Suncity
December 1st, 2005, 08:28 PM
Kolkata's Howrah station turns 100
http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/01/stories/2005120101592200.htm
Kolkata: On Thursday, the Howrah railway station here, the second oldest in the country, completes a century. A week-long centenary celebration is planned.
Had it not been for a ship carrying a locomotive from England in 1853 losing its way in the oceans to land up on Australia's western coast, and another carrying railway coaches sinking near the sand-heads close to Kolkata port, the country's first train service might well have originated from Howrah station as had been planned.
It lost out to Bombay to remain content with being the second oldest station in India. Later of course it was chosen as the one from where the first Rajdhani Express (to New Delhi) was flagged off, on March 3, 1969.
London-based architect Halsey Ricardo was commissioned to design it in 1901. What was a modest structure of red brick with a roof of corrugated iron sheets and a single platform when the first train chugged out, was converted over the course of 10 years into an imposing Romanesque showpiece. Copies of Ricardo's drawings - 60 of them, dating back to 1901 — of the station as he conceived it sitting in his home on Bedford Square were among the documents the researchers have found.
Across time zones
A railway timetable dated December 1904 mentions two time zones - "Madras Time" and "Calcutta Time" - the former "kept at all stations and which is 33 minutes slower than Calcutta Time." Listed in the timetable are nearly 30 train services between Howrah and Burdwan, their time of arrival and departure conforming to "Madras Time."
Today, a century later, 196 pairs of trains of the Eastern Railway and 103 pairs of the South Eastern Railway depart and arrive at the Howrah station, used by a million people each day.
The different time zones have of course been scrapped. What is intact is arguably the station's most familiar fixture — the "boro ghari." These are the twin-faced clocks standing back-to-back, mounted on heavy wooden frames, since 1926. Electro-mechanical clocks, they used to be run by a pulsar device and could be remotely controlled from the control office to set the time. Later the device was put in the clocks themselves. They need no winding, and will be ticking away as the station steps into its 101st year.
Research
Curiously, until May 2005 nobody was sure when Howrah turns 100. It was only after frenetic burrowing into archives, spending hours inside libraries, sifting through tomes of manuscripts and century-old documents, did a team of officials of the Eastern Railway finally determine the date. "It was from one of those reports sent to the "agent" by the board of directors of the East Indian Railway every six months detailing the functioning of the railways did we chance upon the information we were looking for. The day the station with six platforms was finally functional was December 1, 1905, even though the first train to roll out of what then resembled a mud hut was August 15, 1854," Soumitra Majumdar, Chief Public Relations Officer, Eastern Railway, and one of 15 in the research team, told The Hindu on Wednesday.
______________________________
Station blueprints restored - Documents to find place in museum
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051121/asp/calcutta/story_5500295.asp
An Eastern Railway project to document the history of the Howrah station building has unearthed rare maps and architectural drawings.
British architect Halsey Ralph Ricardo, who designed the station building, prepared the drawings. They, along with the maps, have been restored.
“While researching the book, we came across 60 original maps and drawings that were lying crumpled and torn. We have restored all of them,” stated Saumitra Majumdar, chief public relations officer of Eastern Railway.
Majumdar, along with officers Dhrubajyoti Sengupta and Pradeep Kumar, is scripting the history of the station building.
A number of bi-yearly progress reports sent by East India Railway Company to its chief James Douglas, from 1905 to 1909, have also been unearthed.
Some of these documents will be showcased in the upcoming Railway Museum at the station.
The book, Vibrant Edifice: The Saga of Howrah Station, is almost ready and will be released on December 1, to mark the centenary of the commissioning of the building.
“Till date, there is no book on the history and development of the Howrah station building. The 130-page book, with the designs of the building and rare pictures, will provide a comprehensive account of the 100-year-old structure,” said a senior railway official.
In June this year, the three officers had started working on the book. They have sifted through books and newspapers at National Library and the Eastern Railway library to produce an authentic volume.
“We came across a report stating that the new station building (the old complex) was commissioned on December 1, 1905,” said Majumdar.
“The construction began in 1901 and continued till 1911,” he added.
Initially, the building housed six platforms. After electrification in 1957, the station was expanded.
Detailed architectural drawings of the building were prepared between 1901 and 1905. They show provision for a zenana waiting room (ladies’ waiting room), a third-class waiting hall, intermediate waiting hall, third-class booking office and intermediate booking office.
According to the book, Ricardo designed the station in the Romanesque tradition. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a good example of Romanesque architecture.
The design consisted of brick arches and windows separated by eight square towers on the front elevation from the east.
“The huge clock was strategically placed on top of the tower in the north-eastern corner with the face towards the east, so that people crossing the Hooghly from Calcutta can see it from a distance,” the book explains.
According to the documents, the building cost Rs 4,62,695.
The book also gives an account of the arrival and departure of famous people through Howrah station.
Of the seven chapters, one deals with the history of the Howrah bridge.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/01/stories/2005120101592200.htm
Kolkata: On Thursday, the Howrah railway station here, the second oldest in the country, completes a century. A week-long centenary celebration is planned.
Had it not been for a ship carrying a locomotive from England in 1853 losing its way in the oceans to land up on Australia's western coast, and another carrying railway coaches sinking near the sand-heads close to Kolkata port, the country's first train service might well have originated from Howrah station as had been planned.
It lost out to Bombay to remain content with being the second oldest station in India. Later of course it was chosen as the one from where the first Rajdhani Express (to New Delhi) was flagged off, on March 3, 1969.
London-based architect Halsey Ricardo was commissioned to design it in 1901. What was a modest structure of red brick with a roof of corrugated iron sheets and a single platform when the first train chugged out, was converted over the course of 10 years into an imposing Romanesque showpiece. Copies of Ricardo's drawings - 60 of them, dating back to 1901 — of the station as he conceived it sitting in his home on Bedford Square were among the documents the researchers have found.
Across time zones
A railway timetable dated December 1904 mentions two time zones - "Madras Time" and "Calcutta Time" - the former "kept at all stations and which is 33 minutes slower than Calcutta Time." Listed in the timetable are nearly 30 train services between Howrah and Burdwan, their time of arrival and departure conforming to "Madras Time."
Today, a century later, 196 pairs of trains of the Eastern Railway and 103 pairs of the South Eastern Railway depart and arrive at the Howrah station, used by a million people each day.
The different time zones have of course been scrapped. What is intact is arguably the station's most familiar fixture — the "boro ghari." These are the twin-faced clocks standing back-to-back, mounted on heavy wooden frames, since 1926. Electro-mechanical clocks, they used to be run by a pulsar device and could be remotely controlled from the control office to set the time. Later the device was put in the clocks themselves. They need no winding, and will be ticking away as the station steps into its 101st year.
Research
Curiously, until May 2005 nobody was sure when Howrah turns 100. It was only after frenetic burrowing into archives, spending hours inside libraries, sifting through tomes of manuscripts and century-old documents, did a team of officials of the Eastern Railway finally determine the date. "It was from one of those reports sent to the "agent" by the board of directors of the East Indian Railway every six months detailing the functioning of the railways did we chance upon the information we were looking for. The day the station with six platforms was finally functional was December 1, 1905, even though the first train to roll out of what then resembled a mud hut was August 15, 1854," Soumitra Majumdar, Chief Public Relations Officer, Eastern Railway, and one of 15 in the research team, told The Hindu on Wednesday.
______________________________
Station blueprints restored - Documents to find place in museum
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051121/asp/calcutta/story_5500295.asp
An Eastern Railway project to document the history of the Howrah station building has unearthed rare maps and architectural drawings.
British architect Halsey Ralph Ricardo, who designed the station building, prepared the drawings. They, along with the maps, have been restored.
“While researching the book, we came across 60 original maps and drawings that were lying crumpled and torn. We have restored all of them,” stated Saumitra Majumdar, chief public relations officer of Eastern Railway.
Majumdar, along with officers Dhrubajyoti Sengupta and Pradeep Kumar, is scripting the history of the station building.
A number of bi-yearly progress reports sent by East India Railway Company to its chief James Douglas, from 1905 to 1909, have also been unearthed.
Some of these documents will be showcased in the upcoming Railway Museum at the station.
The book, Vibrant Edifice: The Saga of Howrah Station, is almost ready and will be released on December 1, to mark the centenary of the commissioning of the building.
“Till date, there is no book on the history and development of the Howrah station building. The 130-page book, with the designs of the building and rare pictures, will provide a comprehensive account of the 100-year-old structure,” said a senior railway official.
In June this year, the three officers had started working on the book. They have sifted through books and newspapers at National Library and the Eastern Railway library to produce an authentic volume.
“We came across a report stating that the new station building (the old complex) was commissioned on December 1, 1905,” said Majumdar.
“The construction began in 1901 and continued till 1911,” he added.
Initially, the building housed six platforms. After electrification in 1957, the station was expanded.
Detailed architectural drawings of the building were prepared between 1901 and 1905. They show provision for a zenana waiting room (ladies’ waiting room), a third-class waiting hall, intermediate waiting hall, third-class booking office and intermediate booking office.
According to the book, Ricardo designed the station in the Romanesque tradition. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a good example of Romanesque architecture.
The design consisted of brick arches and windows separated by eight square towers on the front elevation from the east.
“The huge clock was strategically placed on top of the tower in the north-eastern corner with the face towards the east, so that people crossing the Hooghly from Calcutta can see it from a distance,” the book explains.
According to the documents, the building cost Rs 4,62,695.
The book also gives an account of the arrival and departure of famous people through Howrah station.
Of the seven chapters, one deals with the history of the Howrah bridge.