Mayurbhanj State Railway

Mayurbhanj State Railway / Mourbhanj State Railway (MSR) was a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge railway originally owned by Mayurbhanj State and worked by the Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) Company.^[1]

History

The railway was started by the erstwhile ruler of Mayurbhanj Maharja Shri Sriram Chandra Bhanj Deo. The first section of 52 km from Rupsa to Baripada was opened for traffic on January 20, 1905. Rupsa was the junction with BNR’s 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) line. An agreement was signed on December 2, 1918, between the Mayurbhanj State and Mayurbhanj Railway Company, for extending the line to Talband, 61.5 km away. This section was opened on July 15, 1920. From that date, the management of the entire Rupsa-Talband section was handed over to Mayurbhanj Railway Company was formed in 1920 to take over this line, who managed this line through managing agents, Hoare Miller & Co., of Calcutta. Mayurbhanj Railway Company in 1920, renamed the railway as Mayurbhanj Railway from Mourbhanj Railway. The line continued to be worked by the Bengal Nagpur Railway.

To work the line, Mayurbhanj State Railway chose 20 ton 0-6-4 T locomotives, designated as 'ML' class. The first two of these (No-691, 692) were built by Kerr, Stuart & Company. Later in 1924, two more locomotives (No-693, 694) built by the same company were added. These locos were later transferred to Naupada shed of Paralakhemedi light railway, renamed PL class and heavier 'CC' class 4-6-2 locos of Satpura narrow gauge lines were introduced on MSR. These were built by North British Locomotive Company, Glasgow. Later ZE class locomotives built by M/S Corpet Louvet, M/S Krauss Maffei and M/s Kawasaki were introduced. All locos were homed at Baripada loco shed.

After Independence, when the railways were regrouped, Mayurbhanj State Railway was taken over by Government of India on 1 April 1950.^[2] Bengal Nagpur Railway along with eastern divisions of the East Indian Railway was constituted into the Eastern Railway on April 14, 1952.

References