Eastern Railway - Narrow Gauge

There were two narrow gauge lines in the Eastern Railway as constituted in the mid 1970s, together with three other independent lines which operated a passenger service. All but one were 2ft 6in (762mm) gauge.

The Katwa lines were former McLeods Light Railways which were assimilated into the Eastern Railway as late as the 1960s. They ran from Katwa to Burdwan (to the south) and Ahmadpur (to the west).

The line from Shantipur ran to Nabadwip Ghat although few visitors got beyond Krishnanagar City which also had a broad gauge connection.

The last two Martin's Light Railways were the Futwah - Islampur and Arrah - Sasaram lines which were in the Eastern Railway zone but remained independent until they closed.

Previously, a very few visitors saw the Martin's 2ft (610mm) gauge lines out of Howrah, click here for an account of a 1960s visit.

The Dehri Rhotas Light Railway was basically a stone carrying railway which had a passenger service, although I have pictures of the freight side, so far I have dug up just one picture of the passenger train. More please!

These are included in this section for convenience, the freight carrying independent and industrial railways will be covered later in a separate section.

Click here for the India Narrow Gauge Steam Index