Do you know why December 22 is a landmark date for Indian railways as well as for Indians? The reason is that the first train in India, made its maiden journey, on December 22 aiming at solving farmers’ irrigation woes.
The clay required for the said construction was available in sufficient quantity at Piran Kaliyar area, which was 10 km away from Roorkee.
One Yogendra Singh, a librarian in IIT Roorkee, perusing its rich collection of books came through the fact and then conveyed the same information to Prof. Prem Vrat, the former Director of the institute.
The book, published in London in 1860, says that the train’s engine was brought from England in 1851 and was then named after the executive engineer, Thompson, who was credited with the plan to run a train on that route.
This potentially disrupts the other claims which mentions that the first train ran in 1853 between Mumbai and Thane. The 1853 train journey, in fact, was a commercial one, which made it as the first commercial train journey.