Tinnevelly-Quilon Railway
The Tinnevelly-Quilon Railway (TQR) was a metre gauge(MG) railway divided into a British section (a state line worked by a company) and a section owned and worked by the Princely Travancore State. This railway is also known as Travancore Railway[1]
The route of the railway was first surveyed by Ernest Ifill Shadbolt between the years of 1888 and 1893.
The British Section from Tinnevelly to Kallidaikurichi, 19 miles(30km) opened in 1902 and extended to the British Frontier near Shencottah, a further 31 miles(50km) in 1908. The line was worked by South Indian Railway(SIR). [1]
The Native (Indian) State Section from Quillon to Punalur, 28 miles(44km) opened in June 1904 and extended to the Travancore State frontier near Shencottah, a further 30 miles(48km) later that year. The line was worked by South Indian Railway(SIR).
The railway was further extended reach in 1913 to reach Trivandrum, known as the the Trivandrum Extension Railway.
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 [2] gives the following: -
- L/F/8/16/1095 “South Indian Railway Company Limited, Contract as to the construction and working of the Pamban Branch and the Travancore Branch; 1901"
- L/F/8/19/1444 “South Indian Railway Company Limited, Contract as to construction and working of extension to Trivandrum of the Travancore Branch; 1913"