The first commercial passenger railway in India, was the G.I.P railway (precursor to today's Central railway), which opened formally on 16th April 1853. The train departed from Bombay's Bori Bunder station at 3:35 pm, and reached Tannah (Thane) station at 4:32 pm. The train composed of 14 coaches, which were famously pulled by three steam locomotives. These were given the names: Sindh, Sultan, and Sahib. But in fact, there is no mention as such of the three engines having such names anywhere in official reports, or publications of those times. So what were these Locomotives exactly?
Some views of the Locomotive Class...
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| A forward view of the Locomotive Class |
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| Another view.. |
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| And a side view |
The Long, Imported Machines
The three locomotives used were imported from the Vulcan Foundry in Britain, and were among the 8 imported in total. These had a boiler capacity of 800 gallons (3028.33 Litres ), with a driving wheel diameter (the wheels that are connected to the pistons, and which directly translate the moving of piston into the motion of the locomotive) of 5 ft. These were built in 1851, and arrived in Bombay at the port of Bori Bunder in September 1852 aboard the Ship Charles, along with six European engine drivers. They were expected to be made ready by February 1853.
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| A redrawn version of the original blueprints (drawn by me) |
Three of these were of course used to haul the inaugural train of 16th April. The ceremony was a grandeur of a spectacle to behold, with the Bori Bunder station decorated with flags, and the platform neatly matted. The cannons at the nearby Fort George were fired, the train left at 3:35 p.m, with 400 passengers aboard for the journey.
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| My visualisation of the locomotive pulling the train. (3d model made by consulting blueprints) |
This was of course an event of unparalleled significance, and an intriguing tale per se, (read this post to experience just that), but we are here for the Locomotives, and their tale
exclusively.
The Start of Discrepancies
To begin with, there are even questions as to whether there were three locomotives to pull this train in the first place. The theory suggests that the other two locomotives were backups; this is motivated by the fact that there is, apparently, photographic evidence for just one locomotive, as taken by Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. And we're just starting.
Even if some records do mention three locomotives, there comes the question of names. It is a popular belief, that these were named Sultan, Sindh, and Sahib. But there's just no mention of any such names in the official reports. Neither is any mention found in The Bombay Gazette's extensive report of the ceremony in its 18 April 1853 issue. The same applies for a certain book published in 1854. So there appears to be no official evidence of the locomotives having such names in the first place.
The Uncertain Aftermath
After all these mysteries, we're not over yet. The question arises of whatever happened to these three locomotives after the momentous occasion of the first journey. Well, not much is known about this. The Locomotive Magazine of 1926 reported on the first few locomotives of the GIPR, and specified the fates of each. But there was again, no specific mention of these three locomotives. So, for all practical purposes, these machines were lost in the annals of history.
But then there arises the tale of a certain GIPR locomotive from 1850s, named rather interestingly as 'Sindh'. What's the matter with this?
This locomotive, it appears survived, and was plinthed outside the Chief Locomotive Engineer's Offices at Byculla. In fact, there's a nice picture of this very scene in this document I'll link here (And also in the end of the post)[document size is around 43 MB]. Apparently during the Railway Centenary Celebrations in 1953, this locomotive was taken to Delhi, and kept as an exhibit, following which, even it is presumed to have been scrapped.
Well, this turns out to be from another class of locomotives, built by Kitsons & Co. in 1856 for the GIPR. These served on the Bombay-Callian (Kalyan) line for around three decades, until 18 of these were sold in 1886 to the Indian Midland Railway. One of these had the name 'Sindh' and was exhibited outside those Byculla Offices of GIPR, and later at Delhi in 1953.
Conclusions
Well, it happens regularly in the study of historical records that you end up finding that your information has certain discrepancies. Misinterpretations, lost records, and lack of detailed documentation all contribute to this.
Nonetheless, the tale of Bombay's first few locomotives offered a tale of detail, novelty, and tragedy. And this, for certain provides for a much needed exercise to dive into details, and a lesson as to why doing so is certainly rewarding.
Thanks for the Scroll!
