Manhar Gadhia was in for a pleasant surprise during his recent visit to a roadside bookseller in central Mumbai. Hitler, the book seller, was in possession of some rare gems from the 1920s, among them a tender document of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway in 1926. The task on offer was to construct ‘The New Main Line Station Building at Victoria Terminus in Bombay’. Since it coincided with the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) Heritage Week that the Central Railway is holding (July 2-8), Mr. Gadhia had more reasons to be thrilled with his find. “Hitler loves his books much more than the smell of money, and parted with this treasure at a huge discount,” he says.
The book gives a glimpse into the stringent specifications for constructing the building that is now a part of CST’s (formerly Victoria Terminus) heritage precincts. The tender document says about 440 tonnes of iron and steel were required for the ground-plus-three structure to ‘build cast-iron columns, steel troughing to covered way on south elevation besides steelwork to staircases (including servant staircases which were cantilevered)’.
One contractor is said to have quoted the princely sum of Rs. 1.21 lakh for the iron and steel. For bidding, an earnest money deposit of Rs. 1,000 in ‘cash’ or ‘currency notes’ was required on which no interest was to be paid by the cashier GIPR, VT. Other materials required included Malad stone, cut stone, cement concrete and round wrought iron bars for windows.
It was also specified that linseed oil be used in construction to preserve wood and concrete. The GIPR was even particular about the type of linseed oil to be used. “Linseed oil used shall be limpid, pale and brilliant, mellow and sweet to the taste with very little smell, and shall be boiled twice. No country linseed oil will be permitted,” the document says.
Right usage of wood was important too. The GIPR document mandates that “the whole of the timber used to be of Moulmein teak” only because of its largely uniform colour. Moulmein, now called Mawlamyine, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar. All internal woodwork had to be French Polished, and external woodwork had to have four coats of oil paint of an approved colour. Timber for the roofs had to be treated with two coats of solignum wood preservative, and all timber resting on or unbedded in masonry had to be given three coats of red oxide paint. The glass used had to be sheet glass “weighing 21 ounces to the super foot”.
The tender document says about 440 tonnes of iron and steel were required for main line building
