Jorehaut Provincial Railway

History

“Jorhat” or “Jorehaut” means two hats or mandis - “Macharhat” and “Chowkihat” which existed on the two different banks of the river Bhogdoi during the 18th Century, Jorhat was the last capital of the Ahom Kingdom. In the year 1794 the Ahom king Gaurinath Singha shifted the capital from Sibsagar (erst-while ”Rangpur”) to Jorhat. This town was a flourishing and commercial metropolis but completely destroyed after a series of the Burmese invasions since 1817 till the arrival of the British force in the year 1824 under the Stewardship of David Scott and Captain Richard.

The British Rule, though, was not free from rebellions and revolutions, contributed to reemergence of this historical town. From the very first decade of the British rule, the great revolutionists who emerged were Gomdhar Konwar, Jeuram and Piyali, British system of administration, came into vouge in the year 1839 with an established Police Thana. During the great “Sepoy Mutiny” and Piyali Barua was sabotaged and these leader were hanged in public at this very place in 1858.

In 1885, a narrow gauge train services (Jorhat Provincial Railway) had come into operation and ultimately became instrumental in rapid growth of tea industry.

Though, the Civil Sub-division under Sibsagar district at Jorhat was formed in 1869,this great place was declared as administration head quarter of the undivided Sibsagar district in 1911 which comprised the present Sibsagar, Jorhat and Golaghat and parts of Karbi-Anglong district with Major A. Playfare as the first Deputy Commissioner.

On the North of the district, the river Brahmaputra forms the largest riverine island of the world, MAJULI, spreading over 924.6 km². with a population of about 1.50 lakh being threatened by the constant erosion by this mighty, unstable river Majuli had been the principal place of pilgrimage of Vaishnavites since the ages of the Ahom rules. There are several Satras resembling medieval monasteries headed by Satradhikars preaching and teaching the Vaishnavism which was initiated by Sankardeva (1449-1568). Each Satra has unknown wealth of Vaishnav Scriptures and extensive revenue free lands being cualativated by the “Bhakats” of the Satras.

Kokilamukh State Railway

In September 1883, Lord Ripon sanctioned the extension and the branch line with a provision that the name should be changed from Kokilamukh Tramway to Kokilamukh State Railway. By November 1884, the line was completed to the Dhali River and opened for goods traffic on December 15, 1884. Though it had handled freight traffic successfully, the line was not deemed fit for passenger traffic until February 26, 1886. Meanwhile, the stretch between Gohaingaon and Jorhat was renamed and Chief Commissioner of Assam Sir C. A. Elliott formally opened the now Kokilamukh State Railway on December 9, 1984.

Extension works

The bridge over the Dhali River soon came up and the line was extended to Titabar, another stretch of just 1.75 miles, on July 16, 1887. This section also required further inspection and realignment before the first passenger train could run, on February 26, 1888. The construction of a 7-mile-long branch line from Cinnamara to Mariani was carried out in December 1884, and opened for freight traffic on January 7, 1885. However, passenger traffic was prohibited until February 26, 1888.

Jorehaut State Railway

On November 11, 1989, an alternative cold weather section 3.25 miles long was opened, making a total distance of 28.5 miles. With the changes of ghats, a change in nomenclature would also follow. Thus Kokilamukh State Railway was renamed Jorhat State Railway (JSR), and then, when it was linked to Assam Bengal Railway, renamed again to Jorhat Provincial State Railway (JPR). Though the tiny line is gone, the area around the Jorhat Junction station is still known as JPR.

Technically this line was not a very difficult one to construct, being unballasted, with the sharpest curve of 480 feet radius and a ruling gradient of 1 in 800, except the Jorhat-Cinnamara stretch where it was 1 in 400. At the initial stage Kokilamukh Railway found it cheaper to buy second-hand engines running on a similar gauge, the DHR being a storehouse of the worn out ones. Old iron-horse, like old soldiers, never die – they simply fade away on lesser lines, as was the case of the historic steam engine "Tiny" of DHR. Tiny was the first locomotive brought by the contractors to Siliguri to assist the construction of DHR. The engine was originally named Sutaram, but by the time it reached Siliguri it became Tiny. The exact date of arrival of Tiny at Siliguri is unknown, but it assisted the contractors in constructing the DHR from early 1880. This is certain because this was the engine pressed into the service to haul the Viceroy and his party up the tramway. Tiny was never assigned any DHR number and was relegated to shunting duties around Siliguri. In 1886 it was packed off to serve the tea gardens of the Jorhat State Railways where it ran as their engine No. 4. It might have been welcomed with open arms as their previous three locomotives were prone to derailments with their wheels falling off.

The 2 ft (610 mm) gauge wallahs of India were a closely knit fraternity, not averse to swapping rolling stocks with each other. For instance, Jimmy Shaw, the works Manager of DHR at Tindharia, visited the then redundant JPR in 1942, scrounging for a locomotive or two. He suggested that four of the latter's locomotives be purchased for the Kishanganj section, but the management turned it down. The DHR sold four of its engines to the ARTC to be worked in the colliery tram trackat Tipongpani, near Margherita. Similarly two of JPR’s locomotives were at work on the DHR till the end of the 20th Century.