The Saraya Sugar Mills System, India, 28/12/1993
Photographs of trains and locomotives on the Saraya Sugar Mills system, near Gorakhpur, north India. Unfortunately, the weather was overcast and sultry on the day of the group’s visit, so the trains are not shown to best advantage.
The railway system serving the Saraya Sugar Mills and its sugar cane fields employed a fascinating collection of mainly ancient, ex-main line, rather than industrial, steam locomotives of both 2’ 6” gauge and metre gauge, which were very interesting to study.
The locomotives seen were (with most details from irfca.org/docs/locolists/preserved-steam-india.xls):
- No. 3 4-4-0, metre gauge, built by Dübs of Glasgow in 1883.
- No. 8 “Tweed” 0-4-0, metre gauge, built by Sharp Stewart in 1873.
- No. 52 0-6-0T, 2’ 6” gauge, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1922.
- No. 54 4-4-0, metre gauge, built by Vulcan Foundry in 1884.
- No. 145 4-6-2, 2’ 6” gauge, built by Kitson in 1918.
No. 52 was the locomotive used on a photographic charter train for the tour group on the rail system through the fields around the mills. The train consisted of a small 4-wheel coach, for the group to travel in, and a couple of wagons of sugar cane.
1-of-15) To set the scene, this was the railway entrance to Saraya Sugar Mills showing mixed gauge track and pointwork. The gauges here being 2’ 6” and metre gauge. Sugar cane was brought from the surrounding fields by train, and also by lorries and bullock carts, as seen here.
2-of-15) Metre gauge 0-4-0 no. 8 “Tweed”, built by Sharp Stewart of Manchester in 1873, inside the wall around the Saraya Sugar Mills. Due to its age, this was a celebrity locomotive and was originally one of a small class built for the Tirhoot State Railway, which became part of the Bengal North Western Railway. Some of these locomotives had been sold off into industrial use in the 1920s, like Tweed, which was out of use at this time,
3-of-15) The Spartan cab of metre gauge no. 8 “Tweed”, built by Sharp Stewart in 1873.
4-of-15) Derelict metre gauge 4-4-0 no. 3, built by Dübs of Glasgow in 1883, inside the wall around the Saraya Sugar Mills, with no. 8 “Tweed” behind.
5-of-15) 2’ 6” gauge, steam locomotive, 4-6-2 no. 145, built by Kitson of Leeds in 1918 for the Kalabagh-Bannu (Trans Indus) Railway of the North Western Railway. This really does look like a scaled-down main-line “Pacific” locomotive and is strange to see on an industrial railway. Here it is being prepared for work bringing sugar cane from the fields.
6-of-15) 2’ 6” gauge, steam locomotive, 4-6-2 no. 145 (Kitson 1918) heads out from the sugar mills to the surrounding sugar fields.
7-of-15) Metre gauge 4-4-0 no. 54, built by Vulcan Foundry in 1884, arrives at Saraya Sugar Mills with a load of sugar cane from the fields.
8-of-15) Metre gauge 4-4-0 no. 54, built by Vulcan Foundry of Newton le Willows in 1884 for the Tirhoot State Railway, which became part of the Bengal North Western Railway. This amazing old ex-mainline locomotive was still earning its keep at the age of nearly 110 years, and had just arrived with a load of sugar cane from the fields.
9-of-15) 2’ 6” gauge 0-6-0 no. 52, built by Hudswell Clarke in 1922, arrives at Saraya Sugar Mills, India, with a load of sugar cane from the fields.
10-of-15) 2’ 6” gauge 0-6-0 no. 52 (HC 1922) has detached from its train and is entering through the gateway of Saraya Sugar Mills.
11-of-15) 2’ 6” gauge 0-6-0 no. 52 (HC 1922) with the charter train of the tour group in the fields on the Saraya Sugar Mills railway system.
12-of-15) 2’ 6” gauge 0-6-0 no. 52 (HC 1922) with the charter train in the fields on the Saraya Sugar Mills railway system.
13-of-15) 2’ 6” gauge 0-6-0 no. 52 (HC 1922) performs a run-past with the charter train in the fields on the Saraya Sugar Mills railway system.
14-of-15) 2’ 6” gauge 0-6-0 no. 52 (HC 1922) runs past some of the local people with the charter train in the fields on the Saraya Sugar Mills railway system.
15-of-15) 2’ 6” gauge 0-6-0 no. 52 (HC 1922) performs a run-past with the charter train in the fields on the Saraya Sugar Mills railway system.
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