A train heads out over Dapoorie Viaduct on the Great Indian Peninsular Railway in 1858, five years after the line opened. The only railways before this had been short, experimental lines or lines for construction projects, including the GIPR itself.
Introduction
Just twenty-three years after the Liverpool and Manchester Railway hosted the world’s first regular steam-hauled passenger service, British entrepreneurs began running the first trains in India. The ‘Illustrated London News’ described it as an event more important than all Britain’s battles on Indian soil.
AT 3.30pm on April 16th, 1853, as the band played ‘God Save the Queen’, fourteen railway carriages carrying four hundred VIPs jolted, and left Bombay for Thane. It was the opening day of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, India’s first passenger-carrying line, and ahead were twenty-one miles of 5'6" track, which the triple-headed train gobbled up in forty-five minutes.*
The railway was the brainchild of George Clark, Chief Engineer to the Bombay Government, and delivered with the help of the East India Company, keenly anticipating a lucrative trade in cotton, silk, sugar and spices. The route was engineered by James John Berkley, a pupil and associate of Clark’s consultant in London, Robert Stephenson.
Despite the highly technical nature of railway-building, just two years separated initial surveys and opening ceremony, thanks to quick-witted and hard-working local navvies. A further section to Kalyan opened in 1854, and by 1950 India’s railways employed over nine million people, and carried a billion passengers every year.
With acknowledgements to ‘Our Indian Railway: Themes in India’s Railway History’ (2006), ‘The Hindu’ for April 18th, 2002, and ‘Victorian Web: Indian Railway Chronology’.
Various figures may be found online for the time taken on the initial journey. Wikipedia has fifty-seven minutes; forty-five minutes is given in ‘Our Indian Railway: Themes in India’s Railway History’ (2006).
Précis
The first passenger-carrying railway in India was the Great Indian Peninsular Railway’s line from Bombay, initially to Thane and then a year later to Kalyan, a total of approximately twenty-four miles. The venture was privately funded from Britain, with the promise of rich rewards from the trade of sugar, spices and other goods. (53 / 60 words)
The first passenger-carrying railway in India was the Great Indian Peninsular Railway’s line from Bombay, initially to Thane and then a year later to Kalyan, a total of approximately twenty-four miles. The venture was privately funded from Britain, with the promise of rich rewards from the trade of sugar, spices and other goods.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, just, may, not, since, whether, who.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Gobble. Railway. Up.
2 Pupil. Train. Which.
3 Far. Section. Twenty.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
ld (17+3)
ailed. aloud. elide. elude. lad. laid. laud. lead. led. lid. lied. load. lode. loud. oiled. old. olde.
lido. ludo. oldie.
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