On 3rd February 1925, the Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR) introduced the first electric locomotive for passenger transport in India, which was flagged off by Sir, Leslie Orme Wilson, the then Bombay Governor, in the presence of his wife and other distinguished invitees. Today, 3 February 2025, we commemorate the centenary of the electric rail transport in India. The train, comprising an electric locomotive and four coaches, ran from Victoria Terminus (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, CSMT) to Kurla, marking the beginning of railway electrification in India and laying the foundational stone for the commencement of EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) that are now a household name in the Mumbai suburban rail transportation.
Incidentally one of the first electric locomotives that ran in India during that period is in the collections of the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. The Electric Locomotive, shown in the picture, is called the WCP2 class locomotive, as seen from the 20024, loco number, which it sports. It was originally named Sir Roger Lumley. This locomotive was gifted by the Central Railways to the Nehru Science Centre in 1979. This electric locomotive was duly restored along with other locomotives in the collection of the centre during the Covid period.
The 20024 Sir Roger Lumley, locomotive, which stands tall at the Nehru Science Centre, duly conserved to its majestic best, was initially stored at the Kalyan loco shed from where it was shifted to Sion and from there to the Nehru Science Centre. The electric loco shed at Kalyan holds a unique record to its name. It was the first electric loco shed of Indian Railways. The Kalyan electric loco shed was established on 28 November 1928 under the GIPR. The electric loco shed at Kalyan during its journey of the last 97 years has maintained nearly 16 different types of electric locomotives. The loco shed has undertaken a long journey since its formation when it used to maintain electric locomotives EA/1 and EF/1, which had a horsepower of 2160 HP & 2230 HP respectively in 1928 and operated on 1500 Volts DC.
The Sir Roger Lumley electric locomotive in the collection of Nehru Science Centre most likely falls under the category of EA/1, the earliest type of locomotive, and has a horsepower of 2160. This locomotive was supplied by the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company and it was intended for high-speed service over the same routes as the freight locomotives. The engine has three pairs of driving wheels, a four-wheel bogie at one end and a pony axle at the other. It had Six 360 horsepower, 750-volt DC driving motors, which are mounted in tandem pairs over the three driving axles, each pair driving through an intermediate gear to a hollow gear wheel surrounding an axle, but carried in journals mounted on the locomotive frame. The form of drive employed gives a relatively high centre of gravity and good balance essential for an easy-riding locomotive at high speeds.
The body of the locomotive contains a driver's cabin at each end, the cabins being connected by a central corridor. Adjoining one of the driving cabs is a compartment containing auxiliary machinery such as vacuum pumps, air reservoirs, brake apparatus, and blowers for main motors. A central compartment contains various cam groups, etc., and a compartment at the other end holds the resistances and unit switches. The apparatus is mounted on frames placed on either side of the central corridor. All live parts are protected by interlocking doors to prevent access while the current is on.
One can see the two pantographs that are prominently visible on top of the locomotive. These two pantographs could be operated from either of the driver's cabins. The pantographs are mounted on a shield plate insulated from the pantographs and also from the main roof. The motor combinations in the locomotive were so arranged as to give one-third speed with all six motors in series, two-thirds speed with two circuits of three motors in series, and full speed with three circuits of two motors in series, all with full field. In addition, a field tapping was also used with any of the three combinations. All these arrangements of the six DC motors gave a power of 2160 HP to the locomotive, enabling the locomotive to be driven with a total of six running speeds. The National Rail Museum in New Delhi also has in its collection one such electric locomotive whose nameplates and number reveal the 20024, a number used during British Era, by the GIPR.
The genesis for the electrification of Indian railways in India began against the backdrop of post-World War I coal shortages and Bombay’s growing suburban traffic. The British-era GIPR, under Chief Electrical Engineer R.P. Smith, spearheaded the electrification project, inspired by Europe’s electrified networks. The initial 16-kilometer route from Bombay VT to Kurla was powered by a 1500V DC overhead system described above.
Mumbai (Bombay then), which boasts of the first electric rail passenger transport in India, incidentally also has the unique distinction of operating the first passenger train services in India. This train service ran from Mumbai (Bombay then) to Thane on April 16, 1853. Mumbai therefore has the rare honour of witnessing the first steam locomotive train service and so also the first electric locomotive train service in India. Incidentally, the rich rail history of the Indian Railways is exemplified by the monumental architectural edifice - the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) building. The CSMT building is individually listed as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. This 19th-century majestic building is now the headquarters of the Central Railway. It was formerly known as the Victoria Terminus (VT), in honour of the then-reigning British Queen Victoria, and it continues to be the most famous architectural landmark of Mumbai. The VT building also served as the headquarters of the GIPR, the predecessor of the Indian Railway.
The electric locomotive displayed at Nehru Science Centre has an interesting history of how this massive 112-tonne black beauty engine was transported and housed to Worli. This Sir Roger Lumley 20024 GIPR locomotive was originally stored at the Kalyan loco shed from where it was shifted to Sion and from there to the Nehru Science Centre, Worli. The electric loco shed at Kalyan holds a unique record to its name as the first electric loco shed of Indian Railways. The Kalyan electric loco shed was established on 28 November 1928 under the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR). The electric loco shed at Kalyan during its journey of the last 97 years has maintained nearly 16 different types of electric locomotives.
The Kalyan locomotive shed has undertaken a long journey since its formation when it used to maintain electric locomotives WPC 2 and WPC 1, EA/1, and EF/1, engines which had a horsepower of 2160 HP & 2230 HP respectively and were operated on 1500 Volts DC. The 20024 GIPR electric locomotive was transported from the Sion railway yard, on that historic night - 13 December 1979, to the Science Park of Nehru Science Centre, Worli. The Times of India, which briefly covered the transport of the engine from Sion to Worli, in its 14th, December 1979 edition quoted ‘A 50-year-old locomotive, stated to be one of the first electric engines in India, will be handed over to the Nehru Science Centre at a ceremony by the Central Railway at 11:00 a.m. on December 14, 1979’. The report added that ‘the locomotive, weighing a massive 100 plus tonnes, was put on a trailer on the night of 13th December, using a very cumbersome and complicated operation of loading the massive engine onto the trolley of the lorry, for road transportation from Sion railway station to the Science Centre.
This historic journey of the massive black locomotive began just after midnight on 13th December from Sion. The electric engine sitting on a special trailer travelled via Bandra, Mahim, and Dadar to reach the Science Centre in Worli on the early morning of 14th December 1979. It travelled through some of the most congested routes in the city. The Times of India report, which quoted Mr. N. R. Naidu, an engineer of the Central Railway, reveals that this electric locomotive was one of the oldest electric railway engines, which was operational in Bombay (Mumbai now). This locomotive after its retirement in the 1960s had been kept at the Kalyan locomotive shed for 15 years and was occasionally used for small jobs, before being gifted to the Nehru Science Centre. The report also adds that the complicated process of the transportation of this engine from Sion station to Nehru Science Centre in Worli was undertaken by a company called National Transport Services and this process was directly overseen by its proprietor Mr. Viay Papriwala. The report also included the name of the driver - Mr Brijal, who drove the trolley to transport the engine from Sion to Worli. The report ends by stating that Mr Papriwala was perhaps the proudest man when the engine reached the Science Centre the next morning on 14th December 1979.
Another report, which covered this historic journey of the black beauty from Sion station to Worli, says that not many people witnessed the transportation of the giant electric engine. It adds ‘Perhaps only a few pavement-dwellers, who were about to retire for the night, witnessed this unusual drama and will remember it in the days to come’. The report says ‘All of a sudden they saw a strange sight in the distance, breaking the silence and emptiness of the area, slowly move past them and gradually fade out of sight: a nearly 100-year-old railway engine, weighing 112 tonnes, on a trailer’. The report adds that a few passing motorists at night were bewildered, amused, and confused when they caught sight of the engine being transported on the trolley.
If the transportation was a challenge so was the preparation that went into loading the locomotive from the Sion Railway shed onto the Lorry. One report which covered the loading of the engine onto the trolley, says ‘Every day, several men, some bare-bodied and some in vests, sweated it out in the hot sun to lift the engine and place it on the trailer’. Very carefully they put “sleepers” below the loco and gradually lifted it with the help of jacks. Each time it moved up, they felt a sense of relief as though the entire job had, at last, been done. They patted each other and sang songs with a feeling of satisfaction. The report adds that ‘hundreds of people watched the drama of the loading of the engine and many of them took photographs”. Several trains passed by and many of them stopped at Sion station but neither the passengers nor the train staff seemed to know what was happening. Even in the neighbouring building, the favourite topic of discussion seemed to have been the mysterious drama of the black engine getting loaded onto the trolley. The loading of the engine onto the trolley took three days and several men worked for more than ten hours a day to complete the task.
One report says that at the end of three days, they saw the fruit of their endless efforts: the engine was firmly placed on the trailer. The report, which covered the loading operation says ‘the workers felt as though they had climbed a peak after several days’. The loading task was quite tedious since it was the first time that such a massive Electric railway engine was to be transported by road. From the Central Railway side, one Mr. N. R. Naidu supervised this operation.
The restored electric locomotive, which was opened on 26 January 2021, is on display at the Nehru Science Centre. It looks majestic and giving it company is another beauty - a narrow-gauge steam engine, which too was restored to its pristine elegance during the COVID period. Mumbaikars can spare some time to see this black beauty Electric Locomotive.
Images : Courtesy Nehru Science Centre and Central Railways
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