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STORY OF ROZELLE
A Quaint Little Railway Station in Sri Lanka – Amongst the railway stations on the Up Country Line of the Sri Lankan Government Railway are a number of little known Colonial-built and Colonial-style quaint railway stations.
The romantic sounding Rozelle is one of them.
Very little is known of how this station came to be, although one assumes it had to do with the tea plantations. The Name Rozelle
Even the English spelling of the name is not established as far as this station goes, and varies between Rozell e and Rozell a.
The latter reflects the present day pronunciation of the name.
Most English speakers would pronounce Rozelle as “Ro-zell” (two syllables) but the Sinhalese characters spell it out as “Ro-sall-a” (three syllables).
Rozelle is a Scottish name associated with Ayrshire. (There is also a Rozelle in New South Wales in Australia.)
Rail ticket to Rozelle, Sri LankaIn Sinhala, which is a phonetic language, the spelling and the pronunciation of “Ro sall er” are clear and consistent but one cannot help thinking that, over time, the original pronunciation (and therefore the Sinhala spelling) has been “Sinhalicised”.
Officially, the station sign and the railway tickets use the first spelling but the rather recent official SLGR website lists it as Rosella, further confusing the issue!
There is no town by that name in Sri Lanka and the name seems to come from the tea plantation which is, confusingly, named Rozella.
Location
6° 56′ 6.00″ N 80° 33′ 30.12″ E
Situated between Watawala and Hatton at an elevation of 1130m, 168 Km from Colombo and 124Km from Badulla, the station is in an exposed and wind-swept situation facing a deep valley. A picturesque cascade falls into the valley below from a point close to the station, and this powers the hydro electric generator for the station.
Incidentally, this area has the highest rainfall figure of Sri Lanka.
The main access to Rozelle station is by train although the Station Road does connect with the main Colombo-Hatton road. Buses from nearby Hatton are infrequent.
There is no town or even a proper settlement apart from the tea plantations. Apart from a tea shack next to the Goods Shed, there are no other facilities for the infrequent visitor.
Track work and Gradients
The single railway track approaches the station in the “Up” direction through a very tight 51/2 chains radius double or S curve with a gradient of 1:44. The maximum gradient on the present day Sri Lankan railway is 1:44. The gradient marker (above) is close to the outer Home Signal in the Up direction and on the S curve.
The curve is prone to earth slips and the track has had to be modified many times in the past. (The author remembers seeing earth slip damage and construction work going on circa 1977 whilst traveling on the Night Mail train)
At one time, following an earth slip, the curvature of the track had to be reduced to 41/2 chains. This was later corrected by reconstructing the earthworks The maximum gradient on the present day Sri Lankan railway is 1:44. The gradient marker (above) is close to the outer Home Signal in the Up direction and on the S curve.
Credit to Gyan Fernando .
