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Steam Cranes in India

This is just one of a series of pages covering surviving Railway Cranes across the world. Click here for the Index. There is also a second page of pictures from Heinrich Hubbert available.

There are probably more working steam cranes on Indian Railways than all other national railway systems combined (most, if not all, of China's steam cranes are in industrial use).

At the time of initial compilation, these pictures all appeared first on the IRFCA website, . I would like to thank Satish Pai, the webmaster, for his help in obtaining permission from the photographers concerned to reproduce these images. This page was last updated on 7th April 2015.

Broad Gauge:

Steam crane 188 at Nandurbar in 2009. Marked for Braithwaites of Calcutta it is not impossible that they were merely agents, in any case this is an old crane and a rare survivor. (Photograph by Khalid Kagzi)

570 allocated to Abu Road but photographed at Sabarmati in August 2005. (Photograph by Abhijit Lokre)

TSC703 (CS 1955) at Kollam (Quillon), October 2006 (photograph by Jimmy Jose). See below for the origin of its name Vikrant.

TSC732 at Shoranaur, October 2005 (photograph by Sandeep Mohan) - added 10th November 2011.

S7501 (built at Jamalpur) at Purna in October 2004 (Photograph by Sachin Balwatkar). See below for the origin of its name Hanuman

S7502 (built at Jamalpur) at Purna Junction in October 2007 (Photograph by Hrishikesh Moghe)

Metre Gauge

1135 at Izatnagar in September 2008 where it was built in 1970 (Photograph by Bharat Vohra)

TSC 30011 (CS) at Villupuram in November 2006 (Photograph by Mick Pope)

3506 GAJANAN (built at Izatnagar) at Purna in October 2004 (Photograph by Sachin Balwatkar). Note marked for Akola, see below for the origin of its name Gajanan

3509 TAPTI at Akola in March 2005 (Photograph by Bharat Vohra)

Unknown crane at Akola in September 2010 (Photograph by Pawan Koppa)

Mailani's Accident Relief Train, including a steam crane, in September 2008 (Photograph by Bharat Vohra).

501, Pandayan, Madurai, January 2004: (Photograph by Ranganath Eunny)

1229, Maha Shakti, Churu, November 2005: (Photograph by Shashanka Nanda)

1236, Rewari, February 2005: (Photograph by Shashanka Nanda)

Other metre gauge steam cranes are shown on the IRFCA site as follows, those indicated with "@" are on Heinrich Hubbert's page:

Indian Cranes often carry locally assigned names. Chris Capewell gives the background to some of the better known ones. I'll be happy to add more examples if you get in touch.

AGNI - One of the most important of the Vedic gods, god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods. He is ever-young, because the fire is re-lit every day, yet he
is also immortal.

BALWAN - Powerful

BHEESHMA - 'Bhishma Pitamah' was the eighth son of Kuru King Shantanu who was blessed with wish-long life and had sworn to serve the ruling Kuru king. He was one of the most prominent characters of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He was the grand uncle of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. An unparalleled archer, he once vanquished the mighty Parasurama. A 1962 Telugu film was based on the life of this great Mahabharata character.

CHAMUNDI – Goddess with three eyes and eight arms.

GAJANAN - Gajanan Maharaj from Shegaon (Buldhana District), Maharashtra, India is a Saint from India.

HANUMAN (Sanskrit: हनुमान्, Hanumān, Tamil: அனுமன், is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and one of the dearest devotees of lord Rama. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine and a disciple of Lord Rama in the struggle against the demon king Ravana.

KRISHNA - Krishna is a deity worshiped across many traditions of Hinduism in a variety of different perspectives. While many Vaishnava groups recognize him as an avatar of Vishnu, some consider him to be
svayam bhagavan, or the original form of the Lord. Krishna is often depicted as a baby, as a young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana, or as a youthful prince giving direction and guidance as in
the Bhagavad Gita.

PANDYAN - an ancient Tamil dynasty. The Pandyas were one of the four Tamil dynasties which ruled South India until the 15th century CE. They initially ruled their country Pandya Nadu from Korkai, a seaport
on the Southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, and in later times moved to Madurai VEERA HANUMAN – God worshipped for his strength, valour and agility.

VEEER BHIMSEN – Hindi movie from 1920s, remade several times.

ANJANAYA - Hanuman, known also as 'Anjaneya' (son of Anjana), is one of the most popular concepts of servants of God in Hinduism and one of the most important personalities in the Indian epic, the Ramayana. His most famous feat, as described in the Hindu epic scripture the Ramayana, was leading a monkey army to fight the demon King Ravana. MANGALA - In Jyotish astrology, Mangala is the name for Mars, the red planet. Mars is also called Angaraka ('one who is red in colour') or Bhauma ('son of Bhumi') in Sanskrit. He is the god of war and is celibate. He is considered the son of Prithvi or Bhumi, the Earth
Goddess. He is the owner of the Aries and Scorpio signs, and a teacher of the occult sciences (Ruchaka Mahapurusha Yoga).He is painted red or flame colour, four-armed, carrying a 'trident'

VIKRAM – Tamil Actor

VIKRANT – Vikranta is Sanskrit for "stepped beyond, taking wide strides, courageous, bold, strong", from vi- = "apart" and kram- = "to stride". Also the name of the Indian Navy aircraft carrier, now a museum ship, the ex HMS Hercules.

Rob Dickinson

Email: webmaster@internationalsteam.co.uk