My first fantasy over Sikkim
history started with this nameplate ‘1929 Burn & Co. Ltd, Bridge Builders,
Howah’ found hanging atop of the front and the backside of the old iron bridge
at Singtam joining the District Hospital Singtam with the bazaar. I believe
this is the oldest iron bridge still functional though these days limited to foot
walk.
For 91 years it has
been an identification of Singtam and this heritage bridge is getting its major
facelift these days, a crown added to its legacy. This bridge connected Siliguri,
Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and other regions to Gangtok via Rangpo - Singtam motorable road. Well, I
might be lucky enough to say that I had even seen bullock carts passed by this
bridge till the late 80s.
Tracing back the establishment
of Burn & Co. Ltd, I found that according to an old record found in 1809, a
company ‘Burn & Currie’ had Alexander Burn as the Head of the company along
with another gentleman Mr. Currie. Currie left the company in 1831, the
existing company was then known as Alexander Burn & Co. By 1891 it was
renamed Burn & Co. Ltd. At the start of the 1900s, it had its office at Howrah
and other different parts of Indian and abroad.
By 1930 they had several
departments - Rolling Stock, Bridge Building, Permanent Way, Shipbuilding,
Foundry, and General Engineering. ‘Burn & Co’ produced both passenger
carriages and wagons for many Indian mainline railways. In 1946 ‘Burn & Co
Ltd’ merged with ‘Martin & Company’ to form ‘Martin, Burn & Company’. Further, In 1975 they merged with the ‘Indian Standard Wagon Co Ltd’ to become the ‘Burn
Standard Company Limited’ and developed excellence in manufacturing Railway
wagons, forged components, springs, etc.
I am sure in the next nine
years we will celebrate its 100th birth anniversary.
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