Champaner Manganese Mine Monorail/Railway
Champaner Manganese Mine Monorail/Railway
The manganese mines at Champaner, Panchmahal District, Gujarat opened in 1905. The mines, owned by the Shivrajpur Syndicate Limited were managed by the Agent Killick, Nixon & Company [1].
Monorail
The Champaner Manganese Mines were initially linked to the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway(BB&CIR) station at Champaner Road by a 20 mile(32km) Ewing system monorail. This had 60 wagons designed to carry 6 tons that were hauled by buffalo. Marsland, Price & Co built the system. In 1909 it was stated that 'the said many claimed advantages of trhe system did not materialise' and it was decided as 'most unsatisfactory' [1].
NG Railway
A conventional 2ft 6in/762mm narrow gauge(NG) opened on 3 Feb 1912 replacing the monorail. This line was known as the 'Champaner-Shivrajpur Light Railway' and started at the BB&CIR station at Champaner Road then ran 600 yards(550metres) beside the provincial road, which it followed crossing several times until it reached the mines, a line length of 18¾ miles(30km)[1].
It is thought that2 ft/610mm narrow gauge(NG) locomotives were used in the mines [1].
Later Developments
In 1915 the line was taken over by the Guzerat Railways Company and the line extended to Pani in 1916, a total of 31 miles(49km) [2] and became the Champaner-Shivrajpur- Pani Light Railway. (see for further information)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 “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 GJ29 pages 153-154
- ↑ " Administration Report on the Railways in India – corrected up to 31st March 1918"; Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta; page 222; Retrieved 16 Feb 2017