The Railroads of Bombay Blogspot

 I have created this blog to share some things I found amazing about Bombay's Railways to you. Here I'll post some information about the heritage of our beloved railway's stations, and experiences of my visits to Heritage Galleries, or about some relics I happen to find at different stations. Here, I will try to provide as  accurate of an information I can, and spread the word about our Railways' rich heritage

The name of the blog too has a bit of meaning in it. I have mentioned Bombay specifically to refer to the earliest railways of the city, then called Bombay. I decided to focus specifically on Bombay itself, since that would help dive into details. This is also, because I want the information of this topic to be accessible, since I myself had to search quite a bit to find those pieces of information myself.

I started writing on the history of our City's railways back in August 2021 on Wikipedia, when I edited the page on Borivali Railway station under the name of the user Historical Trains. Since then I have edited 13 pages on various railway stations, majorly.

Now about My Story of Passion

As a child, I was probably not quite interested in railways since the beginning. 

I had a deep interest for Space Science since my 1st Grade, something which has, by now extended to all of Physics and other sciences. That was more or less(if not, all) of it. It was only in third grade, that my curiosity for railways began. The beginning, you might find weird and small, but it eventually turned to my side passion today. 

All started in my 3rd grade, I found the game Indian Train Simulator on Playstore. The game in my opinion is probably the most realistic Indian Train Simulation you can find. The game included several Indian Locomotives, Coaches, and Routes. It was there, that I learned to identify different Locos and Coaches.-

So whenever I traveled by a train (i.e very often), there was I recognizing WAP-4 from its non boxy shape, with a all red yellow strip livery, to recognizing WDS-6 from its diesel loco shape, yellow colour, with a green strip. 

WDS-6 at CSMT (or VT)

I even learnt to identify coaches quite well. A coach (mostly of LHB) with red seen profoundly with a grey band down, was Rajdhani, same design but with blue in place of red was Shatabdi, same design as Shatabdi, but with a yellow line along the grey band was the Gatimaan. These are mosly of the German LHB (Linke-Hoffmann Busch design. Of the ICF (Integral Coach Factory, Chennai) are the Garib Rath Express with a green colour and yellow strip, and of-course the classic, ICF Blue.

This interest just grew gradually ever since. There has probably never been a locomotive pass through the front of my eyes, without me speaking out its name. In my fourth grade, I drew a map of Bombay's railway network, which I referred m-indicator's map for, and also drew some railway drawings in my art lectures. In December of the same year, while on a return trip from Nagpur, a less knowledgeable me, confusing tracks in the Thal Ghat going up the hills as alternatives to tunnels, praising the steam trains for being able to climb such inclines. I didn't know they were Catch Sidings going up hill for the same reason that trains would not cross that incline very easily, and stop to safety more easily in an emergency.

The Range Widens

In my fifth grade, the range of it widened, with I being interested with the history of this railway too. That year, my parents gifted me two books on railway history by the rail historian Rajendra. B. Aklekar. Probably one of my inspirations as well. I remember sketching the image of the First Electric Local of CR (then GIPR) on the Sandhrust Rd bridge, on that day itself. That year, I also found some Magazines published by the erstwhile BB&CI Railway (today's WR), digitized and published on WR Website. Did not realise back then, but those documents were filled with loads of interesting information. Thses documents ranged from 1923 to 1961, covering a time period pre-, and post- independence. I procured printed copies of those, and they came handy later. 

The same year, I had my first trip of the 1860s constructed Bhor Ghat section of the CR,  travelling to my second home in Pune, and also my first long distance train Trip by Railways, when I traveled to South India for a Family Trip. The scenes from the windows of either of those was mesmerizing, of the mountains, waterfalls, tunnels, and inclines in the case of the former, and fields, Coconut Trees, and houses, in the case of the latter. In my opinion back then, it was the express and passenger trains that were beautiful (as I still believe), rather than the regular Locals. Given a preference among the two, I would certainly choose the former.

Writing on Wikipedia

It was the immediate next year, when Lockdown began in India. I was stuck at home, unable to escape the bubble. Amidst that, I looked at Wikipedia, which I read quite a bit often. I decided to contribute something, and made an account in August 2021 in the name of Historical Trains. My first contribution was that to Borivali Railway station. Being my locality station, I was attached towards it, even more so after learning it was a station on the first Regular Suburban Local service of the BB&CIR (today's Western Railway), when the service commenced on 12 April 1867. I found some info from those BB&CI Magazines, but it just wasn't enough. I was disappointed with the lack of any proper history section on several (or I might say many) station pages on Wikipedia. My emotional connection with my locality station was probably what encouraged me to be an editor on Wikipedia. I added a history section to Borivali station page, and wrote about it being a station on that first suburban service. That was promptly deleted by someone for not citing a source. I then wrote again, this time with citations. I also added one picture each of a Thal Ghat viaduct (from my Nagpur trip) and a WCAM-3 Loco(from my Pune Trip) to their respective pages. Then more or less within the context of railways, I was offline at Wikipedia, until March of 2022. It was then. that I started doing minor edits to other pages, either for accuracy, or for adding information. 

I finally began large scale editing this year in 2023. I edited pages for the first time with other sources too, and all that made everything a lot more interesting. On April 22nd, I gave attention to my User page, writing about my passion and mission there. My first Major and by that I mean Major, edit was of the Colaba Terminus Page, showing a sixer with a +2693 score at once. Next was my beloved Borivali, with a +1214, where I added a description of the station's remodelling scheme of 1913, all referring to a single available diagram. The same was done with Virar station later. The next major edit was Bandra station with +2118. 

There is an old railway bridge from mid 1920s you can spot while traveling over the Vasai Creeks between Bhayandar and Naigaon. Lying between them is the Panju Island. In earlier times, there used to be a station of the same name, very likely on the island itself. I spotted the gap, and added an entire section relating railways to Panju Island on the latter's page on 15 May with +2354. Following were many other edits, major ones being that of Byculla, and Bori Bunder twice, with that of Bori Bunder being my single largest edit at once, when I wrote the section on the celebrations of the first train.

Wikipedia was a place I found, where people could learn new things. If people are depending on it, It must be the best. Wikipedia is made best by its Contributors, and I decided to be one of them. I hoped that someone else seeking the same thing I was back in 21' did not have to search far to learn, as I did.

Opening this Blog page was just because there is a greater freedom of expression and topics than on Wikipedia. Here, along with information, I can also post experiences, site visits, Gallery Visits, and more. The intention being, I want to express my knowledge to others, hoping it helps those too in search of missing pieces in the giant jigsaw of History, just as I am.

- The Rail History Guy