Simlipal Forest, Mayurbhanj District,Tramway
Simlipal Forest, Mayurbhanj District,Tramway
The 'Borooah Timber Co Ltd' was incorporated in 1919, having taken over the concession from the late Mr B Borooah. The concession was in the Simlipal Forest, Mayurbhanj District and 'Martin & Co.' were the Managing Agents. The primary object of the company was to supply sleepers to mainline railways in eastern India and the lease permitted the extraction of 500,000 cubic feet(14,000 m3) per annum, rising to 8000,000 cubic feet(22,500 m3) [1].
A description from c.1930 stated:-
‘It is unfortunately impossible to use mechanical transport to any extent in the forests and at present sleepers are conveyed by bullock carts to a central depot; and from thence are transported seven miles by a 20 to steam tractor. Thereafter they are sent down a slide over a drop of 2,600 feet in a distance of three miles. It is estimated that they attain a speed of 60 miles per hour in the slide. From the bottom of the slide the sleepers are run into the station depot over a three mile tramline which was constructed by Robert Hudson (India) Ltd’ [1]
The nearest rail connections were:-
- Talbond (now named Talbandh) on the Baripada-Talbond Railway extension of the 2ft 6in/762mm narrow gauge(NG) Mayurbhanj Railway
- Gorumahisani and Badampahar on the Bengal-Nagpur Railway broad gauge(BG) ‘Kalimati-Gorumahisani Extension’ branch line from Kalimati (now called Tatanagar Juction, 5km south of Jamshedpur) and the ‘Badampahar Spur’
Further details of the tramline have not been found
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Industrial Railways and Locomotives of India and South Asia” compiled 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 OR23 page ....