Chennai Central Railway Station & Canal – 4 Postcards 1900
Four postcards, from 1900 to 1920, of the Chennai Central Station and the Buckingham Canal. One of the postcards is an oilette. They show the Madras Railway Terminus, and the Buckingham Canal (earlier Cochrane’s Canal) which passes under an age-old stone bridge.
In the background, you will see the famed station building and in the foreground the beauty of the once pristine Buckingham Canal. That is sadly a carrier of black sewage water today.
This waterway was once used for irrigation and transportation purposes, remarkably the boats were plying up to the 1960s-70s. Originally called Cochrane’s Canal, named after its principal financier Basil Cochrane (1753-1826). A supply contractor for the British Navy in India. It was later renamed Lord Clive’s Canal for a short period.
See post Buckingham Canal In Chennai – Old Print 1922.
The railway terminus is undoubtedly the city’s iconic landmark. It was designed by George Hardinge, a British architect in both Gothic and Romanesque style architecture. Another British architect Robert Chisholm added the clock tower which is one of the main attractions of the building. It is to be noted that Chisholm pioneered the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. The building stands just as it was, possibly with only a few modifications since its inception in 1873. Click on the photo for better view.
Read more Chennai Central railway station.
Did you know- the Buckingham was once gridlocked with the city’s other rivers and canals. If it was still sustained it could have contained the floods and offered clean transportation to the city.
From the collection- 1964 M. Suriyamoorthy Charcoal Art Abstract (#17)., Horniman Circle Bombay – Old Photo 1890., Aerial View of Bombay Harbour & Docks – Old Print 1931., Bombay Car Rally Vintage Cars – Old Print 1906
