The BB&CI Railway Office At Churchgate Bombay, 1896 Print
A rare 1896 print of the BB&CI Railway Office at Churchgate during the British Era in Bombay (Mumbai). The inset shows the building’s ground floor plan and references. The work on the BB&CI Railway Office building began in 1894 and was completed in 1899. Today, it is better known as the Western Railway Headquarters in Bombay.
The beautiful structure was designed by the famous F W Stevens, who had also designed the iconic Victoria Terminus (VT). His sterling work on the Victoria Terminus had already made him the most sought-after in Bombay. Due to the cotton boom, Bombay was the first choice for the construction of the railway. Thus, the first train run in India was from Bombay to Thane in 1853.
Baroda’s Maharaja Gaekwad sought a railway network for his princely state with an arm extending to Bombay. The BB&CI Railway started operations in 1860, and the railway extended from the erstwhile Baroda State up to Colaba in Bombay in 1870. Colaba was where considerable cotton trading activity was taking place.
Later, by 1930, the Colaba station ceased functioning, and the line was terminated at Churchgate Station. Notably, before the incorporation of BB&CI, another railway had already existed in Bombay. The Great Indian Peninsula (GIP) Railway was formed on paper in 1845. It had its first train run, as mentioned earlier, from Bombay to Thane.
Read more Western Railway’s Churchgate Headquarters Building.
Did you know – in 1905, in honour of the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to Bombay, the building caught fire due to the illumination that was undertaken on it.
Past posts – Rural Life In India Watercolour Painting By N. Mukherjee., Ooty Town & Lake During The British Era, 1890 Photo., Crawford Market Bombay, 1906 Advertising Postcard ., The Elephants of The Rajah of Travancore, 1858 Print
