Besides the reason that I love narrating the stories of Bombay's huge rail network, my other motive for writing this blogs was to make information accessible. Here I've tried to dive into stories not usually talked about, or details not all that well known, just to ensure that those wonderful pieces don't get lost in the box of jigsaw called past. Over the years, I came through several interesting books, articles, websites, etc, which I printed out, or saved in my bookmarks bar (which now has over 1300 saves!) If you too are a curious explorer, on this post, I wish to share some of what I was able to find, just to make your lives a bit easier!
GIPR section
- The Locomotive Magazine, 1926- Contains detailed monthly articles on the earliest locomotives of the GIPR, an the early operations
- The Bombay Gazette, 18 April 1853- A digitised version of the long article featured in The Bombay Gazette, detailing the inauguration of the GIPR
- Lokhandi Rustyanche Sunshipt Varnan, by K. Bhatavdekar, 1854- A Marathi Translation of Dionsius Lardner's Railway Economy. Has rare photos from 1853/54 of the Bori Bunder, Byculla stations, Tannah viaduct and Tunnel, and locomotive diagrams. Also has the 11 March 1853 regulations of the GIPR, as well as a description of the first train run.
- The Illustrated London News, 4 June 1853 (on the inauguration of GIPR, with old station sketches), 8 July 1854 (info and sketches of old stations, sion marsh), 23 August 1862 (about the storage of cotton bales at Bori Bunder), 6 March 1869 (about the 26 Jan 1869 Bhor ghat train accident)
- Papers on the Bhor Ghat and Thal Ghat sections of the GIPR- Details on the bold undertakings that were needed to conquer these ghats.
- Allen's Indian Mail 1852, and Allen's Indian Mail 1853- 1852 has several newspaper clippings about the runs of the Lord Falkland, and the final stages of completion of the railway.
- 150 years celebration of the GIPR in 2002, Two articles by Mr. Rajendra Aklekar- 150 yr Celebrations, WPs again on Bombay line Details the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the railways.
- Timeline of opening of CR (GIPR) stations, by Mr. Kedar Karambelkar- An extensive compilation of information on the station of CR right from 1853,until present.
- And- Some nice pictures on the GIP Railway
BB&CIR section
- The Times of India, 19 November 1864- A digitised version of the article from TOI, detailing the inauguration of Grant Rd- Ahmedabad line, and the novel third class coaches of the BB&CIR
- Digitised articles from the BB&CIR Magazines- ranging intermediately b/w 1923 to 1961,these articles provide a ton of detail on the railway, and its early operations
- History of opening of sections of the BB&CIR
- Frontier Mail- article on the legendary train- The Frontier Mail
More to be added soon!
