Turn Table as seen in 2001.
WAG1 #20710: Bidhan.
WAM1: The 1st AC Electric
Locomotive on the Indian Railways WAM1 20202 was dedicated to the service of the
nation on the 1st January, 1959 by Shri Jagjivan Ram, the then Minister of
Railways at Asansol Railway Station. This locomotive was aptly christened as
"JAGJIVAN RAM". This event marked the beginning of 25 KV AC traction
on the Indian Railway System. This 2840 HP electric locomotive was manufactured
at Germany and imported at an approx. cost of Rs. 10 lakhs in the year 1958. It
employed Ignitron type mercury arc rectifiers for converting AC to DC for
powering its motors. This 74 ton locomotive worked at 100 KMPH and also hauled
the Kalka-Howrah Mail Deluxe Express trains. At its mid-life rehabilitation
stage, the locomotive was converted from mercury arc to silicon diode type
rectifiers. (The 1st WAM1, according to Hugh Hughes'
book, Indian Locomotives Part 4, and Jal Daboo's book, A Guide to Diesel &
Electric Locomotives, is #20200).
WCG1: This DC electric
locomotive was amongst the first lot of 41 electric locomotives to come to this
country. It was christened Sir Leslie Wilson in the honor of the then Governor
of Bombay. It was specially designed for goods operations and had a high
tractive effort.
(WCG1 #20025 was named
after Leslie Wilson, then Governor of Bombay. One at NRM is WCG1 20027. Another
one at Kalyan Loco Shed also carries the same name, even though it is not 20025
either. So which one is real "Leslie Wilson"? NRM site also indicates
that this loco is 650 HP. The fact is, this loco had four traction motors of 650
HP each, two under hood on each side.)
WCP1 Sir Roger Lumley: This
DC locomotive has a rigid wheel base of only 2 driving wheels. The third wheel
is articulated with the single carrying wheel. Each one is driven by a pair of
motors which can be connected in various combinations to give 6 different
speeds.
(This information is
grossly incorrect. It is 2-C0-1 locomotive, as quoted in Hugh Hughes' book. Each driving axel was powered by two traction motors rated at 350
HP each. This loco at NRM is complete with traction motors and collapsible
ladder near Asstt. Driver's door on -1 end. I could not check presence of
instruments in driving cabs, though.
More comments from Ian
MacFarlane, a veteran rail fan and railway man from Australia, who is fully
familiar with Indian Railways:
"On the CR ex-GIPR
2-Co-1, originally the EA-1 class. The confusion arises because there were three
pre-production prototype electric Pacific engines, reflecting a mixture of both
these wheelbase arrangements and a third, the symmetrical 2-Co-2, with test use
of different flexible drives from paired dc electric motors to the three
uncoupled wheel sets. The production engines #s 4004-24 and a later #4025 were
all 2-Co-1, and as 4006 lies in that range it has to be a 2-Co-1 and not the
oddball prototype. From my recollection of seeing the beast, it was a
conventional rigid-chassis electric Pacific. My source of info on the prototypes
was before I had read Hugh Hughes Part 1 on BG locos, 1851-1940, being a definitive
French book on electric traction, Histoire de la Traction Electrique, Vol 1 (of
2 vols). The researchers on the loco side were Messieurs Yves Machfert-Tasserin,
and the great Fernand Nouvion, both of whom I knew. The production electric
passenger locos for the GIPR were DC, Metrovick equipped versions of the similar
Swiss Federal Ae3/6 series I, also built by SLM at Winterthur. So while Hughes
is wrong on not identifying one of the prototypes as a 2-Bo-A1 (I don't know
which number), he is right in quoting the production locos as 2-Co-1 (or 1-Co-2,
which is the same). In passing, the pioneer and short-lived NWR diesel-electric
Mail Engines of 1935 were indeed 2-Bo-A1. Oddball configurations like this and
electric and diesel electric locos built on rigid chassis were popular until
powerful main line loco-sized traction motors were small enough to fit between
the wheels, on a bogie under a highish-level, but still an essentially flat
floor.")
Another picture of the same loco.
WR 1928 stock EMU motor Coach # 35B: This
is one of the first coaches used for the EMU services in the Bombay suburban
section of the Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway.
Weather has taken a toll on the canvas on roof. One
glass window is broken.
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