The Great Indian Peninsular Railway was one of the major railway companies of the past. The first passenger service in the country ran here, between Bori Bunder and Thana (now Thane). Most of its lines ended up on the Central Railway.
Here we look at some pictures of the past. Most of these pictures are from the Annual Reports of the Indian Railways in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Bhor Ghat with steam and electric traction.
Interior of the restaurant car and AC coaches (corresponding to AC 1 of today). These seem to be part of the Imperial Indian Mail.
Exterior and interior views of the restaurant cars of the same Mail.
The third class buffet car on the Poona Mail.
A steam-hauled goods train going down the Ghats. This is before electrification. Note the “special brake vans” after the locos, which increase the braking power.
After the reorganisation of the railway zones in the early 1950s, much of the GIPR became part of the CR. A major change was the addition of the Nizam’s State Railway. Many more changes in the zonal map occurred in the years to come, starting with the formation of the South Central Railway in 1966.
Finally, there were jokes associated with the names of the old railway companies. The GIPR had “Great Improvement Possible”, which is not as bad as, say, “Bribes Never Refused” for the Bengal Nagpur Railway.
Delhi Junction (DLI) has seen a number of changes over the years.
First we take a look at the station signs over the years:
From the 1930s. Note the Hindi spelling.
From more recent times :
Punjabi can be seen on some signs in the Delhi area, like here:
Sadar Bazar has both Punjabi and Urdu.
Next we have an “unofficial” Punjabi inscription which has been added here by someone :
The Metro station near DLI was initially called Delhi Main. In a few years it became Chandni Chowk:
Delhi Jn was on the North Western Railway (NWR) for many years up to 1947. Then it was on the Eastern Punjab Railway up to 1952. This included the NWR sections falling in India, which covered Delhi, undivided Punjab and a small part of UP. Then it became part of the Northern Railway.
In NWR days (up to 1947).
From the Eastern Punjab Railway days (1947-52).
The Northern Railway days (1952 onwards).
The NWR picture can be cropped to show “Western Railway” :
This may fool those who are not familiar with the IR of long ago.
This tournament has seen many new records, particularly in batting.
This information is up to Nov 7, 2023 (after the Afg vs Aus match).
We first look at the individual’s innings scores for all WC matches:
Highest Innings scores of 150 or more in World Cup ODIs:
GJ Maxwell’s 201* is the third highest individual score in all World Cup matches. It is the highest score for Australia in World Cup matches., surpassing DA Warner’s 178 against Afghanistan in 2015.
If you look at the highest innings scores by Australian players, it reads:
201* GJ Maxwell vs Afg in 2023
178, DA Warner vs Afg in 2015
166, DA Warner vs Ban in 2019
163, DA Warner vs Pak in 2023
158, ML Hayden vs WI in 2007
Until now, DA Warner had the three highest scores for Australia.
For Indian players:
183, SC Ganguly vs SL in 1999
175*, Kapil Dev vs Zim in 1983
175, V Sehwag vs Ban in 2011
152, SR Tendulkar vs Nam in 2003
Another point of interest is the highest partnerships, when Maxwell and Cummins put on 202* for the 8th wicket against Afg. This table is again only about partnerships in the World Cup
Partnerships of 200 or morein World Cup ODIs:
Note that the 8th-wicket partnership of 202* was not the highest for Australia in the World cup. It is however the highest for the 8th wicket in the World Cup.
From the above table we can get the top partnerships for each wicket in the World Cup:
1st: TM Dilshan and WU Tharanga, 282 vs Zimbabwe, 2011
2nd: CH Gayle and MN Samuels, 372 vs Zimbabwe, 2015
3rd: R Dravid and SR Tendulkar, 237* vs Kenya, 1999
4th, MJ Clarke and BJ Hodge, 204 vs Netherlands, 2007
5th, JP Duminy and DA Warner, 256* vs Zimbabwe, 2015
(Some record lower-order partnerships are less than 200 and are not in the above list)
Anyway, the 202* by Maxwell and Cummins is a new 8th-wicket record for the World Cup. The earlier record for this was a mere 117 by Butchart and Houghton (of Zimbabwe) in 1987. Other partnerships for this wicket are less than 100.
Highest partnerships for the 8th wicket in World Cup ODIs:
There are, of course, many batting records being set in this World Cup. This is a small sample.
In the 1920s and 30s the Indian Railways was actively involved in promoting tourism in the Raj. There was a Central Publicity Bureau in the Railway Board which produced brochures for tourists. Here are some of the brochures which were depicted in the Annual Reports of the Indian Railways.
1926:
1932:
Note the mention of private coaches (tourist cars) above:
Some pictures of this railway’s activities in the 1930s. Most pictures are taken from old publications of the railways.
EMUs in the 1930s. This one is crossing the Cooum Bridge in Madras.
Container traffic in the 1930s:
The steamship ” SS Irwin” which was one of the ships which covered the Dhanushkodi-Talaimannar ferry at that time. It later became the “TSS Ramanujan”.
At the other end of the SIR we had Trivandrum. Here is the station building in 1930:
And the little platforms of Trivandrum and Quilon, whose dates are not clear:
The station at Trivandrum pictured above may be at a different place from today’s Thiruvananthapuram Central.
Summary of a quick trip to the Northeast (Assam with a bit of Arunachal Pradesh).
Oct 5. By 20977 Vande Bharat from Jaipur Jn to Delhi Cantt (terminus), 0750-1135.
Followed the expert advice to take an auto to Dhaulakuan metro station and then the Airport Express metro to DEL Terminal 3.
Then by Vistara flight from DEL to GAU (UK 721, 1500-1725).
Oct 6. In Guwahati
Oct 7. Guwahati to Badarpur Vistadome Express
0645-1435 by Vistadome coach. Main stop at New Haflong
Return 1520-2325 by CC coach. Most of the trip is in darkness. Stopped at New Haflong again. Dinner was picked up at Manderdisa Jn, which is a bypass for Lumding and its reversal.
Oct 8. 12088 Guwahati-Naharlagun Shatabdi Express, 1340-1945. This also has a Vistadome coach if you want to spend more. Anyway there is the regular Shatabdi catering without extra charges.
Crossed the Saraighat bridge while going to Rangiya. A new station seemed to be under construction at Agthori.
Had booked a dorm room at Naharlagun station. Yes, you are supposed to apply online for an “inner line permit” even if you are just stepping into Arunachal state. Nothing happened. The Arunachal tourism offices in Guwahati are not open at normal times.
The cops at the NHLN platform do make an attempt to screen every person getting off a train there. I was able to manage without a permit by pointing out that I was only spending a night at the station. (Of course, one could walk out of the station some time later without anything happening). I confined myself to taking a few pictures of the station exterior.
Oct 9. 15908 Naharlagun-Tinsukia Express, 0600-1100. An ordinary express with one CC coach. Crossed the 4-km long Bogibeel bridge.
Oct 9. Was to catch the 15603 Guwahati-Ledo Intercity Express (1127-1315). The train from NHLN was on time, although the connection was a bit late. Tinsukia (TSK,the original one) is quite shabby and neglected compared to New Tinsukia (NTSK). Even the DRM’s office has shifted to NTSK.
Another short stop before catching the 15604 Ledo-Guwahati Intercity (1535-0450), which was naturally the same rake. This was also a rather miserable place like TSK, but at least you can take some pictures to show that you have been to the easternmost passenger station of the Indian Railways. Also a dubious place for chow mein nearby. This overnight train had the normal composition of AC2, AC3, SL and unreserved. In the AC3 coach we were accompanied by a number of paramilitary soldiers who got off at Simaluguri. Reached Guwahati station on time, coinciding with sunrise around 0500.
This train crosses a few km of Nagaland including Dimapur in the middle of the night.
Oct 10 Quick turnaround before returning to Delhi by Vistara flight UK 742 (1550-1840). Followed the same path to Dhaulakuan by metro and auto to Delhi Cantt. Had been planning to return to Jaipur by the Yoga Express, but this became risky when the flight timings were changed to reach DEL later.
Oct 11. Finally took the 19702 Delhi Cantt (0007-0815) which goes by a roundabout route via Loharu and Sikar, but did reach Jaipur at a civilized time like 0815 on Oct 11. Better than getting off at Jaipur at say 0300/0400. Back home.
(To confuse you further, the departure of this train was abruptly changed from 2330 from DLI to 0007 from DEC, both on the 10th. I did not think anyone would be able to clarify this satisfactorily , so I changed the reservation to 0007 on 11th.)
One thing to check while traveling by Vistadome: Make sure that it is at the rear of the rake during daylight hours. Keep track of reversals at unexpected places such as Rangiya (GHY-NHLN) and Harmuti (NHLN-TSK). Often it is not at the rear. So you might as well travel by the regular CC in this case.
Be aware that sunset and sunrise in the Northeast are somewhat earlier than in most of India. And that traffic in the evenings in Guwahati can be terrible.
All the routes mentioned here are broad gauge. Most were converted from MG to BG in the 1990s.
Sketch map of routes covered:
Not many worthwhile pictures. Anyway you can have a look:
New Haflong and the Vistadome coach:
The platform at Badarpur (a typical sight in many stations).
Naharlagun interior:
Outside views of the station:
Note the Hindi sign for Itanagar. There is also an English sign for this. Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, is about 15 km from the station.
After the NG shed of SECR, we come to the BG sheds elsewhere in Nagpur.
Nagpur can be said to be at the crossroads of India, where the diagonals of the Golden Quad meet. Here we can see Nagpur station and the Ajni steam shed long ago:
Nagpur today:
The steam shed was at Ajni, to the south of Nagpur:
Ajni had a small station which was skipped by important trains.
In June 1977, Ajni steam shed had 53 locos including 48 WGs.
Ajni then became an electric shed. In September 2023, it had over 275 locos including WAP-7, WAG-7, WAG-9H and WAG-9HC thus covering both passenger and freight services.
Then came the WAG-12Bs, which needed a separate shed run by the manufacturer MELPL.
One such shed existed at Saharanpur. By September 2023, about 250 were homed there and about another 100 at a separate shed at Ajni. See the map, where the existing shed and the MELPL shed are marked.
While this MELPL facility is physically located near the existing electric loco shed at Ajni, it is separate and the locos are marked Nagpur or NGP. This is similar to the case of the regular and MELPL sheds being near each other at Saharanpur.
These WAG-12Bs are also marked CR, though they are not administratively under CR. This is similar to the case of the other WAG-12Bs being marked NR.
Finally, it is expected all the 800 (approx) WAG-12Bs will be homed at Saharanpur and Nagpur.
These signs have been there at Dholpur and Gwalior stations for a long time. They will not be needed for a long time, as there will not be any narrow gauge services from there.
This would have happened at a number of other stations. In the recent past, Ahmadpur, Barddhaman and Katwa have ceased to have narrow gauge services.
Also note: The first sign for Gwalior must be quite old as it refers to Central Railway instead of North Central.
The Nagpur area, like the Saharanpur area, has also had a number of loco sheds. Here we start with the smaller one at Motibagh, which is not a station with passenger services but part of a complex including steam (earlier) and diesel (later) locos on 2’6″ NG and with BG added recently.
The BG side.
The NG side.
This comes under the SECR (earlier SER), unlike Nagpur and Ajni stations which are under CR.
In 1979, the steam shed held 14 NG steam locos of which 7 were ZE. There were also NG diesels.
There are also carriage and wagon workshops, which earlier handled NG vehicles. There is also a railway museum dedicated to narrow gauge.
The location of Motibagh and the workshops can be seen here, to the north of Nagpur’s main station.
Today, Motibagh holds a number of scrapped NG diesels (ZDM-2 and ZDM-3) plus ZDM-4s which are still working. There are an increasing number of BG diesels (mainly WDG-3A and WDS-6) for the lines under SECR.
However, the BG sheds at Ajni are better known. These will be covered in part 2.
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