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Great Indian Peninsula Railway

76 bytes removed, 13:41, 19 March 2010
convert references to <ref> format
Formed in 1845, it was not until 1849 (at the urging of the then Governor, Lord Dalhousie) that the EIC sanctioned the GIPR to construct an experimental line, built to the broad gauge of 5' 6", eastward from Bombay. The first sod was turned on 31 October 1850 and the first locomotive was used in construction on 22 December 1851, but the first passenger train in India did not run until 16 April 1853, when a train, with 14 railway carriages and 400 guests, left [[Bombay]] bound for [[Thane]], hauled by three locomotives: ''Sindh, Sultan,'' and ''Sahib''. The 21 mile journey took an hour and fifteen minutes over the first section of the GIPR to be opened.
By 1859, GIPR was tasked with "the construction and working of the following lines, all of which terminate at Bombay, - viz. from Bombay, ''via'' Callian, to Jubbulpore, to meet the East Indian Railway Company's line from Allahabad, with branches to Mahim and Nagpore - 870 miles; and from Callian, ''via'' Poonah and Sholapore, to the opposite side of the river Kristna, to meet the line, ''via'' Bellary, from Madras - 366 miles - total, 1,236 miles. Capital 10,000,000''l''l. Rate of Interest Guaranteed - 5 per cent. on 8,000,000''l''. capital, and 4½ per cent. on 333,000''l''. debentures, the balance to be raised upon arrangements to be hereafter made." <supref>(1)"Money Market and City Intelligence", ''The Times'', Wednesday, 15 June 1859, #23333, 7a.</supref>
[[Image:India-rail-1870.jpg|left|thumb|Map of GIPR in 1870]]
GIPR Chief Engineer 1849 - 1862: Mr. James James Berkley (surveyor and route designer).
Consultant engineer 1847 - 1867: Mr Arthur Anderson West (surveyor of the Bhore Gate Incline)<supref> (2)[http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/docserver/fulltext/imotp.1913.17480.pdf Obituary of Arthur Anderson West] p363</supref>
GIPR Engineers: Messrs. Adamson and Clowser, subsequently replaced by Messrs. West and Tate in Nov 1859.
'''Construction Contractors'''
 
Autumn 1855 Mr William Frederick Faviell , work begun at Bhore Ghat on the 24th January 1856. In March 1859, Mr. Faviell gave up his contract; and, for a short time, GIPR's engineers Messrs. Swainson Adamson and George Louis Clowser, carried on the works.
The GIPR construction contract was relet in November 1859 to Mr. Solomon Tredwell, but he died within fifteen days of landing in India. Mrs. Alice Tredwell assumed the contract and appointed Messrs. Adamson and Clowser to manage the contract for her, in her absence - as Mrs. Tredwell returned to England. This arrangement was to last seven years.
“These gentlemen (Adamson and Clowser) carried on the work with the greatest zeal and ability.” Labour management could limit construction progress, but “by their good and liberal management (Adamson and Clowser) collected and kept on the work a force of 25,000 men during two seasons, and in 1861 of more than 42,000 men.” <supref> (3)[http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/pdf/gazeetter_reprint/Thane-I/trade_roads.html#5 Railways] Thana District Gazetteer</supref>
Incline length: 15 miles, tunnels: 26 (totalling 2.25 miles in length),and 8 viaducts of masonry construction.
*'''L/AG/46/12/86''' : GIPR Lists of appointments (officers 1849-1885; workmen 1852-1880)
 
*'''L/AG/46/12/88''' : GIPR Contracts of employment (officers 1886-1925; workmen 1881-1925)
*'''Z/L/AG/46''' : Index to UK Appointments to Indian Railways (1849-1925)
*'''Mss Eur D1184/14''' : Letters to Arthur A West from G L Clowser Nov 1860-Nov 1861 British Library, Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
==Notes==Both of the above are indexed in *'''Z/L/AG<references /46''' : Index to UK Appointments to Indian Railways (1849-1925)>
== Notes ==
 
<sup>1</sup> "Money Market and City Intelligence", ''The Times'', Wednesday, 15 June 1859, #23333, 7a.
 
<sup>2</sup> [http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/docserver/fulltext/imotp.1913.17480.pdf] obituary: Arthur Anderson West p363
 
<sup>3</sup> [http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/pdf/gazeetter_reprint/Thane-I/trade_roads.html#5 Railways] Thana District Gazetteer

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