via the Bolan was devised, with completion believed to be in 1897. The Bolan route was not quite as prone to washouts as the SPS: the latter line would eventually be completely severed in 1942, impacting on the ZVR as shown later.

Once the SPS route closed, the only broad-gauge access to the ZVR was from Quetta on the lengthy line to Chaman. Having reversed into the station, HG/S No. 2189 takes water on a Chaman-bound mixed train. On the left is the ramp for unloading chromite ore surmounted by two narrow-gauge hoppers. The ZVR (and the former SPS) headed onwards from the broad-gauge platform towards the mountains in the background.ROBERT KINGSFORD-SMITH

Like Fort Sandeman, Hindubagh was also subject to a name change, the title Muslimbagh being adopted, reportedly during the 1960s, but Bradshaw’s ‘All India’ timetable of 1972 still shows the original name. Perhaps the name of the town itself had changed but the railway stubbornly conformed to the old identity to maintain tradition.

Chromite Mines – the Need for the Railway

The chromite mines near Hindubagh lie in the Zhob Valley between the mountains of the Toba Kakar range to the northwest and Sulaiman Range to the southeast, both of which are a southerly offshoot of the Hindu Kush, which eventually links into the Himalayas. These mines were some 50 miles (80km) or more from Khanai and the SPS and it would have been an arduous trek, especially as they would have had to climb 1,300ft (396m) in 16 miles (26km) to get over the watershed and summit at Kan Mehtarzai. The mines were worked by the Baluchistan Chrome Ore Company, which was established in 1902 and had lobbied hard for a rail link due to the slowness and limited capacity of the camel trains. Reportedly they threatened to close the mines unless such a link was forthcoming and so, at the request of the British government, work started in 1916 on a narrow-gauge (2ft 6in) line from Khanai to the mines, many of which were situated to the south, close to the village of Hindubagh.

With G Class No. 59 leading, banked by No. 52, the sole weekly Up train leaves Khanai and begins to tackle the climb to Kan Mehtarzai in 1984.ROBERT KINGSFORD-SMITH

Detailed maps show most mines served by the railway were located in the north-facing foothills of the Sulaiman range south of Hindubagh, and the line was constructed on a southeasterly alignment from there, extending some 14 miles (20.5km) and ending near a small settlement detailed as Zaromba – although the location was actually, and more accurately, described as ‘Mine 136’. According to records there was a junction approximately 6 miles (10km) beyond Hindubagh named Khatoka Junction, previously known as Gilzai Junction, where a shorter branch ran just over 2 miles (3.5km) southwestwards to serve, and terminate at, Mine 135.

Little else is known of any of these two lines, which, after passenger workings commenced on the initial main section between Khanai and Hindubagh, were, as far as is known, used exclusively for ore trains and never saw timetabled passenger trains. On the longer branch there were at least four other mines recorded as being served (in order, Nos 26, 27, 70 and 34) in addition to Mine 136, which was the end of the branch, just over 8½ miles (14km) from Khatoka. These other mines were situated between 1½ and 6 miles (2.5–10km) from Khatoka Junction. Research on these workings was by Simon Darvill for the Industrial Railway Society. Further research by the author has ascertained that the terminus at Mine 136, which was a good way up a narrow valley, was in all probability the highest point on the line at around 7,300ft (2,225m). The average gradient of this branch would have been around 1:32, but as workings against the grade would normally be empty ore hoppers, it is unlikely that trains would have needed assistance – assuming adequate braking was available for the loaded descent.

The ore discharge ramps at Bostan Junction with a couple of hopper wagons can be seen as G Class No. 74 brings its train from the sheds to the platform in 1983.GEORGE BAMBERY/ ROBERT KINGSFORD-SMITH COLLECTION

Rail operations are reported to have started on 3 September 1917. The whole line at the time was classified as an ‘assisted siding’ for the mining company and first known as the Khanai Hindubagh Railway (KHR). It appears that the trains were not operated by the mining company, as a small number of locomotives were transferred from both the Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) and the NWR’s own Kalka–Shimla line in 1917 specifically for the KHR. The KHR was eventually acquired by the State and absorbed into the NWR on 1 January 1921; it was probably run as a subsidiary operation from the start. Transhipment of the ore from narrow gauge to broad gauge would at first – before the closure of the SPS – have taken place at Khanai, by discharge from loading ramps, as was the eventual case at Bostan.

Opening for Passenger Traffic

Some reports state that the line opened in 1921, but this was presumably the formal opening for passenger traffic when it was acquired by the NWR. As noted, operations to and from the chromite mines started well before that time, in 1917, when the needs of the First World War still demanded munitions. This is also supported by Hugh Hughes’ book Indian Locomotives, Narrow Gauge 1863–1940, which places the transfer of the locomotives from the BNR and Kalka–Shimla to the KHR in 1917. The section of line from Khanai to Hindubagh was some 46 miles (74km) long, with the mines situated beyond the town on the aforementioned extensions. Once passenger operations commenced, the freight-only extension lines were soon relegated to branches off what was to become the principal route towards Fort Sandeman. There is no detail of these branches from Hindubagh to the chromite mines in the Indian Railways’ individual statistics published for the ZVR up to 1933–4; as mentioned above, their strategic military value probably resulted in suppression of details of the railway’s mining operations.

The decision to extend the line to Fort Sandeman is to today’s eyes surprising, as it was nearly another 130 miles (209km) further and, with hindsight, there was never likely to be much traffic apart from for military purposes – the essential reason for its construction, given the security situation in this frontier area. One theory argues that this extension was part of a grand scheme to eventually link it to another long narrow-gauge railway situated north of Fort Sandeman and running from Bannu to the broad-gauge station at Kalabagh. However, geography as the crow flies suggests that the proposed extension may have actually linked to the narrow-gauge Kalabagh line’s other branch to Tank, which headed southwestwards and was much nearer to Fort Sandeman than Bannu. Today, plans still emerge from time to time to run a broad-gauge line over the ZVR trackbed and beyond, but this proposed route would join the broad-gauge link at Dera Ismail Khan, a good distance south of Kalabagh, which itself no longer has a railway.

Photographs at Fort Sandeman are rare, hence inclusion of some poorer-quality images here. G Class No. 61 has just arrived here in February 1969.ANDREW SMITH

The extension to Fort Sandeman opened in sections, the first from Hindubagh to Kila Saifulla on 2 May 1927 and the last to Fort Sandeman, which opened for freight on 15 January 1929 and for passengers on 15 July that same year. From the start, the connecting broad-gauge SPS line at Khanai, coming up from Khost and the Chappar Rift, was subject to disruption caused by mudslides and washouts. Eventually, the ZVR was extended southwards to Bostan Junction from around 1939, with its works transferred to the latter site. This required interlaced broad/narrow-gauge track over this section (the only example on the NWR) before major floods in the area in July 1942 completely washed out parts of the SPS, resulting in this line being permanently severed between Bostan and Khost. Thus the ZVR became the only rail link between Khanai and Bostan and the broad-gauge track was eventually dismantled over that section and southeastwards through the Chappar Rift, leaving the ZVR to continue its isolated existence alone, threading through the remote valleys between the Toba Kakar and Sulaiman mountain ranges. The connection to the broad gauge was now at Bostan, where the Quetta–Chaman line reverses and where transhipment of chromite ore would take place once the facilities had been moved down from Khanai.

Future dreams of any extensions, at least of the narrow gauge, would come to nought; the line struggled on before a reported final closure in 1986, allegedly because the mining company had not paid the railway for the trains hauling chromite ore. Engines remained operational after this time and some hardy western enthusiasts were able to see and photograph shunting at Bostan in 1987. The ore trains are now known to have resumed later that year for a brief period, and a train of chromite empties was seen on the line in January 1988. However, the final axe had come by 1991, after which the rails were progressively ripped up, probably by 1996. Hopes of resurgence and reopening of part of the line began to be talked about in the late 1990s; but while a visitor to Bostan in 1999 found a locomotive in a smart condition apparently being prepared for future use, it was not to be.

Operation of the Line

At first it seems that timetabled passenger trains ran daily, but this was confined to one working each way – the Up train leaving Khanai at 1522 and arriving at Fort Sandeman the following day at 0924, with the corresponding train in the Down direction leaving Fort Sandeman at 2120 and arriving at Khanai at 1425. In both cases, they connected with a train to/ from Quetta, and while passengers from the SPS could transfer from there into the Fort Sandeman train in the early afternoon, there was no decent connection the other way. These trains were shown as ‘Passenger’ in the timetable but by post-war this had changed to ‘mixed’ – that is, conveying freight cars as well.

In 1984, G Class No. 59 is nearly at the summit as it approaches Kan Mehtarzai from Hindubagh with the return once-weekly Down working from Fort Sandeman. Seemingly the load is manageable, as it has ascended the gradient without banking assistance.ROBERT KINGSFORD-SMITH

The load on this mixed train led by G No. 59 is certainly in need of the banking assistance provided by No. 52 as it leaves Khanai bound for Kan Mehtarzai and Fort Sandeman on theUp working. The desolate landscape is shown to good effect against the backdrop of the Sulaiman Mountains.ROBERT KINGSFORD-SMITH

Sleeper carriages ran in the formation, as they were all overnight trains taking some seventeen hours for the journey, including stops for water. The sleeper carriages are recorded as having no heating but, given the extreme cold experienced in the region, it is likely that in the days of the British Raj passengers were given some alleviation by alternative methods such as ceramic hot water bottles, common in those days. It is also recorded that oil stoves were purloined for use in some carriages, probably only first class, but these stoves were not standard equipment for the carriages. Andrew Smith observed that at this time the members of the Pakistan army who were using the railway brought their own makeshift stoves with chimneys positioned out through the carriage windows! In the winter, the locomotives would be equipped with small snow ploughs to clear the snow prevalent in the area.

Heavy trains were banked up to the summit at Kan Mehtarzai generally in both directions, and banking would certainly have been the norm for loaded ore trains in the Down direction from Hindubagh. Possibly the chromite empties in the Up direction from Khanai could have been worked unaided depending on the number of wagons in the completed train. A traveller on the line in 1945, Lieutenant Colonel A.A. Mains, records in his book Soldier with Railways that three engines were employed on his train from Bostan, two banking at the rear on what must have been a very heavy train.

Tender-first working was probably rare, although this may have had to take place on the two branches serving the chromite mines and certainly on the longer one to Mine 136 as, apart from what was probably a triangular junction at Khatoka, it is unlikely that turning facilities would have existed at the terminals in these remote locations. A turntable was situated at the main junction at Hindubagh, and it is likely that locomotives would have been turned there before running tender first to the mines. It is possible that the ore was ‘tripped’ from the various mines to be formed into larger trains at either Khatoka Junction or Hindubagh; at the latter, banking engines would have been prepared and available to assist in the strenuous climb up to Kan Mehtarzai.

Referring to Andrew Smith’s trip again, he notes that two locomotives, one of which was G Class No. 57, were on shed at Hindubagh and were by this time probably detailed only for ore trains and banking Down trains, as the lead engine passenger requirements were normally covered from Bostan, based on timetabled workings, including providing the Up bankers. A further two G locomotives, Nos 55 and 59, were observed, again by Andrew Smith in 1969, on shed at Fort Sandeman. These could, presumably, be used on freight or additional passenger trains from there if required or as substitutions in the event of mechanical problems with the Bostan-based locomotives working the scheduled trains. That said, there is little evidence of any spare rolling stock at Fort Sandeman, either passenger or freight, in Smith’s photographs from 1969, so why two locomotives remained there is something of a puzzle.

At Bostan a dual-gauge turntable was available, although this was effectively redundant for broad-gauge locomotives as they could turn using the chord on the triangle between the Quetta and Chaman lines. It is therefore almost certain that this turntable would have been previously located at Khanai, as there was certainly no other facility to turn broad-gauge locomotives on freight duties there and the importance of the chromite ore traffic at the time of building the KHR would have promoted the use of such a facility. The fact that a narrow-gauge turntable was also installed at Hindubagh supports the need for reciprocal turning facilities at Khanai. At the northernmost terminal of Fort Sandeman, a reversing triangle to the southwest of the station was built; probably by that time economies were starting to dictate the use of less costly options, more common on the narrow gauge. Superficial evidence from photographs also suggests that a reversing triangle was built at Kan Mehtarzai. As banking engines would have normally finished their work at the summit, this seems almost certain. Interestingly, the turntable at Hindubagh remained there at least until recently and was visible on satellite maps, although all the tracks previously feeding it have long since gone. Likewise, the turntable at Bostan is still visible on satellite views although it has been redundant for nearly thirty years.

Given the sparse nature of the passenger service, there would have been little difficulty accommodating a fair number of freight workings on the line. By the end of the Second World War, the passenger service had been reduced to operating on Mondays and Fridays, only departing Bostan at 1525 and Fort Sandeman at 1710 on each of these days; whether crews spent a good number of days away from their home depot is unclear, but as the trains passed at Kila Saifulla at just after 0200 in the morning of both Tuesdays and Saturdays, a changeover of crews would have been possible. However, one post-war report records that locomotives were normally changed at Hindubagh, which implies a change of crews there rather than at Kila Saifulla.

These two services, one each way, had returned to daily operation at the same times by October 1946, although by the late 1950s the schedule had reduced again, with Up services from Bostan departing at 1500 to Hindubagh running Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays with the Down working departing Hindubagh at 0415 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. There was now only one through working a week to and from Fort Sandeman. This departed Bostan, also at 1500, on Wednesdays and returned from Fort Sandeman at 1640 on Fridays, picking up the standard Down departure time from Hindubagh at 0415 on Saturday morning.

By 1972, the shuttles to and from Hindubagh had been reduced to two running outward from Bostan at 1415 on Thursdays and Saturdays and returning at 0600 on Fridays and Sundays. The through working still ran only once a week, now leaving Bostan at 1415 on Mondays and returning from Fort Sandeman at 1755 on Tuesdays, providing the 0600 departure from Hindubagh on a Wednesday. These times had been slightly modified from those pertaining in 1969, when the Bostan departure was at 1400 on Mondays with the return from Fort Sandeman the following day at 1825. This pattern would mean that the same train and locomotive could, and did, operate the through service in both directions rather than the two diagrams required by the 1950s schedule. Andrew Smith’s 1969 trip was certainly made with one locomotive, G Class No. 61 working in both directions – no mean feat for a narrow-gauge coalfired locomotive and its crew.

This ZVR timetable of 1945 shows the service had been reduced to twice a week, but within a year a daily service would resume. The right-hand column, Train 499, was the Up direction, while Train 500 was the Down direction.

It is fairly certain that passenger services ceased in 1985, with freight following soon after, reportedly in 1986 but this traffic resumed in 1987. The initial withdrawal of freight services was, because, allegedly, the mines had not paid their outstanding bills. Despite the withdrawal of services by 1986, a visitor in early 1987 observed a locomotive in steam at Bostan, working on shunting, most likely in preparation for ore traffic to resume. An enthusiasts’ tour in December 1987/January 1988 observed evidence of chromite trains operating, including a return working of empties. One oddity was the fact that both the Pakistan Railways timetable and even the Thomas Cook international timetable up to at least 1989 showed a service scheduled to run, departing Bostan at 1000 on Mondays and returning from Zhob at 1100 on Tuesdays, although in actual fact all scheduled passenger activity had finished some years before. Was this due to the initial closure perhaps being described as ‘temporary’ to placate concerns of both railway workers and passengers who preferred to use the train as it was cheaper than the competing buses? Possible plans for a reopening came to nothing, however, and despite many hopes of a revival, the ZVR quietly passed into obscurity.

It is to be stressed that these views on ZVR operations, especially to/from the mines, are based on observations recorded by a limited number of people making the trek there plus assumptions based on available timetables and secondary analysis; thus they should be treated with necessary circumspection, although every endeavour has been made to ensure they are as accurate as possible and corroborated wherever reports and records are available.

Steam Locomotives

From Hugh Hughes it is known that the ZVR initially received ‘hand-me-downs’, beginning with a trio of A Class 2-8-4T engines first numbered 50–2, originating from the BNR dating from 1902/5, built by Sharp Stewart (50–1) or North British (52), the latter resulting from Sharp Stewart’s amalgamation with two other companies in 1903. In NWR ownership they were renumbered 71–3. At or around the same time, two locomotives were transferred on loan from the NWR’s Kalka–Shimla line, K Class 2-6-2T tanks Nos 19 and 32, dating from 1905 and 1909 respectively and later numbered 519 and 532 under the All India system of 1957, indicating that they had been transferred back to the east of the NWR’s system, away from the ZVR, before the Partition of India in 1947. These were also built by North British. The fact that locomotives were transferred from the NWR to the KHR from the start gives credence to the belief that the line was operated in close conjunction with the NWR from the beginning.

G Class No. 74 is on shed at Khanai in August 1939. Soon the facilities would move down to Bostan. The pristine condition of the locomotive is evident.W.H. KELLAND/BOURNEMOUTHRAILWAY CLUB TRUST