Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway

Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway
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System timeline
Constituent companies / lines
	Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway
	Powayan Light Railway
	Lucknow-Bareilly State Railway
Key locations
Headquarters	Izatnagar
Workshops
Major Stations	Bareilly, Lucknow, Mailani, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur
Successor system / organisation
1943	Oudh and Tirhut Railway
System mileage
Metre gauge	331 miles (1905) 687 miles (1943)
Associated auxiliary force
How to interpret this infobox

Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway
[[Image:|150px| ]]
Line of route
Bareilly to Kathgodam
Gauge / mileage
Metre gauge	54 miles (1905)
Timeline
1882	Company registered
1884	Open to traffic
Key locations
Presidency	Bengal
Stations	Bhojeepura, Laikua, Haldwani
System agency
	Worked by Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway
How to interpret this infobox

The Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway (R&KR) was a metre gauge(MG) railway whose northern terminus at Kathgodam served the submontane belt of the United Provinces between Lucknow and Moradabad, as well as a number of hill stations, such as Naini Tal.

The main line from Bhojeepura to Kathgodam opened in 1884 and developed until 1916 with a number of network extensions

• Kasganj extension - completed in 1885 reaching Bareilly, 1906; 63 miles(100km)
• Ramnager extension from Moradabad, 1908; 48 miles(76km)
• Kashipur extension from Lalkua, 1907; 36 miles(57km)
• Shahjahanpur extension from Pilibhit, 1911-16; 56 miles(89km)

The R&KR also worked:-

• Lucknow-Bareilly State Railway , from 1891, a metre gauge(MG) line of 198 miles (317km) in 1891; extended to 312.46 miles(500km) length by 1914 .
• Powayan Light Railway, from the 17 Dec 1900, a 2ft 6in/762mm narrow gauge(NG)line of 38.86 miles(62km) length .

History

The R&KR was company owned and worked from formation in 1882.

In 1883 Alexander Izat was appointed Director, prior to this he was employed by the Railway Branch - Public Works Department (PWD) where he had served in various parts of India and was instrumental in initiating and carrying out many metre-gauge extensions. He represented R&KR at the Indian Railway Conference Association and remained as Director, until his retirement in 1904. In 1918 he is recorded as being R&KR Chairman with headquarters in London

The R&KR remained a private Company until nationalisation in 1943 when it was amalgamated with the Bengal and North-Western Railway(B&NWR), with which it had been closely associated, and the Lucknow-Bareilly State Railway, to form the Oudh and Tirhut Railway(O&TR).

In turn, in 1952, the Oudh and Tirhut Railway became part of North Eastern Railway, a zone of Indian Railways.

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 many references. The most important being:-

• L/AG/46/35 “ Records of the India Office relating to the Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway Company; 1882-1931"
• L/F/7/2382-2391 “Collection 380: Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway, date unspecified"

Personnel Records

There are no personnel or staff records held in the IOR.

There is a photograph dated 1911 in the Satow Collection:

"Miscellaneous Portrait Groups of Railway Officials" Photo 1082/13(4) with the following Catalogue Note :-

Officers of Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway, Feb. 1911. Group portrait of railway officials, with identifications written on mount as follows:

• front row, seated on ground: Kellie, Edwards, Welsh;
• second row, seated: Bruce, Izat, Finlayson, Robb, Ralston;
• third row, standing: Steyn, Bannister, Storrar, O'Brien, Irons, Young, Smith;
• back row, standing: Sandes, Donaldson, Will, Clark, Addis

The R&KR officers detailed above have not been identified at the present time.