There are multitudes of tales and lore surrounding the Railways in the by gone era, each one as interesting and entertaining as the next. A train journey along the coastline from Colombo Fort to Kalutara would bring the travellers upon a station with a unique name. Instead of carrying the name of the place where the station is located, it says, “Train Halt No.1.”
In general, people refer to it as Number 1 Station. It raises one’s curiosity as to how a station located in a populated area did not end up carrying a place name. This was the unusual solution to an unusual conflict, which took place over the naming of the station, giving rise to an entertaining story.
Retired Station Master, W. L. Nihal de Silva says, Train Halt No.1 was actually established as a ticket agency or a place where trains came to a halt at the time, which is referred to as a sub- station in modern day language. “There are two theories on how the name actually came about. Some say it was the then General Manager of Railways (GMR), B D Rampala, who suggested the name while others say it was the then Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, Colonel Hernu.”
In his book, Lankave dumriya sevaya, paripalana, meheyum, wanija (2016), Nihal de Silva narrates the incident with slightly different facts. It was in 1958 that the Train Halt No. 1 was opened, to facilitate train travelling between the stations of Wadduwa and Payagala North, which has a distance of 13 kilometers between them. At the time, there were no other train stops in between, and a new train stop was built along the coast line, 38 kilometers from the Colombo Fort Station, on the border of Waskaduwa and Pothupitiya. “The Railway Department ceremoniously opened the station with the name Pothupitiya, which did not please the villagers of Waskaduwa. This gave rise to the conflict which developed into a violation of civil rights,” he says.
According to de Silva, the station operated with no name board for some time due to the conflict. One day, the Department fixed a plaque overnight, which read ‘Train Halt No. 1.’ The occupants from the two villages agreed to this name and the dispute was thus settled. De Silva insists that the decision to name the train stop as Train Halt No. 1 should be that of GMR Rampala.
Different variations to the origin of name
Station Master, Nalin Abeysinghe recalls the background story to the incident, with slight variations. He says, at the time, there was a need for a station between Kalutara North and Wadduwa, as a result of the popularization of the area. The station was built in the village of Pothupitiya, bordering Waskaduwa. “Since the village of Waskaduwa was better known than Pothupitiya, the authorities decided to name it the Waskaduwa Station,” he says. This gave rise to a conflict between the two villages. It started with a competition between the villagers, to name the station after their respective village.” People from Pothupitiya removed the sign which read Waskaduwa and hung a plaque which read Pothupitiya, instead. Following this, Waskaduwa occupants hired masons to elongate the platform towards their village,” says Abeysinghe. From here the dispute amplified into a major conflict between the two villages where both parties were more than willing to attack each other with knives and the like.
“At this point, the Survey Department attempted to settle the dispute by using maps to prove that the station was located in the exact boundary between Waskaduwa and Pothupitiya.”
However they weren’t successful in convincing the occupants of the two villages. Even a board that jointly carries both names was not agreed upon.
The incident took place at the time when Sir John Kotalawala was the Prime Minister. “Rampala proposed that the station would be named as ‘ Train Halt No.1, as a temporary solution to the dispute. This was meant as an inside joke, the area privately referred to as the place where number one people lived.”
In the book, Adventure of Railway men (2013) by H. U. Thibbatumunuwa, it is stated that the decision of the name was taken by Colonel Hernu, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Transport.
However, the most popular belief is that the name is the suggestion of Rampala, due to his headstrong personality. It is widely known that during his tenure as GMR, he did not let anybody interfere with Railway matters, not even the then Transport Minister.
Cold war
Abeysinghe says, even today, when people buy tickets to Train Halt No. 1 many of them ask for a ticket to either Waskaduwa or Pothupitiya. “Very few actually ask for a ticket to Train Halt No.1.” The actual incident took place decades ago, but the legacy of it has not left the residents of the area, to date. There exists no explicit clash between the residents of the two villages. However, the very subject of the name board of the station agitates them. They tend to be hostile towards whoever wants to know the story behind the name and still keep watch on any attempts at changes to the existing name. It was implied that in the case of a name change, the conflict would be reignited into flame, creating yet another war for the Station.