‘Getambe Jones’ and the lost Railway halt

Gyan C. A. Fernando is back on track with his adventures as an archaeologist

I suppose, as usual, it all started off in my childhood. As a youngster, amongst other things, I wanted to be an explorer. At that time explorers were celebrities. One of the famous, some might say notorious, explorer-archaeologist was Howard Carter. Carter discovered and plundered the late boy-King Tutankhamen’s pyramid. Then there was Hiram Bingham who “discovered” and plundered the “Lost City” of Macchu Picchu in Peru and is now immortalised in having a touristy and expensive train named after him, the train that runs from Cuzco to Aguas Caliente in Peru. I suppose all this information is wasted on the new generation of Harrison Ford- “Indiana Jones” worshippers. Apart from exploring and discovering, Indiana Jones got into good fights and saved a lot of maidens, mostly of the daft, blond blue-eyed type. There is a lot of romance in being an explorer-archaeologist as I soon found out. How to become an archaeologist It is actually not too difficult to become an archaeologist and “discover” something “ancient”. One of the pre-requisites of becoming an archaeologist is to be able to leave common sense behind. A vivid imagination is mandatory. ‘I stood up in the bucket and struck a regal pose, like some minor conqueror in an obscure corner of Asia Minor surveying his ill-gotten territory. As intended, this attracted a small crowd.’ Sketch by K. Senthilkumaran Some years ago, British Archies from a well-known Uni announced the discovery of an “Early Man” Homo-Something-or-the-other and this was full page news in The Times (of London) and included a two-column six inches worth of an artist’s impression of the beast. The Times, which is a rather staid old newspaper, even used colour which it normally is quite miserly about. All this ballyhoo was based solely on the discovery of a 2x1.5 inch fragment of a bone helped by loads of Hollywood type imagination! Have hat, will dig! Recently, I discovered that I possessed most of the prerequisites for becoming an Archie. Apart from the above named attributes, I have or own the following: 1. A pair of dust-covered, heavy duty, walking shoes with impressive logo (impervious to snake bite but with a small crack in the upper of the left one). 2. A grey, slightly unkempt beard giving me an eccentric professorial appearance. 3. An“Indiana Jones” type hat. One of the rules of this game is to set about discovering something that is easy to discover and then hype it. There is no point wasting time and energy trying to discover the lost continent of Atlantis, for example, which is probably too big and difficult to dig out anyway. So I decided to set my sights on something more manageable. Being retired and at a loose end, I decided one morning that I should set about trying to discover The Lost Railway Halt of Getambe (near Kandy). David Hyatt, the author of “Railways of Sri Lanka”, has compiled a list of railway halts complete with their distances from Colombo and accurate to the last chain. Most of these are now either obscure or have disappeared altogether over time. One of them is The Lost Railway Halt of Getambe (LRHG). Miles and Chains I happen to live near Getambe. The available information in David’s meticulously prepared list indicated that The Lost Railway Halt of Getambe should be exactly at 72:62 from Colombo. That is, 72 miles and 62 Chains from the Colombo Terminus. The first complication was the Imperial measurements of Miles and Chains. The second was that the Sri Lankan Railway, then the CGR, measured distances from the now totally forgotten Colombo Terminus station. The third problem was that I was never good at numbers! The thought of having to measure off 72 miles and 62 chains from Colombo initially put me off but then I realised that the halts on either side of The Lost Railway Halt of Getambe are still there. One was Rajawatte at 71:77 and the other Randles Hill at 73:41 and therefore the LRH of Getambe should be somewhere in between.“Eureka!! I shouted. Unlike other Archies I decided to carry out a “full site survey”. I first set off from Randles Hill Halt, complete with the Indiana Jones hat and a small back pack, in the direction of Peradeniya, on foot and along the railway line. (Instead of walking along the rail track I could have taken a three-wheeler along the road but I believed in being meticulous in my research.) To be on the safe side I carried a powerful torch although it was daytime. Officially, you need a licence to carry a gun in Sri Lanka. I hadn’t. So unlike Indiana Jones I could not afford to get mixed up with any bad guys. There were no blond blue-eyed girls either. Having surveyed the line up to the Getambe level crossing, which took me all of 15 mins, I had a cup of tea with Jayasena. Jayasena is “my man” who mans the Getambe level crossing. He is a pleasant, youngish bloke and has a railway pedigree. There was no point in asking him about the LRHG, however. He was too young to have known it, but he did recommend old Jayantha Aiya, the local self-appointed sage and ex-gateman, who normally frequents the Coca-Cola shack near the crossing. Jayantha Aiya was not there that day but I made a mental note to interview him at a later date. I then walked on to the Rajawatte Halt. I got back home in time for a beer and lunch. Some of the mileposts were lying on their sides but eventually, with considerable mathematical effort, I worked out that the LRH of Getambe must be at the Getambe level crossing. Look at the evidence: Distance from Colombo to LRHG is 72:62, Colombo to Rajawatte is 71:77, and Colombo to Randles Hill is 73:41. There are 80 chains to the mile. Therefore the distance from Randles Hill to the LRHG must be 59 chains. A quarter mile is 20 chains so 59 chains are nearly ¾ miles. The distance from Peradeniya Junction to Getambe level crossing is 1¾ mile if one is to believe the mile post lying on its side and so…Oh never mind! The Getambe level crossing is recent but definitely pre-Rajapaksa. My research indicated that it was from the Era of the Ancient President Premadasa. The story, that at one time a large amount of gold was stored there, was pure invention on my part to motivate the diggers (see later).I correctly deducted that, in building the new Kandy-Peradeniya Road and the level crossing, the LRHG had been covered with landfill just as the Great Pyramids of Giza were at one time covered with sand. The diggers roll in! After having appointed myself as the Professor of Railway Archaeology, I appointed rail gateman Jayasena as my assistant and Associate Prof.of R. Arch. It is easy to be a Professor. You just need to be full of your own importance. Normally, archaeologists do not use heavy earth-moving equipment in their digs except when they are looting a site. However, there happened to be a JCB “backhoe” and other equipment already at the site busily not reconstructing the road like they should have been doing. After a little bit of persuasion, the JCB operator agreed to dig a bit. First, I got into the bucket of the JCB and asked the operator to hoist me aloft to survey the site. I stood up in the bucket and struck a regal pose, like some minor conqueror in an obscure corner of Asia Minor surveying his ill-gotten territory. As intended, this attracted a small crowd. I do not believe in hiding my talents under a bushel! As the excavation got underway, passing trains slowed down to offer passengers a tantalising glimpse of the imminent historical find. Even three-wheeler drivers slowed down to watch the excavation. I shouted out commands imperiously. Once things got into full swing, I left Jayasena, the Level Crossing Gateman cum Associate Professor of R. Arch,in charge of the dig. I then retired to the air-conditioned comfort of the nearby Royal Mall Pub to conduct further research. Professors generally do that. It did not take long for my assistant, Assoc. Prof Jayasena, to come running to me. I was on my second beer. He was excited and jumping up and down! I waved my hand to calm him down. In situations like this, one needs to maintain an air of nonchalance to show off one’s superiority! They had just unearthed the remains of the platform! This was good news indeed! I drained my beer and with an enigmatic smile playing on my face I strode purposefully to the site, with Jayasena yapping away and following me like a puppy. The sun was high in the sky, it was hot and it reminded me of Cairo and Luxor. There were shouts of “Jayawewa!” from the crowd. The crowd parted for me as I strode in but I was rather taken aback to see that Jayantha Aiya was already there and holding forth about his days as the Gateman cum virtual General Manager of the CGR. I do not like competition. After all, this was my brainchild. I re-acquired centre stage by the simple process of stepping on Jayantha Aiya’s barefooted toes with my heavy snake-proof boots. I brooked no nonsense. He was a snake! This illustrates the importance of wearing heavy boots whilst excavating an archaeological site. Getambe brick The actual “find” was striking and consisted of a quarter of a brick measuring an impressive 20cm x15cm x10 cm. Closer inspection revealed a barely visible marking which I worked out to be part of the letter “R”. This indeed was a great find! We had discovered the platform of the LRHG! The letter R was part of the inscription “CGR” or Ceylon Government Railway. The fact that, apart from this brick, we found little else did not unduly bother me. Archaeologists and Palaeontologists have built up entire civilisations based solely on the discovery of fragments of pottery or bone much smaller than our “Getambe Brick”. A sizeable throng had gathered by now and two Police officers, who happened to be idly passing by, took on the job of crowd control. I nodded my approval patronisingly. With gloved hands I then carefully, slowly and impressively placed the Getambe brick in a clear polythene bag and labelled it in full view of the gathered public. I also took several photographs of it to impress the gathered crowd. The Police held back the crowd and blew their whistles. I noticed that there were a few comely lasses in the crowd who were pushing forwards and making eyes at me. They will have to wait. I have work to do!“This is no time for gallivanting!”, I said sternly to myself! I sent off an immediate, terse, SMS message to the General Manager of the Sri Lanka Railway: “Have found Getambe. Re-schedule trains! Organise Press Conference”. Call the National Geographic! I do not allow success to go to my head. There was more work to be done! First, we had to open a cheap souvenir shop cum tea shack at the site. I left Associate Prof/ Rail gateman Jayasena in charge of that, whilst I proceeded to send off urgent e-mails to the British Museum, the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution. As I write this, excavation work is still going on, which so far has unearthed two rusty railway spikes and a bearing plate. Jayasena has started selling cheap t-shirts printed with our LRHG logo and I have packed my bags in readiness for embarking on a lecture tour of America, Europe and Japan………..As soon as I get replies to my e-mails. I hear that President Rajapaksa wants to meet me and congratulate me personally. I am afraid I will have to keep him waiting for some time! On a serious note The Getambe Railway Halt did exist at one time. The actual location is opposite the present day Kandy Courts Complex (and a short distance from the Getambe level crossing). There is no obvious trace of the halt. The railway line from Peradeniya to Kandy runs through a busy road corridor and should be opened up for more stopping trains to take the congestion off the two main roads. Although plans are afoot to double track this stretch of railroad, funds are yet to be allocated and it is hoped that the Minister in charge of Railways would expedite matters. This stretch of railroad is ideal for running short, stopping trains or rail buses like a metro system and one day could be upgraded to form the Kandy metro system. Double tracking is mandatory to allow express trains to travel unhindered.