Jamalpur, Bihar
Encyclopedia
Jamalpur is a town
and a municipality
in Munger district
in the India
n state
of Bihar
.
Jamalpur, the name literally means beautiful (Jamal-) town (-pur) and that is a literal description of the place. Jamalpur is best known for its large railway workshop (कारखाना) in the Eastern Railway Zone (India) and the railway institute IRIMEE (The Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering).
Jamalpur is best known as a very large workshop on the East Indian Railway, employing over 25,000
people at one time. The town was established during the British Raj and the cultural hub at that
time was the Railway Institute. The Railway Institute was huge – it had its own movie theatre, a
six-lane swimming pool, four tennis courts, two billiard rooms and a bowling lawn. Its dances
were renowned and railway folk came from all over the East India Railway (EIR) to attend.
The city is in the Munger
district. Munger is 8 km North West of Jamalpur. There is a road as well as a rail link between the two towns. It is an overnight journey from Kolkata
.
The nearest airport is at Patna
, around four hours from Jamalpur by rail. Kolkata is the nearest airport to the east from which Jamalpur can be reached by Rail. Jamalpur also has a small airstrip.
, Jamalpur had a population of 98,743. Males constitute 54 of the population and females 48%. Jamalpur has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85%, and female literacy is 73%. In Jamalpur, 16% of the population is under 6 years of age.
(कारखाना) was the first full-fledged railway workshop facilities in India, set up on Feb. 8, 1862 by the East Indian Railway.The Jamalpur site was chosen for its proximity both to the Sahibganj loop (which was the main trunk route at the time), and to the communities of gunsmiths and other mechanical craftsmen in Bihar who would prove to be adept at picking up the skills required in a railway workshop.
Another, possibly apocryphal account, though, has it that one of the Agents of the EIR Mr D W Campbell, was annoyed that the fitters and workmen of the then Howrah workshop were spending too much time away from their work in places of recreation in Howrah, and resolved to move the workshop facilities to a place far away where there would be no such distractions.
At first the Jamalpur shops were merely repairing locomotives and also assembling locomotives from parts salvaged from other, damaged locomotives. By the turn of the century, however, they had progressed to producing their own locomotives. The first one, CA 764 'Lady Curzon', was produced in 1899.
Jamalpur has always had extensive workshop facilities. In 1893, the first railway foundry in India was set up there. It also had a boiler workshop for repairing and building boilers. Today it has foundry and metallurgical lab facilities, extensive machine tool facilities, etc., in addition a captive power plant of 5MVA, making it fairly self-contained. It used to have a rolling mill of its own (set up in 1870, now closed - the Rolling Mill and the Nut & Bolt Shop were closed down in 1984).
In addition to various repairs of wagons, coaches, cranes and tower cars, and locomotives, Jamalpur Workshop also undertakes repair and (small-scale) production of permanent-way fixtures. It also manufactures some tower cars (Mark II, Mark III) and break-down cranes of 10, 20, and 140 tonne capacities, besides various kinds of heavy-duty lifting jacks.
Finally, it also manufactures wheelsets for coaches and wagons. In the past it was a significant supplier of cast-iron sleepers as well. Starting in 1961 it produced several rail cranes. It has also produced electric arc furnaces, ticket printers and other ticket machines (slitting, counting, and chopping). The high-capacity synchronized lifting jacks known as 'Jamalpur Jacks' were also produced by this workshop.
The school attached to the Jamalpur workshops eventually became the Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE).
Ananda Marga
was founded by a Jamalpur native Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
in 1955. P.R. Sakar left his job as a railway official and formed the first chapter of Ananda Marga ("Path of Bliss") in Jamalpur, Bihar, India. He started to train missionaries to spread his teaching of "self-realization and service to humanity" (which became the motto of Ananda Marga) into India and the rest of the world.
The mission of Ananda Marga is to help individuals achieve complete self-realization and to build a social structure in which the physical, mental and spiritual needs of all people can be fulfilled. Ananda Marga contributes to the process of individual development by providing instruction in meditation
and other yoga
practices on a non-commercial basis.
2. Mr. D. N. Banerji
3. Prof.R.K. Mukherji
4. Dr. Biswajit Choudhury (IIT, USA)
5. Mr. Yogendra Prasad (Retired Dy Regional Manager, United Bank of India (Patna))
6. Dr. Om Prakash Chaurasia( MD, MRCP(UK), FACP (Gastroenterologist, California, USA))
7. Dr. Gita Chatterji (MS)
8. Mr. Y.R. Puri (Gymkhana)
9. Dr. AK Ghose (Rly. Hospital)
10. Dr. Y.N. Agrawal (FRCS, Medical Supt. Rly Hospital),
11. Mr. Usman Ghani (Rly. Elect. Engineer)
12. Lt. Col. Deepak Agarwal : KV Alumni
13. Prof. Pankaj Agrawal (PhD, USA): KV Alumni
14. Ali Akbar (MBA, USA): KV Alumni
15. Zainul Abedin (Patna):KV Alumni
16. Soum Mukherjee (IIT, MBA, USA): KV Alumni
17. Asit Sen (IIT, USA): KV Alumni
18. Mrs.Rashmi Roy (MCA, Analyst Programmer(SAP-BI/BW & ABAP)Accenture IDC Mumbai)
19. Capt. Dr. S.P.Mandal (MBBS, DTCD, BMOC (AMC Poona), Ex.Medical Officer-AFMC Command Hospital Poona),
20. Mr. Rajendra Prasad Mandal( Retired General Manager, Indian Oil Corporation (New Delhi))
21. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Tanti, Agility Logistics Pvt ltd. India
22. Mr. Anurag Sanghai ( B.E. Honors, Technical Consultant/ Analyst, Accenture Services)
23. Mr. Ayus Kumar Meharia ( B.E., MBA, IDBI Bank)
24. Mr. Bipin Kumar (Software Project Manager,GTL)
25. Mr Prabhat Ranjan Kumar (Analyst, GTSC, EXl Services)
26. Mr Rahul Srivastava (serving NATO ARMY )
27. Mr Pranab Kumar Singh (Fashion Designer,NTU U.K)
28. Mr Rajeev Jamaiyar, Rampur Colony. (CA, USA)
29. Mr Pankaj Kumar Gupta, Bari Ashikpur,Jamalpur. (Sr.Executive,Woodland, Delhi)
30. Mr Om Prakash Jamaiyar, Rampur Colony. ( Guwahati)
The name of Jamalpur comes from Pir Jamaluddin whose grave lies at this holy place and no visit to Jamalpur is complete without paying an obeisance at this holy place on Golf Road. A must-visit on Friday.
One of the best maintained small stadiums in the state, has seen a number of football matches held between different teams in the eastern region of India compete with each other.
Gymkhana
is the hostel and club used by the Special Class Railway Apprentice
Just down the Gymkhana avenue is the golf course that is frequented by the Railway and Army officers. The annual ITC Golf tournament is held here. It also has the grave of an Englishman who was killed by a tiger. The grave of the tiger is not very far away.
(Also known as Heer Ka Dukan) It used to be a half century old small shop selling sweet meats like jalebis. In front of it was the town's rikshaw stand. The Madras Coffee House caters to food aficionados not intended for soft tourists but for people who have come to visit Jamalpur for railways or other nostalgic purposes.
An excellent quarter century old music school near Hari Sabha being run single-handedly ( Mrs Rumela Gupta ) by a senior lady with a pronounced handicap. Most of the railway men's children pursue music, dance and arts at this beginners place starting from as young as two. Surprisingly it is just the goodwill and the basic infrastructure with some local help that is keeping it going. Good place for stimulating discussions on Indian classical Music.
There is a Mountain Named Kali Pahadi there's a Mandir of goddes Maa Kali which is situated on top of mountain.
This egalitarian title is now given to what used to be the European Colony in colonial days.There is a Jamalpur beyond the East Colony also,but most things in this town begin end here.The first turning to the right is the Workshop Road,that leads to the Eastern Railway Locomotive Workshop,the biggest and the oldest in the country.
It was only after the setting up of the temples of modern India after independence that bigger workshops were built.you next pass the Club Road and Stadium Road.You soon cross the Golf Road,before you come to Gymkhana Road on your left.
Standing between these roads, you see a vast expanse of a rolling green maidan stretching towards a right that seems to cover your entire field of view.This maidan is the Golf Course,a small but reasonably well kept 9-hole course,that is perhaps the cheapest in the world to play golf on.
Right in the centre of the course, you will note what looks like a grave. The epitaph on the tombstone tells you the gory tale:a 27 year old Foreman of the Erecting Shop was killed by a tiger near the spot two years after the workshop had been established in 1862. In the tranquil serenity of the present maidan, tigers had roamed in the not too distant past. If this was the situation,then why Jamalpur, is the question that is often asked.
The answer lies in the history of the area and the nearby town of Munger (earlier Monghyr). The inhabitants of this town and the surrounding areas had always been a reservoir of skilled craftsman in mechanical fields like ironware – notably guns,pistols,spears, and other weapons.
It is not a coincidence that Monghyr was often referred to as the “Birmingham of the East” in those days. It will also not be out of place to record that Jamalpur was on what was then intended to be the mainline of the Railway,had good water supply and congenial surroundings.
Jamalpur was at first only an engine changing station. The actual headquarters of the Locomotive Department were at Howarah,but the latter not only possessed great drawbacks but was too confined to permit extensions.There was,in fact., no room for the work shop of the Locomotive Department as well as the Company’s carriage and wagon works, and after long and matured consideration, it was decided to remove the former to Jamalpur.
Mr. John Strachan, the then Locomotive Superintendent of the Company,gives the following account for the cause of the removal.”It was not till the early sixties that the late D.W.campbell decided to remove the workshops to Jamalpur, and this was owing to the drivers and fitters giving trouble.They were covenanted men from home who had left their families there,and as hotel and billiard rooms were their only amusement,it was no uncommon thing for men to leave the shops during working hours and adjourn to a hotel that was then opposite to the railway station…
“There were also several other places of amusement in Howrah and Calcutta to which men could go and among them was a place known as Wilson’s Coffee Room.
“One day Mr. Campbell ,returning from the weekly Meeting in the Agent’s Office, happened to call at Wilson’s Coffee Room for tiffin, and here he found three of his principle foremen and two engine drivers enjoying themselves in rather a boisterous manner……The men were quickly retired, and after that Mr. Campbell never rested until he had the workshops and the Locomotive offices removed from Howrah to Jamalpur.”
And, so it was that the Locomotive Workshop came to be located at Jamalpur. By 1890, the workshop had 3122 men, which grew to 9528 by 1906. (In its heyday 30 years back, the figure was 14,000). By this time, the number of locomotives whose overhaul was based at Jamalpur had grown to 952. Since there was virtually no industry in the country, the workshop grew to be totally self sufficient. It set up the country’s first rolling mill in 1879, as well as the railway’s first captive powerhouse, which was set up in 1895. A steel foundry with a 7-ton open-hearth furnace started operations in 1898.
The Iron foundry was amongst the best in the country and even produced cast iron sleepers. Jamalpur has the distinction of manufacturing locomotives well before Chittaranjan Locomotive Works were set up. A total of 214 locomotives were built at Jamalpur between 1899 and 1932.
Along with the technical side of the development,care was also taken to develop the human resource. A Technical School was set up in 1988 for Trade Apprentices with one teacher. In 1905, the training of Apprentice Mechanics was started for Anglo-Indians and later in 1911, the Apprentice Mechanic scheme was thrown open to Indians also. It is chronicled elsewhere in this issue, how the training of special class Apprentices at the Technocal School in 1927, set into motion the chain of events that we are commemorating this year.
Jamalpur has always attracted visitors who could well be a Who’s Who of the land. A sampling of the messages recorded in the Visitor’s Book of the Workshop can be seen in this write up.
Even today, the Workshop and the Training institute at Jamalpur are the mainstay of not only Jamalpur town but also the entire district of Munger. Although there are other workshops and units in the Railways and outside that are bigger and more contemporary than the Locomotive Workshop at Jamalpur today, the words of Mr. Huddlestone, C.I.E, Chief Superintendent of the East Indian Railway, give an idea of the Spirit behind Jamalpur.
“There are, of course,larger Railway shops existing in Europe but not few are more self contained or better occupied with modern electrically driven machinery than this workshop.”
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
and a municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in Munger district
Munger District
Munger district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state in eastern India. Munger town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Munger district is a part of Munger Division. Its literacy rate of 73.3% is higher than the state literacy rate of 63.8% and lower than national...
in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
.
Jamalpur, the name literally means beautiful (Jamal-) town (-pur) and that is a literal description of the place. Jamalpur is best known for its large railway workshop (कारखाना) in the Eastern Railway Zone (India) and the railway institute IRIMEE (The Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering).
Jamalpur is best known as a very large workshop on the East Indian Railway, employing over 25,000
people at one time. The town was established during the British Raj and the cultural hub at that
time was the Railway Institute. The Railway Institute was huge – it had its own movie theatre, a
six-lane swimming pool, four tennis courts, two billiard rooms and a bowling lawn. Its dances
were renowned and railway folk came from all over the East India Railway (EIR) to attend.
Geography
Jamalpur is located at 25°18′N 86°30′E / 25.3, 86.5.[1]. It has an average elevation of 151 metres (495 feet).The city is in the Munger
Munger
Munger town is the headquarters of Munger district, in the Indian state of Bihar. Historically, Munger is known for its manufacturing of iron articles such as firearms and swords. One of the major institutions in Munger is Bihar School of Yoga. It is one of the foremost learning center in the...
district. Munger is 8 km North West of Jamalpur. There is a road as well as a rail link between the two towns. It is an overnight journey from Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
.
The nearest airport is at Patna
Patna
Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...
, around four hours from Jamalpur by rail. Kolkata is the nearest airport to the east from which Jamalpur can be reached by Rail. Jamalpur also has a small airstrip.
Demographics
India censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, Jamalpur had a population of 98,743. Males constitute 54 of the population and females 48%. Jamalpur has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85%, and female literacy is 73%. In Jamalpur, 16% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Railway Workshop
Jamalpur WorkshopJamalpur Workshop
The Railway age in Eastern India started on August 15, 1854, exactly ninety-three years before Independence. A locomotive, carriage and wagon workshop was set up in Howrah to put to commission imported rolling stock of EIR and also to render economic repairs to them. The railways spread very fast,...
(कारखाना) was the first full-fledged railway workshop facilities in India, set up on Feb. 8, 1862 by the East Indian Railway.The Jamalpur site was chosen for its proximity both to the Sahibganj loop (which was the main trunk route at the time), and to the communities of gunsmiths and other mechanical craftsmen in Bihar who would prove to be adept at picking up the skills required in a railway workshop.
Another, possibly apocryphal account, though, has it that one of the Agents of the EIR Mr D W Campbell, was annoyed that the fitters and workmen of the then Howrah workshop were spending too much time away from their work in places of recreation in Howrah, and resolved to move the workshop facilities to a place far away where there would be no such distractions.
At first the Jamalpur shops were merely repairing locomotives and also assembling locomotives from parts salvaged from other, damaged locomotives. By the turn of the century, however, they had progressed to producing their own locomotives. The first one, CA 764 'Lady Curzon', was produced in 1899.
Jamalpur has always had extensive workshop facilities. In 1893, the first railway foundry in India was set up there. It also had a boiler workshop for repairing and building boilers. Today it has foundry and metallurgical lab facilities, extensive machine tool facilities, etc., in addition a captive power plant of 5MVA, making it fairly self-contained. It used to have a rolling mill of its own (set up in 1870, now closed - the Rolling Mill and the Nut & Bolt Shop were closed down in 1984).
In addition to various repairs of wagons, coaches, cranes and tower cars, and locomotives, Jamalpur Workshop also undertakes repair and (small-scale) production of permanent-way fixtures. It also manufactures some tower cars (Mark II, Mark III) and break-down cranes of 10, 20, and 140 tonne capacities, besides various kinds of heavy-duty lifting jacks.
Finally, it also manufactures wheelsets for coaches and wagons. In the past it was a significant supplier of cast-iron sleepers as well. Starting in 1961 it produced several rail cranes. It has also produced electric arc furnaces, ticket printers and other ticket machines (slitting, counting, and chopping). The high-capacity synchronized lifting jacks known as 'Jamalpur Jacks' were also produced by this workshop.
The school attached to the Jamalpur workshops eventually became the Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE).
Notables
Ananda Marga MovementAnanda Marga
Ananda Marga
Ananda Marga, organizationally known as Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha , meaning the samgha for the propagation of the marga of ananda , is a social and spiritual movement founded in Jamalpur, Bihar, India in 1955 by Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar .Ánanda Márga followers describe Ánanda Márga as a...
was founded by a Jamalpur native Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar , also known by his spiritual name, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti , was an Indian philosopher, author, social revolutionary, poet, composer and linguist...
in 1955. P.R. Sakar left his job as a railway official and formed the first chapter of Ananda Marga ("Path of Bliss") in Jamalpur, Bihar, India. He started to train missionaries to spread his teaching of "self-realization and service to humanity" (which became the motto of Ananda Marga) into India and the rest of the world.
The mission of Ananda Marga is to help individuals achieve complete self-realization and to build a social structure in which the physical, mental and spiritual needs of all people can be fulfilled. Ananda Marga contributes to the process of individual development by providing instruction in meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
and other yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
practices on a non-commercial basis.
Some Jamalpur Alumni
1. Dr. Upendra Nath Brahmachari (Invented Urea Stibamine (carbostibamide)for Kala-ajar (Visceral leishmaniasis) treatment2. Mr. D. N. Banerji
3. Prof.R.K. Mukherji
4. Dr. Biswajit Choudhury (IIT, USA)
5. Mr. Yogendra Prasad (Retired Dy Regional Manager, United Bank of India (Patna))
6. Dr. Om Prakash Chaurasia( MD, MRCP(UK), FACP (Gastroenterologist, California, USA))
7. Dr. Gita Chatterji (MS)
8. Mr. Y.R. Puri (Gymkhana)
9. Dr. AK Ghose (Rly. Hospital)
10. Dr. Y.N. Agrawal (FRCS, Medical Supt. Rly Hospital),
11. Mr. Usman Ghani (Rly. Elect. Engineer)
12. Lt. Col. Deepak Agarwal : KV Alumni
13. Prof. Pankaj Agrawal (PhD, USA): KV Alumni
14. Ali Akbar (MBA, USA): KV Alumni
15. Zainul Abedin (Patna):KV Alumni
16. Soum Mukherjee (IIT, MBA, USA): KV Alumni
17. Asit Sen (IIT, USA): KV Alumni
18. Mrs.Rashmi Roy (MCA, Analyst Programmer(SAP-BI/BW & ABAP)Accenture IDC Mumbai)
19. Capt. Dr. S.P.Mandal (MBBS, DTCD, BMOC (AMC Poona), Ex.Medical Officer-AFMC Command Hospital Poona),
20. Mr. Rajendra Prasad Mandal( Retired General Manager, Indian Oil Corporation (New Delhi))
21. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Tanti
22. Mr. Anurag Sanghai ( B.E. Honors, Technical Consultant/ Analyst, Accenture Services)
23. Mr. Ayus Kumar Meharia ( B.E., MBA, IDBI Bank)
24. Mr. Bipin Kumar (Software Project Manager,GTL)
25. Mr Prabhat Ranjan Kumar (Analyst, GTSC, EXl Services)
26. Mr Rahul Srivastava (serving NATO ARMY )
27. Mr Pranab Kumar Singh (Fashion Designer,NTU U.K)
28. Mr Rajeev Jamaiyar, Rampur Colony. (CA, USA)
29. Mr Pankaj Kumar Gupta, Bari Ashikpur,Jamalpur. (Sr.Executive,Woodland, Delhi)
30. Mr Om Prakash Jamaiyar, Rampur Colony. ( Guwahati)
Famous Places
- Baba
The name of Jamalpur comes from Pir Jamaluddin whose grave lies at this holy place and no visit to Jamalpur is complete without paying an obeisance at this holy place on Golf Road. A must-visit on Friday.
- JSA Ground/ Stadium
One of the best maintained small stadiums in the state, has seen a number of football matches held between different teams in the eastern region of India compete with each other.
- Gymkhana
Gymkhana
Jamalpur Gymkhana
The Jamalpur Gymkhana , often referred to as Gymkhana by its members, is a hostel for young apprentice officers of the Indian Railways. It is also a club like any other Gymkhana. The difference is that membership to this club is restricted only to those who spend their formative years in its...
is the hostel and club used by the Special Class Railway Apprentice
Special Class Railway Apprentice
Special Class Railway Apprentices' refers to a handful of candidates that are selected by the Union Public Service Commission India, after a rigorous selection process, to the undergraduate program in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering...
- Golf Course
Just down the Gymkhana avenue is the golf course that is frequented by the Railway and Army officers. The annual ITC Golf tournament is held here. It also has the grave of an Englishman who was killed by a tiger. The grave of the tiger is not very far away.
- Madras Coffee House
(Also known as Heer Ka Dukan) It used to be a half century old small shop selling sweet meats like jalebis. In front of it was the town's rikshaw stand. The Madras Coffee House caters to food aficionados not intended for soft tourists but for people who have come to visit Jamalpur for railways or other nostalgic purposes.
- Geetobitan
An excellent quarter century old music school near Hari Sabha being run single-handedly ( Mrs Rumela Gupta ) by a senior lady with a pronounced handicap. Most of the railway men's children pursue music, dance and arts at this beginners place starting from as young as two. Surprisingly it is just the goodwill and the basic infrastructure with some local help that is keeping it going. Good place for stimulating discussions on Indian classical Music.
- Kali Pahadi
There is a Mountain Named Kali Pahadi there's a Mandir of goddes Maa Kali which is situated on top of mountain.
Spirit of Jamalpur
Alighting from your train at Jamalpur Junction station of the Eastern Railway and making your way through the market adjacent to it,you are not likely to be impressed.Turning right at the end of what could well be called the station road,you cross an over-bridge and enter the Railway East Colony.This egalitarian title is now given to what used to be the European Colony in colonial days.There is a Jamalpur beyond the East Colony also,but most things in this town begin end here.The first turning to the right is the Workshop Road,that leads to the Eastern Railway Locomotive Workshop,the biggest and the oldest in the country.
It was only after the setting up of the temples of modern India after independence that bigger workshops were built.you next pass the Club Road and Stadium Road.You soon cross the Golf Road,before you come to Gymkhana Road on your left.
Standing between these roads, you see a vast expanse of a rolling green maidan stretching towards a right that seems to cover your entire field of view.This maidan is the Golf Course,a small but reasonably well kept 9-hole course,that is perhaps the cheapest in the world to play golf on.
Right in the centre of the course, you will note what looks like a grave. The epitaph on the tombstone tells you the gory tale:a 27 year old Foreman of the Erecting Shop was killed by a tiger near the spot two years after the workshop had been established in 1862. In the tranquil serenity of the present maidan, tigers had roamed in the not too distant past. If this was the situation,then why Jamalpur, is the question that is often asked.
The answer lies in the history of the area and the nearby town of Munger (earlier Monghyr). The inhabitants of this town and the surrounding areas had always been a reservoir of skilled craftsman in mechanical fields like ironware – notably guns,pistols,spears, and other weapons.
It is not a coincidence that Monghyr was often referred to as the “Birmingham of the East” in those days. It will also not be out of place to record that Jamalpur was on what was then intended to be the mainline of the Railway,had good water supply and congenial surroundings.
Jamalpur was at first only an engine changing station. The actual headquarters of the Locomotive Department were at Howarah,but the latter not only possessed great drawbacks but was too confined to permit extensions.There was,in fact., no room for the work shop of the Locomotive Department as well as the Company’s carriage and wagon works, and after long and matured consideration, it was decided to remove the former to Jamalpur.
Mr. John Strachan, the then Locomotive Superintendent of the Company,gives the following account for the cause of the removal.”It was not till the early sixties that the late D.W.campbell decided to remove the workshops to Jamalpur, and this was owing to the drivers and fitters giving trouble.They were covenanted men from home who had left their families there,and as hotel and billiard rooms were their only amusement,it was no uncommon thing for men to leave the shops during working hours and adjourn to a hotel that was then opposite to the railway station…
“There were also several other places of amusement in Howrah and Calcutta to which men could go and among them was a place known as Wilson’s Coffee Room.
“One day Mr. Campbell ,returning from the weekly Meeting in the Agent’s Office, happened to call at Wilson’s Coffee Room for tiffin, and here he found three of his principle foremen and two engine drivers enjoying themselves in rather a boisterous manner……The men were quickly retired, and after that Mr. Campbell never rested until he had the workshops and the Locomotive offices removed from Howrah to Jamalpur.”
And, so it was that the Locomotive Workshop came to be located at Jamalpur. By 1890, the workshop had 3122 men, which grew to 9528 by 1906. (In its heyday 30 years back, the figure was 14,000). By this time, the number of locomotives whose overhaul was based at Jamalpur had grown to 952. Since there was virtually no industry in the country, the workshop grew to be totally self sufficient. It set up the country’s first rolling mill in 1879, as well as the railway’s first captive powerhouse, which was set up in 1895. A steel foundry with a 7-ton open-hearth furnace started operations in 1898.
The Iron foundry was amongst the best in the country and even produced cast iron sleepers. Jamalpur has the distinction of manufacturing locomotives well before Chittaranjan Locomotive Works were set up. A total of 214 locomotives were built at Jamalpur between 1899 and 1932.
Along with the technical side of the development,care was also taken to develop the human resource. A Technical School was set up in 1988 for Trade Apprentices with one teacher. In 1905, the training of Apprentice Mechanics was started for Anglo-Indians and later in 1911, the Apprentice Mechanic scheme was thrown open to Indians also. It is chronicled elsewhere in this issue, how the training of special class Apprentices at the Technocal School in 1927, set into motion the chain of events that we are commemorating this year.
Jamalpur has always attracted visitors who could well be a Who’s Who of the land. A sampling of the messages recorded in the Visitor’s Book of the Workshop can be seen in this write up.
Even today, the Workshop and the Training institute at Jamalpur are the mainstay of not only Jamalpur town but also the entire district of Munger. Although there are other workshops and units in the Railways and outside that are bigger and more contemporary than the Locomotive Workshop at Jamalpur today, the words of Mr. Huddlestone, C.I.E, Chief Superintendent of the East Indian Railway, give an idea of the Spirit behind Jamalpur.
“There are, of course,larger Railway shops existing in Europe but not few are more self contained or better occupied with modern electrically driven machinery than this workshop.”
Education
Jamalpur is well known for its Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, IRIMEE. Other institute includes:- Notre Dame Academy - The First Notre Dame School in India was founded in Jamalpur, India, in 1950. Notre Dame Academy is a Catholic Institution managed by the Patna Notre Dame Sister's Society.
- Eastern Railway High School - It is the one of oldest high schools in Jamalpur. This school has been run for Railway Employee children.
- Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV), Jamalpur- Kendriya Vidyalaya Jamalpur was set up in 1973 and was sponsored by Eastern Railway. A CBSE affiliated school, has produced outstanding students both in academics and sports.
- Arya Bal Shanti Niketan,Junior Branch Maulsiritalle,Munger and Senior Branch, Munger-Jamalpur Road, infront of Gyatri Mandir Jamalpur.This school is Afflicated to CBSE Delhi Vide Afflication No.330229 and School Code No.50145.Which was founded in 2Jan,1973.this school is under aegis of Dr.Kartik Kalyan Trust Maulsiritalle,Munger Bihar (811201).Principal:-Amitabh Kumar, Chairman:-Rachna, Administrator:-Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary:-Chandan Kumar.This school is an English Medium Co-Education Senior Secondary School etc.
Residential Hotels
- Lounges Inn - Living accommodation and Resto-Bar at Jubilee Well Jamalpur.
- Hotel Yatrik
- Hotel HillView
- Hotel Samrat Palace - An Eight story well furnished hotel having its own Darbar Hall.
- Hotel White House Residency - A five story well furnished hotel. A/C and non A/C rooms are available
- Hotel urvashi infront of station main gate. best hotel in city.