Powayan Steam Tramway Company

The Powayan Steam Tramway was a 2ft 6in/762mm narrow gauge(NG) tramway, sometimes described as the Shahjahanpur-Mailani Tramway. The ‘Powayan Steam Tramway Company’ was registered on 22 April 1887 .

The section from Shahjahanpur via Rosa Junction to Pawayan (see note), a length of 17 miles(27km) opened in 1890. The line was constructed by the Powayan Steam Tramway Company and the maintenance taken over by the Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway(R&KR) in December 1900. The line was extended to reach Mailani, a further 21 miles(34km) in 1904 ..

Rosa Junction is about 3 miles south-east of Shahjahanpur and where there was an interchange with the Rosa Sugar Factory Tramway , it was a private tramway with a length of 3.25 miles( 5.2km)

Following the taking over by the R&KR was renamed the Powayan Light Railway (see for later developments)

Note on spelling

• Pawayan is the spelling given in the Imperial Gazetteer of India which we take as the definitive spelling of the town.
• Powayan Steam Tramway is the spelling of the Company in all documents and records

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 5 references. The most important being:-

• L/F/8/16/1166 “Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway Company Limited, Agreement for capital expenditure on the Powayan Steam Tramway and acquisition of interests in the Powayan Steam Tramway Limited; 1906"
• L/F/8/17/1263 “Powayan Steam Tramway Company Limited, Indenture supplemental to that of 1st July 1901; 1912"
• L/F/8/19/1436 “Rohilkund and Kumaon and Lucknow Bareilly State Railways and Powayan Steam Tramway, Reprint of contracts showing modifications up to and includng the contract of July 3rd 1914; 1917"

In addition :-

• Mss Eur E290/104 "Nineteen photographs of the Pawayan Steam Tramway, Shahjahanpur District, and of bungalows at Rosa, near Shahjahanpur city, presumably inhabited by Europeans employed in the Rosa sugar factory Dated as: c1880s"

Comment - Sir Edward Bosc Sladen Collection: "Photographs of the route of the Pawayan Steam Tramway, Shahjahanpur District - Collection of prints, somewhat yellowed and faded, mounted on pages from an album, with captions written beneath. The collection consists of views of bungalows at Rosa (presumably for Europeans employed in the Rosa sugar and rum factory), and views of trains on the route of the Powayan Steam Railway between Shahjahanpur and Mailani."

Further Information

See Powayan Light Railway