Rail Heritage is quite a dwindling topic. Not many are interested, or know about how the railways with which they travel, and are connected with, began in the first place. However, taking a look at this topic, provides an interesting look of the city we reside in, and the railways we commute with.
Mumbai's railways still possess those ancient artifacts from its old days. These include bells, pillars, footbridges, cabins, platforms, station buildings, rail crossings, etc of the stations, and even the road bridges built over them, to replace older rail crossings. These are however being lost day by day. Last Year, the 1868 built Carnac bridge too was razed after being deemed unsafe by a report by IIT. In 2020, a railway bridge (known as the Amrutanjan Bridge due an advertisement of the company put on bridge post independence) of the old Reversing Station in the Bhor Ghat was demolished, owing to accidents in the area caused due to the curve the vehicles had to navigate to pass under the bridge's pillars. I remember getting emotional on watching the demolition video, having passed under it by road several times on my way to Pune.
Some of these artifacts have to be demolished for safety reasons, but still one can certainly find innovative ideas to preserve the glory of the same. For instance, at the ends of the Carnac bridge, were inscriptions, recording the name of the bridge in English, Devanagari and Gujarati, along with one corner stating the date of opening as 1868. These blocks were thankfully shifted to an open air heritage gallery, located in the area between CSMT platform no.18 and the P.D.Mellow Road, remaining the last remains of this iconic bridge.
Excuse the blur of the image below. I was just so excited to be supposedly visiting to the site of the Bori Bunder station, that I did not even pause to take a clear image.
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Carnac Bridge from CSMT pf no.18.
(photo taken in 2022) |
A Visit to this place second time!
This open air gallery cum garden was opened on a World Heritage day one year. The gully houses several rail artifacts, like Old Locomotives, Coaches, Cranes, and other apparatus. Also worth mention are of course the stone blocks of the Carnac Bridge. I visited this place for the first time in 2019, in my fifth grade, and was amazed by the artifacts and their form. Curiously, the gallery has undergone a change, and the pictures I took back then turned out to be useful for comparison with the changes recently done to the gallery.
I was eagerly waiting to give another visit to this place again. Hence on 8th April, I pleaded to my parents to take me to this location again. I was wishing to have a visit on 16th of April 2023, since the day marked the 170th anniversary of the First train in Bombay, that ran just some distance away from this gallery on 16th April 1853. However reasons meant that the plan kept on being postponed, and it was not until 5th of May, that the wish came into fruition.
If you wish to read the Journey experience, where I mentioned several artifacts I spotted, Visit the following post!
The Heritage Garden.
After the Journey to CSMT, we had to take a sort of a long distance route, since we didn't want to enter a express station with a local ticket. We traveled to the P.D Mello Road, from where we reached the entrance. I took a final dramatic pause behind the footpath wall, before finally seeing the place I last visited 4 years ago. The place, as already knew, had changed quite a it. A steam Locomotive on the eastern side had been removed, and a Rail Bus was added to the 'collection'. The first thing I was excited to see, was India's first Electric Freight Locomotive series loco, the EF-1:
1) EF-1
The name EF-1 refers to (Electric Freight-1). These Locomotives were introduced in 1928, as freight locos to be powered by Electric Traction, for the first time in India. They were named Sir Leslie Wilson, honoring the then Governor of Bombay. They were built by Swiss Locomotive Works, with electrical equipment from Metropolitan Vickers, England. Only two of these survive, one being in the National Rail Museum in New Delhi, and the other one being here at CSMT. Both of these were stationed at Wadi Bunder Car shed. Apart from pulling Goods trains, they were also used on the Bhor Ghat incline, to push trains. Post Independence,its designation was changed to WCG-1 (standing for Broad Gauge, DC Traction Goods-1) .Interestingly, they were referred to as Khekada by their staff.
The one at the Heritage Gully, was the serial no. 20067 as per Indian Railway designation. This locomotive has received paintwork in the past 4 years. Having a photo of the Loco 4 years ago and now, I could sense the difference. The former looked dull, while the latter looks much better. You can see it yourself, below-
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| Before |
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| And After |
This time I wanted to really have a look into its inside. Back in my 5th Grade, I was completely reluctant to enter the previously exhibited steam locomotive, thinking it might be forbidden. Since then the steam locomotive has been shifted to somewhere else. Hence, this time I was determined to have a look inside, having seen the condition of the interior from an image taken by someone else of the present state of the driving cabin.
I would like to mention, that it is not recommended to do so, as I found out later, while filming the insides of a rail inspection wagon there, when a watchman scolded me mildly, saying you aren't supposed to go inside. But I think seeing the condition of these from inside was worth it. The Cabin was dusty, the floor plates of the narrow corridor inside the loco to access the other cabins were in a shaky condition. It was there that I found out, that these exhibits weren't taken care of on the insides.
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| The Electrical |
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| The meters |
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| Controls, and a dusty dashboard. |
The cabin was very dusty. As a strong supporter of rail heritage, I firmly decided to clean it. I asked for a rough cloth, having none I used a cloth bag. I gave the dashboard, and the walls, a through wipe, when my works led me to an interesting plate. The plate, dust laden had inscriptions reading something faintly, like Metropolitan Vickers, (the company that had provided the electricals). On giving a thorough wipe, it became much more readable.
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The Plate with Inscriptions.
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Again I would like to say, it is not recommended to go inside. I was scolded later. It isn't allowed probably because anyone going inside, might damage the loco interiors. When I entered, there was, on the back wall of the cabin, a "Love Heart with names" a common example of vandalism. Hence You shouldn't go inside.
But the thing I would like to highlight, is the condition of the interiors. It's not good. If anything struck me the most on entering, was the poor condition inside. The railways certainly took care, and painted the exteriors. Even if it isn't visible, they should be restored, either by railway workers themselves, or by assigning some person to do so (which I would certainly like to be). These aren't just some random relics things found in scrapyards, even those are treasures; these are important pieces of historical events, linking to the origins of our railways.
While inside, I decided to make a video of the interiors, as it was, I thought, a unique experience. The video below is an edited one, the original having a lot of orientation changes. Again excuse the light adjustment quality of my device)
More Information to be added soon!
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