A rare scan. This is the inaugural run on the Ernakulam-Kottayam Metre Gauge line on 17 October 1956. Photo taken at Ernakulam Jn. Information - The foundation for this MG line was laid on 24 December 1952 by Pt. Nehru. Chief Guest was the Maharajah of Cochin, this line was one of the very first projects undertaken by the newly formed Indian Railways. It was a gift from the Govt. of India to the State of Cochin for being the very first princely state to join the Union of India!! This line was converted to BG in 1975 and electrified in 2006. Doubling is under progress. Thanks to krishnan Nair Studio, Ernakulam and Mr. Gopalakrishnan (Jimmy Jose)
Date: 2008-07-09
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Recent comments
Dr. Jitendra, Travancore and Cochin were two different states. Though officially friendly states, there were always ideological differences between the two. After independence, the two states were merged to form the state of Travancore-Cochin...
Dr. Jitendra, Travancore and Cochin were two different states. Though officially friendly states, there were always ideological differences between the two. After independence, the two states were merged to form the state of Travancore-Cochin (1947-1956), administrative capital at Trivandrum and Judicial capital at Cochin. Later, in 1956, the district of Malabar was merged with Travancore-Cochin to form the state of Kerala. Travancore pushed for a commonwealth of Independent states after independence but the king of Cochin, Sri. Kerala Varma joined the union of India immediately. This was more of a political move to "defeat" Travancore, and the commonwealth (spearheaded by States of Bhopal and Travancore) idea died off instantly
Posted by Jimmy Jose on 2008 Jul 10 03:15:36 +0000
I had always wantd to see an MG pic of this section.. thanks Jimmy for this gem!
Posted by Sriram P on 2008 Jul 09 15:20:56 +0000
Thanks Jimmy for this piece of history. Did it really take 15 yrs. to complete? And didn't know that Travancore - Cochin was the first princely state to join India. I guess Hyderabad was the last one - Hyderabad and Kutch had their own currencies and...
Thanks Jimmy for this piece of history. Did it really take 15 yrs. to complete? And didn't know that Travancore - Cochin was the first princely state to join India. I guess Hyderabad was the last one - Hyderabad and Kutch had their own currencies and railway stations within their boundaries accepted only those, and not the Indian rupee of that time.
Posted by Dr.Jitendra Mulky on 2008 Jul 09 05:48:33 +0000