Jamalpur Gymkhana - Why Jamalpur?

Why Jamalpur?

Jamalpur is a railway town. The name literally means beautiful (Jamal-) town (-pur). And that is a literal description of the place. Picturesque and secluded, the verdant landscape has its share of hills, lakes and seasonal waterfalls. The climate is temperate and people hospitable.

Legend has it that the British, trying to prevent their train drivers wasting themselves with liquor in the watering holes of Calcutta, saw Jamalpur as a salubrious alternative. The workshop followed the drivers. Not just any workshop. This was the first full-fledged railway workshop in India, set up in 1862 by the East Indian Railway. The Jamalpur site was chosen for its proximity both to the Sahibganj Loop (which was the main trunk route at the time), and to the communities of gunsmiths and other mechanical craftsmen in Bihar, who were adept in the skills required for a railway workshop. Today it has foundry and metallurgical lab facilities, extensive machine tool facilities, etc. This is the workshop where the Gymmie gets first hand experience of Production Technology and Industrial Engineering.

It is this oft berated workshop that sets apart the Gymmie from other theoretical engineers.

The technical school attached to the Jamalpur workshops eventually became the Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. And the hostel, the Jamalpur Gymkhana.

While IRIMEE trains a whole gamut of personnel from the Indian Railways and outside organisations, Jamalpur Gymkhana is exclusive to the SCAs. Barring a short period when serving officers of the Indian Railways shared the premises while undergoing training in diesel locomotives, only SCAs have stayed here. Erstwhile SCAs, called SAMs, have formed an association called the Jamalpur Association.