Patiala ,My city .............. Feel the fragrance of the cool and lovely city of Punjab. City with rich Royal Heritage ,picking pages from history.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Unique feature of Patiala State Monorail Transport system
Patiala State Monorail Transport
Patiala State Monorail System (PSMT) was a unique rail guided, partially road-borne railways system running in Patiala State from 1907 to 1927. PSMT was the only operational locomotive railway system built based on the Erwine system in the world.
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh patronized this unique Railway system and got this railway system constructed. This Transport system was constructed to facilitate movement of people and goods in his state. This system was developed under the supervision of Colonel C.W Bowles , who was The chief engineer of this project . Col. Bowles had earlier successfully used monorail based on model of Erwine system. One of the objects of PSMT was to make use of the 500 mules ,These mules were breeded and maintained by Patiala State. Apart from mules, Oxen were also used to haul the monorail before introduction of steam engine on route of PSMT.
In a 1908 edition of Imperial Gazetteer of India in which there was a brief mention. The gazetteer simply stated about the existence of the monorail system , that - "a mono-rail tramway, opened in February, 1907, connects Bassi with the railway at Sirhind". Later An map of 1913 available also had confirmed and shows a tramway running along west side of road which possibly indicate the existence of such rail system, but it does not mention the PSMT by name.
The only account of operational details of PSMT is found in papers of Colonel Bowles. According to a memorandum dated October 2, 1908 available with the records . There is mention of the PSMT carried 20,000 passengers in a single month on Sirhind - Morinda line. However there was no details of goods carried of the quantity is available at anywhere.
The fare of only 1½ Annas , was charged from the passenger was for the entire route. where as 1 anna per maund (80 lb). was charged for carrying goods .
The total distance covered by PSMT was estimated to be around 50 miles (80 km). PSMT was operational on only two unconnected Section lines. One section was from Sirhind to Morinda a distance of 24 km. It was planned at one stage to extend this line to Ropar, but there is no trace of it.Probably the project could not be carried out.
The other section of rail line ran 55 km from Patiala to Sunam . Today no trace of the tracks or any infrastructure of PSMT remains is found any where . However, information about the route was found in a letter by Colonel Bowles to Mr. Ambler. Colonel Bowles described the route of Patiala-Sunam line .
The steam engine was probably used only on Patiala Sunam Line. Col. Bowles wrote about the engines were heavy for rails which were specified as 9 kg/m.These steam engines were not used on Sirhind - Morinda line which were not of that specification of rails. He had mentioned that the steam engine did run only between Patiala Station and City Mandi , a distance of about a mile only .
Rolling stock.
The information of the rolling stock with PSMT is not very clear However the records show some vague picture, by reconstructing these information the facts are available.
• Wagons were normally of 8 feet long and 6 feet wide , with two 8-inch diameter wheels.
• The coaches were provided with 98 cm diameter road wheel .
• There was a total of 75 goods wagons and 15 passenger coaches in PSMT fleet till 1908..
• There were goods wagons, having two road wheels. Some of these wagons were also converted and improvised for use as passenger coaches by having transverse benches fitted in them.The goods coaches were about 30-foot long.
• The passenger coaches on the Sirhind Line were open-sided wagons
Features of Steam Locomotive engines of PSMT.
• Initially PSMT used mules to pull the train. Later on four steam loco’s were acquired for pulling the coaches. It is not known whether the engines were used on both lines or only on Patiala - Sunam line.
• These four locomotives were built by Orenstein & Koppel Co.of Berlin Germany, around the year 1907 at cost of £600 each.
• The locomotives had a double flanged driver in the center of each axle . The water tank on the right-hand side was larger so that some of the weight shifted onto the 39-inch diameter balance wheel which was attached beyond the enlarged water tank.
• Orenstein & Koppel Co.of Berlin Germany ,designed the engines by considering the extra cab space behind the enlarged water tank and provided the fire door on the right side of the fire box instead at the back as was usually done.
• These locos were only used to ply between the Patiala - Sunam .
Around 1912, with the advent of new automobile Technology and improved roads, PSMT slowly began losing favour with people. As The Patiala State also lost its interest in PSMT ,ultimately the project was closed on 1 October 1927. After the death of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh in there was no takers of this project . Thus, PSMT and all its records, photographs, etc., were left uncared for and gradually ,the documents, photographs etc. related to PSMT were not preserved and thus what could have been valuable source of information on this unique monorail was lost forever. PSMT was forgotten even in Patiala, till the its remains were discovered in a Public Work Department (PWD) shed by Mr. Mike Shatow in 1962.
One PSMT locomotive was restored along with Chief Engineer's private inspection car (this coach was rebuilt on original frame as a normal passenger coach). Both of these are on display at the Indian National Railway Museum New Delhi . No information is available about rest of the engine or coaches.
Patiala State Monorail System (PSMT) was a unique rail guided, partially road-borne railways system running in Patiala State from 1907 to 1927. PSMT was the only operational locomotive railway system built based on the Erwine system in the world.
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh patronized this unique Railway system and got this railway system constructed. This Transport system was constructed to facilitate movement of people and goods in his state. This system was developed under the supervision of Colonel C.W Bowles , who was The chief engineer of this project . Col. Bowles had earlier successfully used monorail based on model of Erwine system. One of the objects of PSMT was to make use of the 500 mules ,These mules were breeded and maintained by Patiala State. Apart from mules, Oxen were also used to haul the monorail before introduction of steam engine on route of PSMT.
In a 1908 edition of Imperial Gazetteer of India in which there was a brief mention. The gazetteer simply stated about the existence of the monorail system , that - "a mono-rail tramway, opened in February, 1907, connects Bassi with the railway at Sirhind". Later An map of 1913 available also had confirmed and shows a tramway running along west side of road which possibly indicate the existence of such rail system, but it does not mention the PSMT by name.
The only account of operational details of PSMT is found in papers of Colonel Bowles. According to a memorandum dated October 2, 1908 available with the records . There is mention of the PSMT carried 20,000 passengers in a single month on Sirhind - Morinda line. However there was no details of goods carried of the quantity is available at anywhere.
The fare of only 1½ Annas , was charged from the passenger was for the entire route. where as 1 anna per maund (80 lb). was charged for carrying goods .
The total distance covered by PSMT was estimated to be around 50 miles (80 km). PSMT was operational on only two unconnected Section lines. One section was from Sirhind to Morinda a distance of 24 km. It was planned at one stage to extend this line to Ropar, but there is no trace of it.Probably the project could not be carried out.
The other section of rail line ran 55 km from Patiala to Sunam . Today no trace of the tracks or any infrastructure of PSMT remains is found any where . However, information about the route was found in a letter by Colonel Bowles to Mr. Ambler. Colonel Bowles described the route of Patiala-Sunam line .
The steam engine was probably used only on Patiala Sunam Line. Col. Bowles wrote about the engines were heavy for rails which were specified as 9 kg/m.These steam engines were not used on Sirhind - Morinda line which were not of that specification of rails. He had mentioned that the steam engine did run only between Patiala Station and City Mandi , a distance of about a mile only .
Rolling stock.
The information of the rolling stock with PSMT is not very clear However the records show some vague picture, by reconstructing these information the facts are available.
• Wagons were normally of 8 feet long and 6 feet wide , with two 8-inch diameter wheels.
• The coaches were provided with 98 cm diameter road wheel .
• There was a total of 75 goods wagons and 15 passenger coaches in PSMT fleet till 1908..
• There were goods wagons, having two road wheels. Some of these wagons were also converted and improvised for use as passenger coaches by having transverse benches fitted in them.The goods coaches were about 30-foot long.
• The passenger coaches on the Sirhind Line were open-sided wagons
Features of Steam Locomotive engines of PSMT.
• Initially PSMT used mules to pull the train. Later on four steam loco’s were acquired for pulling the coaches. It is not known whether the engines were used on both lines or only on Patiala - Sunam line.
• These four locomotives were built by Orenstein & Koppel Co.of Berlin Germany, around the year 1907 at cost of £600 each.
• The locomotives had a double flanged driver in the center of each axle . The water tank on the right-hand side was larger so that some of the weight shifted onto the 39-inch diameter balance wheel which was attached beyond the enlarged water tank.
• Orenstein & Koppel Co.of Berlin Germany ,designed the engines by considering the extra cab space behind the enlarged water tank and provided the fire door on the right side of the fire box instead at the back as was usually done.
• These locos were only used to ply between the Patiala - Sunam .
Around 1912, with the advent of new automobile Technology and improved roads, PSMT slowly began losing favour with people. As The Patiala State also lost its interest in PSMT ,ultimately the project was closed on 1 October 1927. After the death of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh in there was no takers of this project . Thus, PSMT and all its records, photographs, etc., were left uncared for and gradually ,the documents, photographs etc. related to PSMT were not preserved and thus what could have been valuable source of information on this unique monorail was lost forever. PSMT was forgotten even in Patiala, till the its remains were discovered in a Public Work Department (PWD) shed by Mr. Mike Shatow in 1962.
One PSMT locomotive was restored along with Chief Engineer's private inspection car (this coach was rebuilt on original frame as a normal passenger coach). Both of these are on display at the Indian National Railway Museum New Delhi . No information is available about rest of the engine or coaches.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)