100-year-old narrow gauge hand-crane arrives at CSMT

A 100-year-old narrow gauge hand-crane owned by the Gaekwar Baroda State Railways that was once started by the Maharajah Gaekwar of Baroda has arrived at the Mumbai CSMT heritage park.

The locomotive, manufactured by Cowans Sheldon &Co Ltd, Carlisle, England in 1923, was used on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway and later shifted to the Parel Locomotive Works, where it had been lying idle. The Cowans Sheldon &Co Ltd, Carlisle, England, were popular as 'cranemakers' for a generation.

A senior official said that the manufacture of such cranes has now been stopped and this is the only one that was there in good condition. It will be painted up in its original livery. The hand-operated railway crane, numbered 4345 was used to set right narrow gauge rail coaches after derailments.

Founded in 1846 at Woodbank Upperby, this Carlisle based engineering firm established a world leading reputation in the construction of rail and dock cranes.

The firm was simply known in the city as "the cranemakers." Cowans cranes were exported across the globe to countries including Japan, Argentina, Nigeria, South Africa, Iraq, China, Canada, and Bolivia. In 1866, Cowans Sheldon built their first railway cranes.

Gaekwar's Baroda State Railway (GBSR) was a narrow gauge railway line owned by the Princely State of Baroda, which was ruled by the Gaekwar dynasty. The railway track has the distinction of being the first narrow-gauge line to be laid in British India, and also the first railway to be owned by any Princely State of India.

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