Kangra Valley Railway
The Kangra Valley Railway was a 2ft 6in/762mm narrow gauge(NG) mountain railway branch of North Western Railway(NWR), climbing from the Punjab plains up into hills of Mandi State . The Pathankot to Nagrota section, 68 miles(108 km) opened in 1928 and Nagrota to Joginder Nagar section, 36 miles(57 km) in 1929. [1] [2]
In 1925, the Punjab government started the ‘Uhl River Hydro Electric Project’ of constructing a dam across Uhl river at Barot. To transport heavy plant and machinery for the project, a metre gauge tramway from Mukerian to Shanan was proposed. This was changed to a two-feet six-inch gauge by the Railway Board and construction by the Lahore division of the North Western Railway began in 1926 [2] . See Shaman Hydro Electric Construction Transportation for details of the vital role performed by the ‘Kangra Valley Railway’.
The gauge is 2 ft. 6 in., and, though the ruling grade over a part of its length is 1 in 50, it has a final ascent of some miles at 1 in 25. The principal feature of this line is the heavy bridging involved almost throughout ; the aggregate length of the steel girder bridges is 11,000 ft. Among other bridges is the first steel arch in India, known as the Reond Arch. It bridges a cleft in the hills 200 ft. deep with two 40-ft. approach spans and a single main span, with a steel arch, 180 ft. long. This arch was made entirely in India. The delicate operation of erection was successfully carried out by the Bridge Department of the North Western Railway.
Temporary tramways were used during the construction, 7½ miles(12km) were used for the cuttings at Banganga, Nagrota Pass, Paror and Bir Kand [3].
During the Second World War, a number of uneconomic lines were dismantled and material was shipped for British operations in the Middle East. The Nagrota to Joginder Nagar section was dismantled and operations were closed in 1942. (Reopened 1954)
Records
An on-line search of the India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library relating to this railway [4] gives the following:-
- L/F/7/2202; "Collection 370/46: Railways: Miscellaneous: Kangra Valley Railway, construction estimates"; 1927-31
- Mss Eur F290/24; "Papers regarding the Kalka-Simla and Kangra Valley Railways"; 1970-73. This must relate to the section of the railway that reopened in 1954 - further investigation is required.
Further Information
External links
- "Kangra's narrow gauge rail corridor is all set to get heritage status" by Samonway Duttagupta May 3, 2016 indiatoday.in.
References
- ↑ Wikipedia "Kangra Valley Railway"; Retrieved 18 Feb 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Indian Express Newspaper "Kangra Valley Railway" Thu May 21 2009; Retrieved 12 Feb 2017
- ↑ “Industrial Railways and Locomotives of India and South Asia” compliled by Simon Darvill. Published by ‘The Industrial Railway Society’ 2013. ISBN 978 1 901556 82-7. Available at http://irsshop.co.uk/India. Reference: Entry RC23
- ↑ “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue” - Search; Retrieved 8 Apr 2016
