English: Gaekwar's Baroda State Railway Class A 4-6-0 steam locomotives (William Bagnall, Stafford 1933)

An official Charles Edward Fowke photo of several new William Bagnall 4-6-0 steam locomotives for the Gaekwar's Baroda State Railway in India.

The GBSR was the first narrow gauge line to be laid in British India, and also the first railway to be owned by any Princely State of India. In 1862, Maharaja Khanderao Gaekwad, the Maharaja of Baroda, inaugurated 8 miles (13 km) of a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) railway line from Dabhoi to Miyagam. Oxen were used to haul the train, although in 1863, Nielson & Co. built a locomotive to be operated on the line from Dabhoi to Miyagram, as the 6.5 kg/m rails were not suited for the regular use of an engine.

Later, during the rule of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the railway's network was further expanded. In 1873, the Dabhoi-Miyagam line, the first 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) line, was relaid with stronger rails to allow locomotives to be used, rather than oxen. However, locomotives were not regularly used on the line until 1880. During the Maharaja's reign, railway network extended to Goyagate, Chandod, Bodeli and Samalaya Jn with Dabhoi as its focal point.

In 1949, the Gaikwad Baroda State Railway was merged with the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway which was subsequently merged in 1951 with other adjacent zones to form the Western Railway of India. (Source: Wikipedia)

Charles Edward Fowke was a famous Stafford-based British photographer. Many of his photos are associated with the William Bagnall Castle Engine Works.

According to the works list, Bagnall manufactured locomotives for the Gaekwar's Baroda State Railway to both 2ft 6in and 3ft 3 3/8in gauges (the latter being meter gauge) as follows:

2278 to 2283 1925 0-6-4T 2ft 6in

2488 to 2493 1933 4-6-0+T Meter 85 to 90 (seen above)

2531 to 2533 1935 4-6-0+T Meter 91 to 93

2852 to 2855 1947 4-6-0+T Meter 94 to 97

2856 to 2859 1947 0-6-2+T 2ft 6in 15 to 18

2964 to 2970 1951 4-6-0+T Meter 98 to 104

In this erecting shop scene, the long gap between the cowcatcher and the driving wheels is consistent with a 4-6-0 locomotive awaiting its bogie. There seems to be no buffer beam, so perhaps the loco had no buffers, but instead had a center coupler. Knuckle type center couplers were used on standard and broad gauge lines in the Americas, Australia, China and the Soviet Union, but this seems to be a lighter duty form of center coupler.

The Bagnall trade card associated with order E2488 seems to show a locomotive with all of the above-mentioned features, plus other matching features (raised running board over the cylinders, type of smokebox door, rectangular exhaust pipe, slightly concave front end of frames with lifting points and cowcatcher made out of plate steel).