Jamalpur is best known for its large railway workshop in the Eastern Railway Zone (India) and the railway institute IRIMEE (The Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering). These were the main workshops of the East India Railway Company, built in 1862 at Jamalpur, some 300 miles north-west of Calcutta. They were designed to undertake every aspect of the overhaul and repair of the Company’s railway locomotives and from the 1880s they started building new locomotives here, making all the parts except the wheels which were imported. By the 1880s the workshops employed 5,000 people and by 1906 the number was close to 10,000. Victor Alexander Bruce, the 9th earl of Elgin, 1849–1917, was Viceroy of India (1894–99) and served as colonial secretary from 1905 to 1908.
Here are some photographs os Jamalpur Railway Workshops dated 1897.
Types of Engines - First 1854. - Latest 1897The locomotive on the right is an earlier, smaller type (named Multum in Parvo on the wheel casing), the one on the left, numbered 223 is a later one. This view was taken at the Jamalpur Railway Workshops in north-east India by an unknown photographer, c. 1897 from the Elgin Collection: 'Presented to His Excellency the Earl of Elgin & Kincardine...as a Memento of His Excellency's Visit to the East Indian Railway Workshops at Jamalpur November 30th 1897'. Early locomotives (late 19th century) in India were almost all imported, mainly from the UK. The first steam locomotive to be built in India was in 1895 at workshops at Ajmer. The first locomotive to be produced at Jamalpur was the ‘Lady Curzon’ in 1899. In 1854 the first commercial railway line run by the East India Railway Company ran from Howrah to Hooghly, a distance of 24 miles.
The Visit of His Excellency The Earl of Elgin & Kincardine...to the East Indian Railway Workshops at Jamalpur. December 3rd 1897View showing the Viceregal party at the East Indian Railway Workshops, Jamalpur taken by Basil J. Elias, December 1897 from the Elgin Collection: 'Presented to His Excellency the Earl of Elgin & Kincardine...as a Memento of His Excellency's Visit to the East Indian Railway Workshops at Jamalpur November 30th 1897'.
The Largest and Smallest Locomotives on the line. The small locomotive on the left is called Phyllis, the larger one is numbered 207.
Steel foundryGeneral exterior view of the steel foundry at the Jamalpur Railway Workshops taken by an unknown photographer, c. 1897 from the Elgin Collection.
Standard Express Passenger EngineProfile view of a locomotive, with a plaque on the wheel casing reading 'Neilson & Co. 4546 Glasgow 1893'. This print was taken at the Jamalpur Railway Workshops in north-east India by an unknown photographer, c. 1897 from the Elgin Collection.
General exterior view of the iron foundry at the Jamalpur Railway Workshops
Native Workmen leaving Workshops after workSource: British Library Website (bl.uk)