railways in Nepal - Janakpur

for those who are interested - I would like to start a group to discuss possible support for the Janakpur Railway Restoration Group. Janakpur is the earliest - and pretty much the only - major railway station in Nepal. The railway goes from Nepal, across the border into India, and is still running although it has some old unusable 1920s rolling stock. We have recently set up a restoration group to investigate and help restore the old Janakpur station and railway in collaboration with local Nepalese enthusiasts, as part of a revival programme for Janakpur town - a historical town with ancient culture and heritage.

Please let me know if you are interested and how you might be involved. I shall be going out to Nepal in August and will be visiting Janakpur. Some local hoteliers are interested in hosting groups of visitors and I thought it might be fun to get a group together to go out for a month or so and get stuck in. Alternatively you might just be interested in the history of the railway which I am only now beginning to research.

david seddon

 

Following on from my first post yesterday - more info on railways of Nepal.

In 1923, a short narrow gauge railway was built by J. V. Collier of the Indian Forest Service to transport Nepalese timber to India. Collier had been assigned by Nepal's Rana prime minister to manage the forest department in Nepal. In the winter of 1924, Martin and Co. of Kolkata conducted a survey to construct a light railway from the border north to Bichako (Amlekhganj).
Construction began in March 1926, and the Nepal Government Railway opened on 16 February 1927. The narrow gauge railway used a track gauge of 2 ft 6 in (762 mm). The railway possessed seven steam locomotives, 12 coaches and 82 wagons. It operated steam-powered Garratt locomotives manufactured by Beyer, Peacock and Company of the United Kingdom.
The Nepal Government Railway remained in service till 1965 when the construction of a modern highway linking the southern border made it redundant.
Until the highway was built, the Amlekhganj-Raxaul railway was the only route connecting the capital Kathmandu with India. From Kathmandu, travellers journeyed over the hills on foot, and then by lorry to Amlekhganj where they took the train to India. The need to walk was eliminated after Tribhuvan Highway linking Kathmandu with Amlekhganj was built in 1956. The first daily bus service began operating on it in 1959, conducted by a private company named Nepal Transport Service.

 

Hi David I have just come across this post can you tell me what you found out in Nepal please?

Regards

Colin Rainsbury

 

I have not had a great deal of interest in response to my post a year or more ago - but I have been back to Janakpur and am concerned that there is very little real interest in this extraordinary heritage site - the old railway station, track and rolling stock etc. - on the part of the local municipal authorities or travel agents or others who might be interested in collaboration with an international group. But am still plugging away myself trying to increase local and international interest. Yours is the first expression of interest though and very welcome at that but its not particularly encouraging so far.. Ill be going out to Nepal again later this year and hope to be able to do something myself alone if not as part of a group.

 

I have followed the fate of the Janakpur Railway from a distance for some time. This began in around 1980 when I was working at the Hunslet Engine Company who fulfilled a spares order for new driving wheelsets for the two 4-6-0 Hunslet tank locos on the railway. During a business trip to Nepal in the late 1980's I again came across some Government contacts with interest in the railway. Since that time Ive followed form a distance. Was there not a suggestion that some of the equipment was to be shipped elsewhere in Nepal to build a tourist railway, this when gauge conversion was being carried out? A lot of British built locomotives which should not be lost to the scrap man.

 

Thanks for your reply David,

I personally find it very difficult to get any interest in British built steam locos that are not in the UK, it is a different matter if they are going to come back to the UK, but you need to have the right people in the right place at the right time. personally if money was no object I would love to see just how difficult it would be to bring them back to the UK at least two group have expressed an interest in some of them.

But I feel that it will be a case of all or none in one go.

The other Nepalese railway which I have been interested in for just as long and that is the old Kosi dam project, I believe there are still some locos dumped on the Nepalese side of the board.

Please keep in touch, as you never know what may happen.

Regards

Colin Rainsbury

 

I would be interested to learn the latest situation. I had some contacts years ago and collected information but then the political situation changed after the assassination.