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→Background: ' Ranigani' link created
==Background==
"The [[East Indian Railway]](EIR) 'experimental line' from [[Howrah ]] to [[Ranigani ]] was authorised in 1849, and construction and started in 1851. The opening of the first section from [[Howrah]] to [[Hooghly]] in August 1854 was delayed due to unexpected impediments - one these was the ship 'HMS Goodwin' carrying the coaches ''(from Britain)'' sank at the Sandheads near Diamond Harbour ''(in the Hoogly River estuary near Calcutta)''. [[John Hodgson]], the Locomotive Engineer of EIR, got the carriages locally built with the help of two Calcutta coach building firms - Steward & Co and Seton & Co." <ref> “Symphony of Progress - The Saga of the Eastern Railway 1854-2003”; published by Eastern Railway, kolkata 2003; Extracted from pages 6 and 7</ref>.
From thereon the Carriages and Wagons were constructed in India, presumably initially by local Calcutta firms and very soon after by establishing the Carriage & Wagon Workshops at [[Howrah]].
[[Robert Webb Pearce]] was offered and accepted the post of Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the East Indian Railway, and left England in December 1855; but finding his position not what he expected, he would have left the railway and started a wagon-building works in India. He was persuaded however to remain.....<ref name=IMechE>[http://www.steamindex.com/people/overseas.htm#pearce “Steam Index transcript of the “Proceedings Institution of Mechanical Engineers” for 1889]; Retrieved 10 Jun 2016</ref>.
==Carriage & Wagon Workshops - Howrah ==
The first workshops to repair Locomotives and build Carriages and Wagons were established in [[Howrah]] and operational in the mid 1850’s.
