IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 481 - 500
From: vijayb <vijayb@pk705vmg.email
Subject: Bridges, etc.
Date: 01 May 1991 14:15:00 -0500
Hi,
Good to see IRFCA bounce back to action. My comments once again:
The bridge over the Godavari river near Rajahmundry curves noticably as
it approaches the station. The longest rail bridge over a river (in Ind
a) is between Dehri-on-sone and Sonnagar stns. over the Sone river; it i
about 2 1/4 miles long. This lies in the Mughal Sarai - Asansol Grand
Chord section.
> If anybody can tell me the name of
> the Ahmedabad-Old Delhi(Metre-Guage)
> super-fast train, I can talk about the
This is the Ashram Exp. Earlier it used to have a reasonably long
interhalt run of nearly 5 hrs. between Abu Rd. and Ajmer; then Falna
was introduced as a halt.
> By the way, about the earlier query
> about the Madras-Trivandrum mail,
> I remeber that it was meter-guage
> at that time. Also the line was
The Quilon-Trivandrum portion was still MG, and so trains from Madras
Egmore could run all the way to Trivandrum on MG. I remember they used
to have a MAS-Trivandrum Mail as well as an exp. Once Quilon-Trivandrum
was converted to BG, these trains started terminating at Quilon itself.
> Oh, and I remember faintly the name of a station just before Kharagpuron
>the northbound Howrah-Bombay Mail, the name starts with an 'H' I believ,
You probably are refering to Hijli.
>1) At Kharagpur, which is the NORMAL route, onto Tata or on South to ..?
> I mean, ONE of the routes would need a turn in the engine direction,
No. Trains bound for Tata or Bhubaneswar need not reverse directions at
Kharagpur, although the latter ones do stop for 15-20 mts. at Kharagpur
for change of locos. An exception is the superfast Dhauli Exp., which
is hauled all the way upto Howrah by a diesel loco.
>2) Does anybody on the net subscribe to any mag from which he/she extrats
> info?
You could subscribe to the Indian Railways magazine. The annual fee
is $8.5. The address to correspond in this regard is:-
The Director,
Public Relations
Indian Railways
Rail Bhavan
New Delhi- 110001
This is a monthly magazine. The painful part is:- it comes via
sea-mail.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Regards,
Vijay
From: vijayb <vijayb@pk705vmg.email
Subject: Sarvodaya Exp.
Date: 01 May 1991 14:29:00 -0500
The Sarvodaya Exp. now runs all the way till Jammu Tawi. It shares its
time schedule with the Bombay - Jammu Tawi superfast exp. I spotted it near
Vadodara while traveling from Jammu Tawi to Bombay on the superfast exp. This
was way back in summer of '83. By that time, the train had already lost its
disctintive color. I believe the Rajdhani Exps. and the Tamilnadu Exp. used to
have a library on board. This has been discontinued. The Rajdhanis (+ the
Shatabi Exps.) have piped music in their coaches.
Vijay
From: Siva. Hari <sivaram@plains.email
Subject:
Date: 01 May 1991 12:31:00 -0500
Thanx Vijay for the name of the Delhi-A'bad
Metre guage train.
By the way, the name of the train from
Ahmedabad to Madras is Navajivan Exp
Sivaram. H
A Rly Buff
From: C. S. Sudarshana Bhat <B536HIND@UTARLVM1.EMAIL
Subject: Ahaa!!
Date: 01 May 1991 13:04:00 -0500
Good, good, good, good, good!!!!
At last I got a chance to point out a mistake in Vijay's mailings, the spelling
of Shatabdi was wrong in your posting :-) :-) :-). Stooping to Conquer!!!
That was great info on Hijli and Kharagpur. BTW, I had never before heard of
this Dhauli Express. What are the end-points and what is the frequency? And
I was under the impression that the Coromandel also was a through-diesel-loco
train (the Rajdhanis too, until recently I guess!!), till it started halting
at Kharagpur.
Fie on me for having forgotten mentioning all those trains on the Bombay-Pune
route, while making up my (partial) list, and also those glories which were
introduced together spanning the length of the nation - the Karnataka/Kerala
Express, the Tamil Nadu Express and the Andhra Pradesh Express. I believe
they have been accorded an identical number now, though they run on different
days, so that station masters may tell them apart, huh:-) :-)?
How about something on train colours now? I still remember with joy, my first
glimpse of the Brindavan Express (at least I hope THAT was it) - a green-and
yellow beauty. Sad to say that I have never had a chance to travel by it:-(.
The Deccan Queen, the latest version as far as I am concerned, white-and-red,
is quite pretty too, though I could not time my arrival at the station to be
able to take a picture last year.
When one of you mentioned libraries on trains, I remembered that the now
extinct :-( Hatia-Ranchi-Chandigarh Express had a library in it too. This
knowledge is hearsay as far as I am concerned, though I heard it first-hand,
because by the time I got to travel by it, all novelty had vanished and it
was just yetanudder train - no libraries or such amenities.
How about the topic of name changes of trains. They DID call some train the
Jharkhand Express, at least for SOME short period of time, didn't they? And
the latest furore in the Bombay region was when people were confounded by
the Vidarbha Express controversy. It was the Dadar-Nagpur [then 39/40... now
maybe ..39/..40, right?? :-) :-)] Express which was first called Vidarbha
Express for the region, then renamed as Sewagram Express in honour of
Gandhiji's ashram at Sewagram, near [in??] Wardha. However, people still
wanted a Vidarbha Express, and after some string-pulling [?? :-)], a Bombay
V. T. - Nagpur Superfast Vidarbha Express was born.
Anybody in the net who is from Assam or the other far-eastern states? I am a
TOTAL ignoramus insofar as the trains from New Jalpaiguri, Tinsukhia, Guwahati
etc. are concerned, since I have never had a chance to travel in any of 'em.
My only contact with those trains has been during my train-speed-calculating
sprees. More later. Bye.
From: Chitta R. Baral <chitta@cs.email
Subject: Re: Ahaa!!
Date: 01 May 1991 16:01:00 -0500
Dhauli Express runs between Bhubaneswar and Howrah. It starts from
BBSR (Bhubaneswar) in the morning and reaches Howrah around noon.
Returns from Howrah in the afternoon and reaches BBSR in the evening.
I think its similar to Steel Exp and some Bombay - Pune express
in that they all have only seating berths and make the whole
journey during the day. (How about Bangalore-Mysore Brindavan Express?)
---
Chitta (after a long long silence)
From: C. S. Sudarshana Bhat <B536HIND@UTARLVM1.EMAIL
Subject: Duplicates
Date: 01 May 1991 14:03:00 -0500
Yo guys, when you reply to mails, please DO NOT, repeat DO NOT mail a copy
separately to the person whom you are addressing it to. You end up
unnecessarily sending two copies of the same message:-( :-(. And Chitta,
whom I seem to have woken up :-), you are mistaken - the Brinadavan runs
from Bangalore to Madras. If I have the time table by heart (as I should!),
it leaves Madras around 6:40 am, reaches Bangalore around noon, starts back
around 1-2 p.m, and is back home :-) at Madras in the evening, similar to the
Ispat Express when it used to run between Raurkela and Howrah. The Ispat has
since been extended upto Jharsuguda, methinks. Other similar trains could be
the Taj, the Steel, the Bombay Pune Deccan Queen and the Deccan Express, the
Panchavati [ex-Manmad around 6-7 a.m, reaches Bombar around noon, ex-B'bay
at 6:45 p.m., in Manmad by midnight].
BTW, the Panchavati was among the first double-decker trains in India. Yes,
yes, the Simhagad was the first one!! Now there is one ex-Bombay towards
Gujarat too, isn't there?
More later. Ciao.
From: R. Anand | School of Computer and Information Science <anand@top.email
Subject: Diesel
Date: 01 May 1991 16:16:00 -0500
While I know that electrification is a Good Thing for the railways, it
does make me feel rather sad. Nowadays, virtually no diesel hauled
trains touch the main cities any more. It used to give me goose bumps
when I saw the GT on TN express leaving New Delhi pulled by two smoke
belching monsters. My favorite viewing spot was along the track near
Tilak Bridge in Delhi. While diesels are impressive even when idling,
they are truly marvelous when moving at 90 Km/h. With two WDM2s the GT
would really accelarate hard!
I looked up Jane's world railways and noticed that the DLW has produced
a smalled version of the WDM2 called the WDM6 which looks rather like
the old Alco RS-3 road switcher. These locos have 6-Inline engines
rather than the V-12 of the WDM2. Has any netter been on a train pulled
by one of these?
Are there *any* steam hauled passenger trains left any more on Broad
Gauge?
R. Anand
From: vijayb <vijayb@pk705vmg.email
Subject: Diesel locos!
Date: 01 May 1991 16:32:00 -0500
Hi,
Diesel locos. used to give me a separate thrill too. I liked their quaint
whistle as also the rhythmic whoozes made while the loco. is idling or
accelerating. Never got a chance to ride in one of those although I did
visit DLW during my six year stay in Varanasi.
Once in a while I witnessed my train being pulled by a slightly modified
version of the common WDM-2, with a 2-panel window upfront instead of at the
sides. And then, we have the 6-axle shunters which I often come across at the
Itarsi and Mughal Sarai yards.
Vijay
From: Siva. Hari <sivaram@plains.email
Subject:
Date: 01 May 1991 14:33:00 -0500
My Vishram in the Ashram.
_______________________
This was the time when I was doing my Master's degree
in Ahmedabad. The year was 1987 and the month was August.
Gujarat was boiling under a torrid drought spell. The
drought which started way back in 85, was put to an end
by the deluge in 88.
Ahmedabad was sweltering and the temparature was 48. I do
not recollect how I got this funny idea of visiting my sister
in N.Delhi. Ofcourse, it had been a long time since I had
seen her in person. Added to that, I was very eager to see
my 2 year old neice, about whom my sister wrote a lot in her
letters.
I decided to make this a surprise visit. I immediately rushed
to the Ahmedabad station. Some of my friends had recommended
me the Ashram express. Still others, the Sarvodaya. On reaching
the station, I found that there was no vacancy in either of the
trains. Some people there, suggested me to take a train to baroda
and then try to get a passage to Delhi from there as there are
a lot of trains going to Delhi from Vadodra(Thats how Baroda is
called in Gujarathi).
The Ashram Express was scheduled to depart A'bad at 4.00PM and
it was already 3.00PM. I had to make my mind. I decided to
travel in the un-reserved compartment. I decided to give it
a shot as I had a sense of romance with meter guage trains.
Also, the Ashram passed through Eastern Rajasthan, the state
which I had never been to, but only seen in glossy tabloids of
NAMASKAAR magazine of Air India. I had sense of fascination for
the state. It reminded me of the days of yore, of Rana-Pratap,
Padmini and other great Rajpuths.
The train was scheduled to reach Old-Delhi at 11.00AM , the
next day. So I got the ticket and walked a long way on the
over-bridge to the meter-guage platform. On Reaching the
platform, I was hounded by a group of porters, who were
offering me a guaranteed place to sit in the unreserved
comp for 10 Rupees. At first I declined, but then had to
change my mind seeing the huge crowd that was waiting for
the unreserved bogie. No way, was I going to stand for
19 hours. So I gave in to their talk.
When the train arrived on the platform, the crowd roared
for the unreserved bogie. I don't know how I got in but
I got my seat. Unfortunately it was not near the window.
Soon the bogie was bursting at its seams. It was hell
waiting for the train to start in that heat. There was
not even place to move. Finally the train jerked to a
start.
The train moved at a reasonable speed upto Mehsaana, in
Northern Gujarat. Mehasaana came after a 2hr run. In
spite of the heat and the crowd, I was enjoying. This
was the real thrill, the real India, not the India of
first-class compartments and chair-cars. I started up
a conversation with a Patel farmer from Mehsaana who
was nostalgizing over the times when Northern Gujrat
used to be a land of greenery. Today, most of it is
arid to semi-arid and the desert up North in Rajasthan
is now spreading down south. I also started a conversation
with a poor Rajasthani peasant and I was
struck by his level of aawareness, in spite of not having
gone to school. He assured me that the crowd will subside
once we reached Ajmer(which was to come at midnight).
Once the empty wastes of the Thar was reached, the train
suddenly exploded into a terrific speed. Being meter-guage,
it was swaying wildly from side to side. At times I felt
that we would derail, but the Ashram was thundering on
through the desert. The sound of the train echoed back
from the desert was tremendous. A lot of sand was blowing
in and the people shut the windows. The sun had already
set by this time and I could see nothing. The night passed
through fits of conversation over sipped tea(I'll never
forget that).
As the peasant had said, the crowd eased after Ajmer and
there was more leg-room. I did not sleep that night and
was merrily chatting with the farmers. It was great.
The night passed by and soon it began to light up.
The train was thundering at top speed and one could
hardly see anything outside, because of the blinding
cloud of dust and sand generated by the train. However,
when the train halted for a signal, the cloud subsided
and I could see the orange landscape of the desert(Just
like in the Tabloids. It was a dream come true). From
a distance, I could see the great warriors like Rana-
Pratap riding on his Chetak in my mind's eye.
I finally reached Old-Delhi at the correct time. I
cabbed the way home. My sister was stunned.
"How the hell" she asked. Seeing the dustand grime on my
clothes she asked" where did you roll on".
I said that I am coming from the Ashram.
Ahram! she says,," What do you mean !!!!!!"
Sivaram. H
A Rly Buff
From: Ajai Banerji <A.AJAI@Macbeth.Email
Subject: Railway books
Date: 01 May 1991 13:48:00 -0500
Two interesting books
"India by Rail" by Roylston is essentially a guide for the Western train
buff touring India. But it contains much useful information as well as
plenty of illustrations.
"The Guinness Railway Book" is the new edition of "Guinness book of Rail
Facts and Feats" and is probably the best book for railway trivia on
a global scale.
Each of these books costs about $15 and they should be available at
any good bookshop.
I have some technical data on bridges and tunnels which I will post
shortly.
-------
From: Sridhar Venkataraman <sridhar@enuxha.email
Subject: Some of my experiences....
Date: 01 May 1991 11:09:00 -0500
Sivaram had given his experiences on the A'bad-Delhi route.
I had also travelled a small part of that route running
from Delhi to Rewari a town in Haryana. I am an ex-bitsian
and so had quite a number of journeys on that route to
Loharu on the Raj-Haryana border and then by bus to Pilani
24 kms away. What was good is when you get on to the Bikaner
express from Old Delhi/Cantonment early in a cold winter
morning you just have to wait for 1.5 hrs or so to have
a good plate of pakode and a cup (disposable) of chai which
I very much relished to have on all the journeys. When it
was a return journey too, the train used to steam(diesel
engine all the way) into Rewari around 5 pm it was the ideal time
for the evening snacks. It was an enjoyable journey even in the
night in the hustle-bustle of the compartments which kept me awake till 4am
when I had to get off the Delhi-Jaipur Shekawati express
express at 4am at Loharu.
The other thing about Railways I didn't want to miss was the sight
of the long winding train (TN, GT) before it enters Wardha east thru
the Wardha bypass. Ofcourse Itarsi bypass and Kazipet bypass are also
present on Mad-ND route but they didn't impress me very much.
Thanks guys for the enormous contribution,
PS: I have been recv the amount of mail I used to recieve in a week
in a single day. Keep up the good spirits, but please don't let this
list degenerate into another sci. I hate to read sci nowadays.
Sridhar.
From: Dheeraj Sanghi <dheeraj@cs.email
Subject: Delhi Rewari route.
Date: 01 May 1991 17:18:00 -0500
> I had also travelled a small part of that route running
> from Delhi to Rewari a town in Haryana.
That brings out memories of my travels on that section. I have
travelled on that section so many times that I have lost the
count. I used to take either the Delhi - Mehsana passenger,
or the Delhi-Ahemdabad Janata Exp (now renamed as Aravali Exp.)
since these were the only 2 trains which travel on Rewari-
Ringus chord. (Actually, there was a 4-coach passenger between
Rewari and Ringus, which was started in late 70's. It was
popularly known as "Addha" or the "half train." But why bother
changing trains at Rewari. For a long time, Rewari was the
biggest station I had known (other than Delhi Jn of course),
and when I travelled in Pink City once which did not stop
at Rewari, my joy knew no bound.
Does anyone know if they have completed doubling of tracks
between Delhi and Rewari. It has become such a congested
corridor.
-dheeraj
From: Siva. Hari <sivaram@plains.email
Subject:
Date: 01 May 1991 15:47:00 -0500
One thing about Ashram express was that it
was a very short train , 9 bogies. I do
not know if it is lenghthened now.
Coming to diesel locos, the Bombay-N.Delhi
Rajadhani Exp. is the only train to pull
out of Bombay hauled by a Diesel loco.
THat too double headed.(2 engines).
I do not know what the reason is
Maybe that they want to save time changing
engines from electric to deisel as the
route is not fully electrified.
The second reason may be the hauling capacity
of the electric loco. Is it in any way less
than that of the deisel.
However, watching the Rajadhani thundering by
from top of the Tilak bridge in Dadar, Bombay
(Thats my home) hauled by two stately deisels
is truly a magnificent sight.
Sivaram. H
A Rly Buff.
The Rajadhani is hauled by the deisels for
the entire length of the route in spite
of major parts of the Bbay delhi route
being electrified.
Probably total electrification will cause
a switch over to electric locos for this king
of Indian trains.
From: vijayb <vijayb@pk705vmg.email
Subject: This and that!
Date: 02 May 1991 11:00:00 -0500
Hi Folks,
A word of advice to the "newcomers" before I resume my ramblings for
You might consider perusing thru' the tons of railway material that have
communicated over the net in the past 1 1/2 years (the club took roots a
Aug. 1989, right Dheeraj?). Hopefully, you'll find detailed answers to
your queries, as also some other interesting stuff to read. Anyway, keepfile
the good work.
Sudarshana writes:-
>I was under the impression that the Coromandel also was a through-diese-loco
>train (the Rajdhanis too, until recently I guess!!), till it started hating
>at Kharagpur.
The Coromandel Exp. used to be hauled by a diesel loco. before Kharagpur
was introduced as a halt, mainly for change of locos. This was sometime
in 1983. Since the Dhauli Exp. is a day train, it doesn't make sense to
change locos. at Kharagpur. The same diesel loco. could haul the train
from Bhubaneswar to Howrah and back. I would like to find out whether
the train has a distinctive color, and whether the loco. also has the
same color as the rakes.
There are a handful of trains in India, which have a loco. with the
same color as the rakes. The Rajdhanis and the Shatabdis. The Vaigai
and Pandyan Exps. The Deccan Queen and Indrayani Exps. The Pink City
Exp. (?). The Asansol Exp. used to be one of these "elite" trains, but
not anymore. Any others?
>Express, the Tamil Nadu Express and the Andhra Pradesh Express. I belive
>they have been accorded an identical number now, though they run on diferent
All these trains run daily and on different time schedules. The KK exp.
was dissolved quite a while back, and we now have a separate Kerala exp.
and a Karnataka Exp., the latter following the BHusaval-Manmad-DAund-Wad
-Guntakal route.
>How about something on train colours now? I still remember with joy, m first
>glimpse of the Brindavan Express (at least I hope THAT was it) - a gree-and
>yellow beauty. Sad to say that I have never had a chance to travel by t:-(.
I have traveled twice by this train. This was in summer of '85, and the
train had acquired the generic red color by that time. However, I
spotted it again in Jan. 90, this time with the distinctive green-n-
yellow color on its rakes.
>How about the topic of name changes of trains. They DID call some trai the
Some of the name changes that I am aware of are:-
the various Jayanthi Janata Exps. to Vaishali Exp.,B'by-Kanyakumari Exp.
and Aravali Exp.
Gauhati Mail to Tinsukia Mail
Toofan Exp. to Udyan Abha Toofan Exp. (in fact, I know of an incident
where someone missed the train at Durgapur b'coz it was announced
as Udyan Abha Exp. and not the Toofan Exp.)
Sonbhadra Exp. to Magadh Exp.
Ganga Kaveri Exp. to Madras-Varanasi Exp. (b'coz the train would no
longer connect to the Rameswarm Exp. at Madras Beach)
Besides these, lots of "unnamed" trains have acquired unique names.
e.g. Pushpak Exp. (B'by-Lucknow), Rapti Sagar Exp. (Gorakhpur-Cochin) :
one of Aravind's favorites:-).
>BTW, the Panchavati was among the first double-decker trains in India. Yes,
>yes, the Simhagad was the first one!! Now there is one ex-Bombay towars
>Gujarat too, isn't there?
The one towards Gujarat is the Flying Ranee, between Bombay Central and
Surat, a misnomer no doubt! They also have double decker coaches on the
Deccan Queen Exp., and the Black Diamond Exp. (?).
I have a feeling that the Vanchinad Exp. (Ernakulam-Trivandrum) is also
double deckered.
Anand writes:-
>Are there *any* steam hauled passenger trains left any more on Broad
>Gauge?
Most of the "passanger" (non-express/mail) trains are still hauled by
steam locos. in un-electrified sections. However, I am not sure whether
there are any steam hauled exp./mail trains on BG? At least, all the
prestigious and long-distance trains are diesel/electric hauled.
Sivaram writes:-
>The Rajadhani is hauled by the deisels for
>the entire length of the route in spite
>of major parts of the Bbay delhi route
>being electrified.
This topic has been discussed before but let me describe the scenario
once again. Bombay-Delhi (Western Rly.) was completely electrified by
Dec. '87. The Rajdhani Exp. is hauled by twin-diesels between Bombay
and Ratlam, after which a single WAP elec. loco. takes over. Ratlam has
been chosen as the loco. changeover point, b'coz it has a diesel shed
capable of handling the special Rajdhani diesel locos. At present,
there is no high speed dual-current electric loco. available for hauling
the Rajdhani in the Vadodara-Bombay section, where the traction switches
between AC and DC at Virar. However, a high speed three phase AC elec.
loco. might be introduced soon which will havethe capability of switchin
over to DC traction when required. The Bombay-Delhi Rajdhani Exp. woul
most probably be hauled by this loco. in its entire run.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regards,
Vijay
From: Harshavardhan <B645ZBH@UTARLG.EMAIL
Subject: Regarding electrification of major railway lines.
Date: 02 May 1991 10:48:00 -0500
According to the latest news, the following routes have completed their
electrification :
1. Bombay - Delhi (central railway).
2. Delhi - Madras (grand trunk).
There is a possiblity of finishing electrification on Pune-Renigunta line,
so that Bombay - Madras will totally be electrified by 1994.
I do not know if this will be done.
...Harshavardhan U.Texas.Arlington
From: C. S. Sudarshana Bhat <B536HIND@UTARLVM1.EMAIL
Subject: Modernization
Date: 02 May 1991 11:37:00 -0500
What with the finals round the bend - starting next Monday - I have not had
time enough to collate my thoughts enough to write a piece on my trip no. 2
on Indian Railways. Should be able to get around to it during the weekend.
After all, all studies and no trains make me DULLLLLLLLL!!!
Harsha had mentioned the electrification of the railway routes, though
sometimes I feel that India had better get electricity to all remote villages
first before doing the same for the trains, especially since electrification
of train routes would mean no more diesel engines with their wonderful, as
somebody had earlier pointed out, whistles/horns - Pomnmnmnmnm :-) :-), or
steam engines. Which brings me to another point - someone mentioned DLW.
Is that = Diesel Loco Works, as in Chittaranjan Loco Works for the steam
engines?
Modernization of train routes set me thinking - how long is it going to be
before they BG-ize the Manmad-Secunderabad MG route. Of course, there are
ulterior :-) motives involved. My parents are in Aurangabad, which lies 114
km. from Manmad. However, there still is the tourism to consider. It would
be GREAT for foreigners and Indian tourists too, to be able to directly take
a train from Bombay to Aurangabad without having to change at Manmad enroute.
The time consumed would also considerably reduce.
That brings me to the Ranchi-Hatia-Raurkela route. Though I was in Ranchi
for six years during which period the trains in that route underwent a lot
of changes, I am a bit unsure of the present situation. Actually, that
route led to a nightmare journey which I will be detailing sometime in the
near future. At present, I GUESS that the Bokaro-Madras (Superslow ~~ 39
kmph average speed) Express still takes this route, with some bogies
coming from Tatanagar to get attached to the main train at Raurkela. Could
someone give a case history on this one. Also, the same person MIGHT :-)
be informed enough to comment on the merger (?) of the Hatia-Ranchi-Chandigarh
Express with the Tata-Amritsar Express. If I remember correctly, these two
took different routes to get to the Trunk route (I hope my nomenclature is
correct - I meant the Sealdah/Howrah Delhi/ND route). The Tata-Amritsar went
to Mughalsarai, whereas the Ranchi-Chandigarh took the Chopan-Chunar-Lucknow-
Kanpur route - again, DO correct me if I am wrong.
Oh, and I forgot to flame one of yesterdays mailers, the one who felt sorry
that the Coromandel stopped at Berhampur :-) :-). Well, SIR :-), I have
stayed in Berhampur and I feel that it is an insult :-) :-) to the place that
the Coromandel allows only 2 minutes for the passengers there (as far as I
remember), and that too in the dead of night. What unearthly hours, SAAR!!
And before you get mad at me, I had better add that *I* never got to see
either the Coromandel or the Konark during my stay at Berhampur, leave alone
the Guwahati-Trivandrum and the other novelties!! BTW, almost all the trains
stop for at least 10 minutes at Berhampur other than the Coromandel, though I
seem to faintly remember that the Konark had only an 8-minute stop there. I
certainly feel that Berhampur has ITS claim to fame too, especially when you
remember that it was at Gopalpur-on-Sea, a nice picnic spot about 13 km. from
Berhampur, that Mrs. IG gave her final "every single drop of my blood..."
speech. Enuff is enuff. I hope somebody out there is going to correct the
inaccuracies - bound to be present - in this mailing.
More on my experiences with the Indian Railways later. Ciao.
From: R. Anand | School of Computer and Information Science <anand@top.email
Subject: Re: This and that!
Date: 02 May 1991 14:26:00 -0500
>Gauhati Mail to Tinsukia Mail
I seem to remember that in the late 70s, the two trains were distinct.
The Assam Mail would go from Delhi to Lucknow where the Passengers would
change to MG. That is, a MG version of the same train would be waiting
on the other platform.
The Tinsukhia mail went by BG until New Bongaigaon, where the passengers
changed to MG.
As we all know, most of the route travelled by the now defunct Assam
Mail was changed to BG and evidently there was no need for two separate
trains.
There was also a curiously named Avadh-Tirhut Express that I would find
in the abstracts section of the timetables. Where did to run between?
Anand
From: vijayb <vijayb@pk705vmg.email
Subject: Mistake!
Date: 02 May 1991 14:31:00 -0500
While mentioning about trains having a loco. with the same color as the
coaches, I wrongly mentioned the Pandyan Exp. instead of the Pallavan Exp.
Also, my first para. seems to have been chopped off at the end rendering it
unreadable to some extent. Sorry about that!
Vijay
From: R. Anand | School of Computer and Information Science <anand@top.email
Subject: Re: Mistake!
Date: 02 May 1991 14:46:00 -0500
The Pandayan express also had a green rake with a yellow line over the
very similar to Brindavan express. Also the Nilagiri express was
painted a wonderful shade of light blue. Apart from these,
I can not remember any other colored rakes.
Anand
From: vijayb <vijayb@pk705vmg.email
Subject: Assam Mail!
Date: 02 May 1991 14:49:00 -0500
The BG Assam Mail used to go till Barauni where the changeover to MG
took place. The Tinsukia Mail used to make the BG/MG changeover at New
Bongaigaon, before a new BG line was opened between N. Bongaigaon and Gauhati
(now Guwahati). All BG traffic could now go all the way upto Guwahati.
The Assam Mail was canceled sometime in 1986 and the superfast North East
express was introduced, following the BG conversion of the Barauni-Katihar
section. Earlier there used to be an Avadh Tirhut Mail running between Lucknow
and Gauhati on the MG line, as also a Lucknow-Gauhati Exp. After the
conversion, the Lucknow-Gauhati Exp. was rerouted to start from Varanasi
instead (as the Varanasi-Gauhati Exp.). The Avadh Tirhut Mail was first
restricted between Gorakhpur and Guwahati and then ultimately canceled. There
is now a Dooars exp. between Katihar(?) and Guwahati.
Since the North East Exp. ignores many of the stations, its predecessor (the
Assam Mail) used to stop at, a new train:- the Mahananda Exp. was introduced
between Delhi and Katihar to cater to these stations.
Regards,
Vijay