Matheran Hill Light Railway
The Matheran Hill Light Railway was a 2ft/610mm narrow gauge(NG) mountain railway near Bombay (Mumbai). The privately financed line was 12 miles (19km) in length and opened in 1907. [1]
Everard Calthrop was the consulting engineer. Unusually for a railway for which he designed it was of 2ft/610mm narrow gauge(NG), with tight curves and 1 in 20 (5%) grades. [2]
The line is still in use today as a tourist attraction. Indian Railways description[3]:- 'Matheran Hill Railway is a heritage railway in Maharashtra, India. It was built between 1901 and 1907 by Abdul Hussein Adamjee Peerbhoy, financed by his father Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy of Adamjee Group at the cost of Rs.16, 00,000. Abdul Hussein Adamjee Peerbhoy was son of a renowned businessman Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy of Bombay, who visited Matheran often and wanted to build a railway to make it easier to get there. Hussain's plans for the railway were formulated in 1900 and construction started in 1904. The line was open to traffic by 1907.'
References
- ↑ "Administration Report on the Railways in India – corrected up to 31st March 1918"; Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta; page 79; Retrieved 9 Feb 2016
- ↑ Wikipedia "Matheran Light Railway"; Retrieved 9 Feb 2016
- ↑ Indian Railways "Hill Trains"; Retrieved 9 Feb 2016
