Central Provinces Railway Co Ltd

Central Provinces Railway Co Ltd (CPR)

A British owned company operating a group of 2ft 6in/762mm narrow gauge(NG) lines; all worked by Great Indian Peninsular Railway(GIPR), under Government of India(GoI) management from 1925.

Killick, Nixon & Company, set up in 1857, had created the Central Provinces Railway Company (CPR) to act as its agents. In fact the lines are still owned today by the London based company Central Provinces Railway Co Ltd (CPR), however grouped under Central Railway of Indian Railways since 1952 which operate them on lease, extended from time to time.

CPR Lines

The group of NG lines owned by CPR and operated by GIPR as part of the GIPR - NG network, comprising:-

• Ellichpur-Murtazapur-Yeotmal Railway, owned by Central Provinces Railway Co; known informally as Shakuntala Railway. First section from Murtazapur to Yeotmal opened 1903; section from Murtajapur to Ellichpur opened 1913-14
• Yavatmal Murtijapur Railway; opened 1903
• Pulgaon-Arvi Railway; opened 1917-18
• Pachora-Jamner Light Railway; opened 1919
• Darwha-Pusad Railway; opened 1931

Also worked alongside CPR:-

• Dhond-Baramati Railway; opened 1914-15 was seperately owned by the Dhond-Baramati Railway Company

Records

Refer to FIBIS Fact File #4: “Research sources for Indian Railways, 1845-1947” - available from the Fibis shop. This Fact File contains invaluable advice on 'Researching ancestors in the UK records of Indian Railways' with particular reference to the India Office Records (IOR) held at the British Library

An on-line search of the IOR records relating to this railway gives the only the following: -

• L/F/8/19/1434 “Central Provinces Railways Company Limited, Contract for construction and working of the Pulgaon-Arvi Railway supplemental to contract dated 27th March 1916 for construction of the Ellichpur-Murtajapur-Yeotmal Railway; 1917”