OBITUARY
Shri S.K.Kanjilal
This
is in response to your kind invitation to my elder brother Mr. Sanat Kumar
Kanjilal, C. Eng., FIEE, FI Mech. E. (London) for the Annual Day of the
Institute on 13 th Feb ’99.
I
regret to inform you that he is no longer alive. He expired on the 12 th Apr
’98 of cardiac failure. Unfortunately, I did not have your address or a copy of
the Journal.
Since
I had the privilege of living with him jointly after his retirement in 1976, I
realised that his whole heart and soul was in the railways and quite often he
used to talk about his Jamalpur days, specially, of the thorough grounding that
he had in the Workshop there.
Born
on 16th Apr, 1918 and after passing out from Jamalpur he served in the Royal
Engineers as a Captain and saw active service in Burma and Malaya during World
War II. Later on in the Railways, he looked after the electric traction of G.I.P.
The last post that he held before his retirement in 1976 was that of the
Railway Advisor to the High Commissioner in London. He leaves behind no
children or wife.
As far
as I know from his conversations with me he designed three different Electric
Locomotives (WAG4-DC Heavy Duty Goods, WCAM1-AC/DC
& WAM4-AC) for the Indian Railways
sometime around 1965 while serving as the Director (Foreign Exchange). He, of
course, neither claimed nor got any recognition for the designing work that he
did.
For
the last 2 or 3 years he was obsessed with the idea of designing a 3 Phase
Electric Locomotive and a slim tramcar (which could seat only 3-4 abreast) for
one of the narrow and choked arterial roads of Lucknow to prevent pollution
from the Tempos. Unfortunately, all the calculations that he did on a scrap of
papers were swept away by us. But he did fondly wish, upto his last days, that
some enterprising engineer from the Railways took up the challenge.
Written By A.K.KANJILAL,
his brother