Lahore Railway Station – Back in the 1880s
While browsing through Wikipedia, I found this rare picture of Lahore Railway Station, back in the 1880s.
The surroundings look all deserted giving the Station building an impressive elevation. I only wish if I could turn the time back and have a Buggy ride from Railway Station to Flattei’s Hotel on the Mall… 8)
Source: Wikipedia
“This is a low-resolution and cropped (down to 40% of original size) version of Photograph of the Railway Station at Lahore, Pakistan, taken by George Craddock in the 1880s, part of the Bellew Collection of Architectural Views. Oriental and India Office Collection. British Library.“
Oh this sure is a nice picture Hassan. Doesn’t it look like a Lahore fort.
It also resembles our new airport. I believe after a few years, our elevated airport will also be sorrounded with ‘thaila walas’ and there would be a landa bazaar nearby too :) I hope not but who knows! :)
I like desserted railway stations! Thanx for posting this.
the print of photo is emotionally dull stepping us out of the norm and into the ecstatic assertion,its beautifulL!!
wats wikipedia,by the way?
wikipedia is a collection of photos which are emotionally dull stepping us out of the norm and into the ecstatic assertion…… :)) ….sorry could’nt resist it :)…. actually wikipedia is an internet based encyclopedia where virtually anyone can add / update info on virtually anything. So basically it contains pages on almost everything famous or of substance….. check it out… you might even find pages deicated to your uncles and aunts if they are famous !
who cares abt uncles n aunts,i’m hurrying towards it for checking out my “virtual”existence rt there…oops cudnt resist it…;)….
thanx for the info,n e ways
yahoooO..man got u there as well among the top ppl wid low-resistance towards words,i still CANT resist it…virtually!!:p
cheers :)
The Railway station was built by the harmzadah goray as fort too so that incase of any Native uprising they can use it as a fort too. This railway station was built by a Muslim thekaydar (contractor) named Sultan who used bricks from many mosques in Lahore. He died as a broke. People in Lahore thinks that he died coz he destroyed many mosques for the bricks. Sultan even built a sarai near the station called Sultan da saraya
Yeah, I’ve also read somewhere that tens of precious Mughal monuments were flattened in order to raise land for the Lahore Railway Station.
Was it worth it??
So, it seems the Government of the Punjab isn’t the first institution which has sacrificed the built environment to construct it’s forts and palaces.
You’re right, the Railway Station was built to double as a fort in the event the natives went 1857 again. But it doesn’t detract from its beauty (tourist still visit the Tower of London and the Bastille).
For a modern version of the same, look at GOR I, where the Chief Minister enclosed the park next to his (old) official residence and office so that it could become part the back yard of his new official residence.
Still, just think if it wasn’t there! We would not have had Pakistan’s largest junction and a major means of transportation for millions of passengers for decades, perhaps, centuries to come… :|