Adyar River Tramway
The Adyar River Tramway was under consideration in 1842 to provide a stone tramway to connect south Madras to the outlying districts of Santhome and Mylapore. [1]
A bridge carrying over the Adyar River named the Elphinstone Bridge had been constructed about 1840 during the time of Lord Elphinstone, who was governor of Madras from 1837 to 1842.
The proposal was to construct a stone tramway on the existing bridge, presumably to convey carts pulled by bullock and extended over existing roads. A short length was constucted but in 1843 the experiment was abandoned.
History
By 1842 a letter to the Court of Directors of the East India Company requested payment of R1817.15 for the construction of the tramway [2].
In the reply the Directors requested a report from the Military Board on the feasibility of the experiment [3]. In the engineer’s report Lieutenant Robertson says the engineer escorted the Superintendent of Roads to review the tramway. A length of stone tramway 684ft (0.12Km) had been built “substantially with judgement. The track had been down 2 monsoons so was a fair trial. It was useful with the public facilitating the haulage across what was in some parts a heavy bed of sand". The cost quoted differed at R1539 for the length of road. This meant a calculated R11,88.00 per mile (1.06Km). There was evidence that the sets had moved and over a longer route would be costly to maintain. A suggestion that causeways would be cheaper and more easily maintained [4]. These facts unfortunately put an end to the experiment and the Directors declined to continue [5].
Records
The India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library relating to this tramway are primary information sources: -
- Z/E/4/46/A198; 1842-1845; Adyar River, Tramway across, construction
- Z/E/4/46/M386; 1842-1845; Madras Town, Tramway across Adyar River, construction
- Z/E/4/46/T283 and Z/E/4/46/R430; 1842-1845; Tramways, across Adyar River , satisfactory construction.
Further Information
References
- ↑ Wikipedia “Adyar River ” Retrieved on 14 Aug 2016
- ↑ British Library IOR/Z/E/4/A/198 “Letter dated 23rd November 1842”
- ↑ British Library IOR/F/4/2089 “Military Report 135 1843 Board collections 97150”
- ↑ British Library IOR/F/4/2089 “Military Report 135 1843 Board collections 97150”
- ↑ British Library IOR/E/4/963/P905 “Letter from the Revenue Department dated 9th September 1863”
