Situated between Platform No. 7 & Pandya Bridge is a huge red building, which once was a Shed, for the Royal Saloons of the then Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. This tall building was standing as a testament to the old ties of the princely State of Baroda and the Railways.
The Building :
The building was built around 1880’s was used to park the Broad-Gauge Royal Saloon’s (living, dinning & bedroom bogie’s) of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. It is a linear building displaying all the traits of the buildings commissioned by the Gaekwads. The linear shape of the building is broken by a rectangular wing jutting out from the side of the building facing the road.
The long facade of the building shows exposed brick work pierced with arched windows at regular intervals. The windows are supported on stone sills, perched on stone brackets. The roof is a double pitched hipped roof, resting on steel trusses. The interior side of the roof is covered with wooden battens to hide the purlins supporting the terracotta roof tiles. On the smaller sides of the building are huge arched entrances for the entry and exit of the saloons. The architrave features complex mouldings and the parapet wall encircling the roof is pierced with “plus” shaped design.
The Royal Saloons :
These were a pair of the Royal broad gauge coaches built by the Parel Workshops of Bombay Baroda & Central India ( BB&CI ) Railway for the use of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1886. As is expected of a royal coach, the Gaekwad’s saloons were spaciously designed with the amenities its royal occupant would have been accustomed to. One of the saloons called saloon no. 1 consisted of amenities such as bedroom, living room, visitor’s room, washrooms with bathtubs, along with compartments for attendants, luggage compartments, kitchen etc.
This particular coach in the picture is stationed at the National Railway Museum, Delhi. It consists of a living room with attached toilet and an attendant’s room with a separate toilet. The entrance to the coach is from the attached balcony on one side. The balcony was fit for one person to stand in to operate the manual brakes of coach. The interior of the coach is decorated with fine woodwork, brass fittings and gilded ceilings. An intricately designed passageway one into the attendant’s quarter of the saloon. Although it is not as luxurious as that of the royal occupant themselves but certainly more comfortable than a regular/passenger coach.
Such was the glory of the Gaekwad’s, who not only started the first narrow gauge line of India but also what was to become the longest narrow gauge network of India till date.
As of 28 September 2021, the building has been demolished to make way for the upcoming railway project. We lost a gem !
Very Interesting! Baroda should be explored at least once in a trip to Gujarat!
Keep it up, thanks for sharing such a nice information.
i always used to wonder how (ie. why) this structure still survives, since over a century. So this is why…It certainly deserves maintenance, restoration and signboards depicting what it is…