Travels 2011 – Kolkata (Fleet Overview)

Updated DEC 2020 with the help of the excellent fleet list supplied by Sagnik Gupta (Thank you!)

This my attempt to compile a fleet list of the CTC. Various sources have been used. My trip to Kolkata in February 2011 has allowed me to make personal oberservations (we visited all depots and I took photos of everything that was somehow captureable by camera – i.e. some stored cars at the back of dark Tollygunge and Kalighat depots escaped me plus a handfull of cars at other depots that were tightly boxed in by other cars. I know not all of the cars contained in the fleet list still survive but I have added fleet numbers of all the cars seen in service or in depots (including Nonapukur workshops) under each “class” heading. Not all the cars seen are “runners” (i.e. some looked like they have not moved in years) but I would not like to classify them as many of the cars actually in service do look like they should not be so… We did see more fibre glass bodies under assembly at Nonapukur workshops but none of them sported any fleet numbers yet. Cars 1-192 “M” (2x motor with permanently coupled 2x trailer – rebuilt from earlier models) were scrapped a long time ago. The following numbers were left unassigned: 193-200, 300, 560, 588-599, 660-680.

125 (2x) “BALAKA” CTC1924 (rebuilt from RS2) – seen

201-206 (6x) “PAYE” CTC1965-67 (trucks and electrical equipment ex Bombay) – seen: 204/5 (204 since in a museum in Gurgaon near Delhi)

207-281 (6x) “N” Burnstandard1982-3 – seen: 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218#, 219, 220#, 221, 222, 224, 226, 227#, 228, 229, 232#, 234, 235#, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 244, 245, 247, 248, 250, 251, 252*, 253*, 254, 255*, 256, 260, 262, 263, 265, 266, 267, 268, 270, 271, 274, 275, 276, 277#, 278, 279, 280#, 281#
# = these cars have received a new fibre body, only 218 with body by BEBCO later fitted out as VICTORIA TRAMCAR RESTAURANT
* = since rebuilt into 4x tram 252-1 and 252-2 and 253 and 255
258 has since received new paneling on top of the original body for various PR contracts and is currently the mobile ART GALLERY

282-289 (6x) (no class code used) CTC1950 – seen: 282, 283, 286, 287, 288, 289

290-299 (6x) “N” Burnstandard1986-7 – seen: 291, 292, 293, 295, 296, 297, 298

301-306 “J” = retired 4x cars

307-489 (6x) “K” EnglishElectric1931, CTC1932, Burnstandard1933-6, Jessop1938-9 – seen: 323, 344, 370, 408, 410+, 416+, 427+, 429+, 439, 440, 442+, 449, 455, 456+, 458, 461#, 488
+ = tapered front

490-559 (6x) “L” or “HATIGARI (ELEPHANT CAR)” CTC1942-51 (some rebuilt with eliptical ends) – seen: 490, 492, 497#, 498, 503#, 504, 506#, 507, 514#, 516#, 540, 545#
# = these cars have received a new fibre body

561-587 (6x) “SUNDARI” CTC1974-6 (trucks and electrical equipment partly ex Bombay or “K” class) – seen: 561, 562, 563, 568+, 569, 570, 572, 573, 574, 575, 577, 582, 583, 585, 586, 587
+ = this car rebuilt as Heritage Ride car “BONOLOTA” – later used for private hires/charters and now PAAT RAANI Tram

600-659 (6x) “N” Burnstandard1983 (trucks and electrical equipment ex “J/K/L”) – seen: 600, 601, 602, 603, 604, 605#, 606, 607, 608, 609+, 610, 612, 613, 614, 616, 617#, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622, 623, 625, 626#, 627, 630, 633, 634, 635, 636#, 637, 638, 639, 641, 642, 643, 644, 645, 651, 652++, 653, 655++, 656, 658, 659
+ = modern front resembling Melbourne “B” class (the other car was 649 but this was not seen)
++ = these cars have a more modern front
# = these cars have received a new fibre body) –
615 since rebuilt into two 4x trams 615-1 and 615-2 and 630 into 630-A and 630-B and 645 into 645-A and 645-B / 622 since rebuilt into single 4x car and then recently fitted out as “AC library”

681-700 (6x) “N” Jessop1986 – seen: 681, 684, 685, 686, 687, 690, 691, 692, 694, 695#, 696, 697, 700
# = these cars have received a new fibre body

701-725 (6x) “N” Burnstandard1988 – seen: 701, 704, 705, 706, 707, 708, 709, 711, 713, 715, 716, 717, 718, 719, 720, 722, 723, 724, 725 
702 since rebuilt into two 4x trams 702-1 and 702-B (both non-AC)

Work Cars:

original FW1 Flat Wagon (2x) – ex passenger car 43 (type M) – scrapped (archive photo by C.M Jackson)

FW2 Flat Wagon (2x) – seen (since moved to Kolkata Tram world)

new FW3 Flat Wagon (6x) ex SUNDARI 583 – was built, after our 2011 visit

HWC Water Car “HOWRAH” (2x) used to clean tracks – seen 

IW1 Inspection Wagon (2x) – scrapped (no photo, sorry)

IW2 Inspection Wagon 2 (2x) – seen

RS1 Rail Scrubber (2x) CTC1918 used to grind tracks and clean tracks – seen

RS2 Rail Scrubber (2x) CTC1919 – rebuilt to #125 (archive photo by C.M. Jackson – we see the Drinking Water Car trailer behind that often ran with TC2)

RS3 Rail Scrubber (2x) CTC1924 used to grind tracks and clean tracks – seen

SC1 Staff Car (6x) – seen

SC2 Staff Car 2 (6x) “K” – seen

SC3 Staff Car (6x) “K” – since scrapped

SC4 Staff Car (6x) “K” – seen

SC5 Staff Car (6x) “L” – seen (since rebuilt into “SMARAMIKA” 142 mobile tram museum parked at Esplanade – a photo can be found here: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipMQx8LnYEimbStv-O4bQdQyKGiMfvBt26bmH0u-=s1600-w1440)

SC6 Staff Car (6x) “L” – seen (since restored to “GITANJALI” 498 – photos can be found here: https://www.prokerala.com/news/photos/kolkata-gitanjali-tram-a-tribute-to-rabindranath-tagore-29062.html)

TC1 Training Car (2x) “M ex B” – scrapped (no photo, sorry)

TC2 Training Car (2x) “M ex B” – often ran with Drinking Water Car trailer – both scrapped (archive photo by C.M. Jackson)

TC3 Training Car (2+2x) “M ex B” – scrapped (no photo, sorry)

TWC Traffic Water Car (but really now just a Flat Wagon (2x) since the water tank was removed many years ago) – seen

Flat Cars (trailers) (two; not numbered) (2x) – both since scrapped (originally there were many more)

Having problems reading those Bengali numerals?