Mysore-Nanjangud Railway
| Mysore-Nanjangud Railway | ||
|---|---|---|
| [[Image:|150px| ]] | ||
| Line of route | ||
| Mysore to Nanjangud | ||
| Gauge / mileage | ||
| Metre gauge | 16 miles (1905) | |
| Timeline | ||
| 1891 | Opened to traffic | |
| Key locations | ||
| Presidency | Madras | |
| Stations | Mysore, Nanjangud | |
| System agency | ||
| 1891 | Worked by Southern Mahratta Railway | |
| 1907 | Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway | |
| 1919 | Mysore State Railway | |
| How to interpret this infobox | ||
The Mysore-Nanjangud Railway was a short metre gauge(MG) line that extended the Mysore State Railway(MSR) mainline from Mysore to Nanjangud. The railway was owned by the Princely Mysore State Durbar and worked by the MSR. The 15 mile(24km) line to opened in 1891[1] and carried the line to the north bank of the Kabini River facing Nanjangud.
Kabini Bridge
The ‘Kabini Bridge’ had been constucted in 1735 and was used to extend the railway to Nanjangud Town by laying rail tracks on the bridge bed. This 0.76 mile(1.22km) line over the bridge to the Town on the south side opened in 1899 [1]and became a combined road/rail bridge.
The following account is compiled from various web sources:-
The bridge across Kabini river has been declared by the Government of India as the oldest bridge in India with both railway line and road bridge. It is located at the entrance of temple town of Nanjangud. The ‘Kabini Bridge’ was built by Dalvoy Devraj in 1735 with brick, sand and stone in Gothic style. Though it was built before the railway tracks were laid, the bridge was and is more commonly labelled as a Railway bridge. The ‘Kabini Bridge’ has 51 spans in a series of Gothic arches of 10ft (3mtr) wide with 8ft (2.4mtr) wide piers. The earth cushion over the arch crest is over 5 feet(1.5mtr). The foundations are laid on rocky strata and built in lime concrete. Before 1902 it existed as a road bridge ferryin g bullock, camel and horse carriage traffic across the Kabni. The railway line opened in 1899 and used the bridge to connect it to the Nanjangud railway station. The last train to run on this heritage rail infrastructure was on January 17, 2007[2]
Several sources quote the date of opening as 1902, this is incorrect and the record shows it was 12 Jul 1899[1]
Later Developments
The MSR became the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway(M&SMR) in 1907, they worked the line until 1919.
In 1919, the Mysore State successfully sought the reversion of the ‘Mysore -Bangalore Section’ and two branch lines, the ‘Birur-Shimoga Railway’ and the ‘Mysore-Nanjangud Railway’ became the ‘Mysore State Railway’(MSR) [3]
Records
Refer to FIBIS Fact File #4: “Research sources for Indian Railways, 1845-1947” - available from the Fibis shop. This Fact File contains invaluable advice on 'Researching ancestors in the UK records of Indian Railways' with particular reference to the India Office Records (IOR) held at the British Library
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 " Administration Report on the Railways in India – corrected up to 31st March 1918"; Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta; page 92; Retrieved 22 Oct 2020
- ↑ Wikipedia ‘Nanjangud – Oldest Bridge in India'; Retrieved 22 Oct 2020
- ↑ British Library IOR L/F/8/20/1704 ‘Contract with the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Co.Ltd as to the transfer of Mysore-Nanjangud , Birur-Shimoga and Mysore-Bangalore Railways sections of the Mysore Railway to the Mysore Durbar. Dated 24 Oct 1924 effective 1 Oct 1919