GANGAPUR TRAMWAY

 GANGAPUR TRAMWAY

The history of transport is as old as that of man himself. The modern railway is the development of the horse drawn wagon or tramway, used in England in Sixteenth to Eighteenth centuries for the haulage of minerals to rivers or ports. As the roads were bad and wagons had to be guided through tunnels, some one thought of laying down wooden planks for the wheels to run on. The planks wore out quickly and then someone else put iron plates to nail them down to reduce wear. Thus came the first 'plate ways'. The wooden planks and wheels were later replaced with those of iron roads i.e 'rails'. It reduced wear and enabled much heavier loads to be pulled with leaser friction.

The first railway built for general use on payment of fee or toll was the horse-drawn Surrey Iron Railway from Wordsworth to Croydon and Carshalton (UK), which was opened in 1804. The Napoleonic war took away the horses and Richard Trevithick (1771-833) designed a steam engine mounted on wheels which generated sufficient power to move it. This ultimately spelled the exit of the horse and the entrance of the steam engine which was later replaced by the diesel and electric locomotives in the 20th century.

The horse-drawn tramway was introduced by Sir Ganga Ram in the subcontinent. It was a local mass transit system - a light tram consisting of four trolleys, hooked to one another and drawn by a medium sized ponny. It connected Sir Ganga Ram's GANGAPUR Village (Chak 591-GB) with the Buchiana Railway Station ( District Nankana Sahib) at Sheikhupra-Jaranwala-Shorkot Section. It trotted over a two feet wide and two miles long track and could carry forty passengers seated on wooden benches. A shed and stable were also built-in the middle of the village. It provided a ready means of transport for men and material.

The tram (commonly known as Anokhi Sawari) was started in 1905 at the wish of Sir Ganga Ram's daughter and it worked till 1990 when rickshaws running on a road parallel to the track rendered it useless. The work of the tram was supervised by the ' Cooperative Society ' of GANGAPUR and the operation of tram was given to a contractor in an auction on yearly basis. Fare was very cheap and each trip of the tram corresponded with the arrival of the train at Buchiana Railway Station. A public bell was given before departure of the tram. In case two trams crossed en-route, passengers were transshipped and ponies exchanged. The experiment of tram was first of it's kind in the subcontinent. 

Before that the trolleys of this Tram were rendered to extinction and the new generation forgot of their cultural heritage the Railway administration preserved the trolleys and displayed it at Railway Heritage Point Golra Sharif. A replica of this is also displayed at Buchiana Railway Station.

Lately the local notables like Rao Munawar Ahmed Khan have successfully revived the tram and the service was resumed on 10th March 2010. This is no doubt a huge contribution on the part of local administration. The track has been revived after almost 17 years with a heavy investment of Rs 5 million which was arranged locally. The task of the conservation of this cultural heritage through operation and by displaying at Railway Museum Golra and Lyallpur museum is in fact a tribute to Sir Ganga Ram for whom Mr. Pyarey Lal Bedi, his biographer remarked very aptly, " He was a true son of the soil and few have loved Mother Earth more than he did". 

It may be surprising for many but this is a fact that before his retirement as chief Engineer Punjab, Sir Ganga Ram designed and built General Post office, Lahore Museum, Atchison College, Mayo School of Arts ( now the NCA), GANGA RAM Hospital, Lady Mcllagan Girls high school, the chemistry department of the Government College University, the Albert Victor Wing of Mayo Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram High School (now Lahore College for Women), the Halley College of Commerce, Ravi Road House for the Disabled, the Ganga Ram trust building on the Mall and Lady Maynard Industrial School. He also constructed Model Town, once the best locality of Lahore, the powerhouse at Renala Khurd as well as the railway track between Pathankot and Amritsar.

He built Sur Ganga Ram hospital, Lahore (1921), Lady Mcllagan School and Renala Khurd power house with his own money. Another hospital Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi was built in 1951.

He was a Great engineer and a great philanthropist. In the words of Sir Malcolm Halley, the Governor of Punjab, " he won like a Hero and gave like a Saint". 

Ashfaq Ali Tabassam