Delhi-Umballa-Kalka Railway
The Delhi-Umballa-Kalka Railway(DKR) Company was formed in 1889. The broad gauge(BG) line ran north from Delhi via Umballa+(Ambala) to Kalka in the Himalayan foothills where there was a connection to the DKR owned Kalka-Simla Railway narrow gauge(NG) line that opened in 1903 [1] [2].
Construction of the 161 mile(243km) stated in May 1889 and opened in March 1891. The BG line was worked by the East Indian Railway(EIR). Taken over by the Government of India(GoI) in 1925 and the working transferred to the North Western Railway(NWR).
+ Note:Umballa is used in this text as it was the name of the Railway Company.
Amballa and Ambala are also recorded in different documents as various spellings . None of these three place names appear in the The Imperial Gazetteer of India 1908 which is normally taken to be the definitive source
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 [1] gives 23 references. The most important being:-
- L/F/8/13/945/1 “Delhi Umballa Kalka Railway Company Limited, Contract for the construction of the Delhi Umballa Kalka Railway; 1889”
- L/AG/46/9 “Records of the Delhi-Umballa-Kalka Railway Company; 1898-1907”
- L/AG/46/29 “Records of the India Office relating to the Delhi-Umballa-Kalka Railway; 1889-1926”
Personnel Records
There are no Personnel Records held in the IOR
There are limited references in other documents:-
- Alexander Izat joined the Board of the Delhi-Umballa-Kalka Railway(DKR) Company in 1902, and also the Kalka-Simla Railway Company. This in addition to being a Director of the Rohilkund and Kumaon Railway(R&KR) from 1883. He retired from India in 1904 [3].
- Robert Atwell Way, Executive Engineer from the Public Works Department - State Railways as 'on loan to the Delhi-Amballa-Kalka Company in 1889' [4]; this is confirmed by the 1890 Civil List [5].
External Links
- Delhi-Kalka Line" Wikipedia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 British Library “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue” - Search; Retrieved 20 Jan 2016
- ↑ " Administration Report on the Railways in India – corrected up to 31st March 1918"; Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta; page 60; Retrieved 24 Dec 2017
- ↑ Grace's Guide "Alexander Izat"; Retrieved on 7 Jul 2016
- ↑ Google Books " India List and India Office List, 1905" page 642 (pdf page 605 ) Retrieved on 18 Jul 2016
- ↑ “India Civil List” 1890, page 41
