Photos taken on the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway in Sept 1909. The second photo is interesting as the caption says 'Elephant Crossing' and Temp single line working. I wonder whether there were special Elephant crossings where the trains observed speed limits as they do today in the national parks. Caption under photo on the left "Bombay - Madras Postal Special arriving at Central Station. Engine T 644 4-4-0. Sept. 1909." Caption under photo on the right "Bombay - Madras Postal Special - Elephant Crossing. Madras. No. 234 0-4-2. Temp single line working." Scans provided by M.Senthil Kumar.
Date: 2009-11-10
Owner: Gallery Administrator
Comments
Was this Postal Special a precursor of the Bombay Madras Mail? Interesting to note that only 100 years ago, wild elephants used to roam within Madras city.
Posted by Dr.Jitendra Mulky on 2009 Nov 19 07:27:18 +0000
The photographer must be referring to present Elephant gate area. In Tamil it is called as "Yaanai Kavuni"
Posted by Ramesh on 2009 Nov 13 03:33:21 +0000
What is the origin of the name "Elephant gate" - was this an extra wide level crossing to lead pachyderms to the Buckingham canal (that had pristine waters then?)