George Turnbull

George Turnbull (1809-1889)

Railway Achievements in India

'1850 Appointed Chief Engineer of the East Indian Railway building between 1851 and 1862 the first railway 541 miles from Calcutta to Benares (on the route to Delhi), 601 miles including branches. He designed Calcutta's terminus at Howrah which now has 23 platforms and the highest train-handling capacity of any station in India. The monsoon-ravaged Ganges tributaries such as the wide Son (Sone) River were particularly challenging to bridge; a major constraint for Turnbull was the lack of both quality clay and brick-building skills resulting in the change to importing much ironwork from England for the many bridges and other structures (all rails were imported from England as no Indian steel works existed). Another constraint was the difficulty of moving enormous volumes of materials from Calcutta up the Ganges on its primitive "country boats", particularly during the period of the Indian Mutiny when many boats were sunk and materials stolen. Cholera killed thousands.' ^[3] ^[4]