There are 5 large stations in India with the suffix “Central”:
Strarting with the northernmost, we then move down to:
Where the word Central is transliterated to Hindi and Marathi.
It may not be commonly known that the local station existed before the terminus was opened in 1930. It was earlier called Bellasis Road.
Down the west coast to:
In Hindi and Kannada here.
Further along the coast to:
While the top inscription looks like a single word, it does include “central” transliterated into Malayalam.
And finally to
Which is now
Has the Tamil inscription for Central changed? In the old sign it follows the trend of transliteration from English. In the new sign the correct (?) term “Mattiya” is the first word of the 3rd line, while the Hindi sign is like all the others. (Though one character in the old sign looks quite odd).
There is also a Metro station in Kolkata called Central:
3. What is unusual about these two station signs? Explain.
4. What additional language is on this sign?
5. This is often labelled as “Nawab Station”, although no such name is in the timetable. Which station is this?
6. With luck, you may be able to get tuna at Tuni station. But there was another station called Tuna in the past. In which present-day state is it?
7. Bengali travelers can try to get fish at this station restaurant. Which state or province is it in?
8. Many clocks at stations and other public places were supplied by P. Orr & Sons of Madras. This small station is far from Madras. In which state?
9. Consider these two pairs of stations:
9A
and 9B:
What do the pair in 9A have in common with the pair in 9B?
10. What is unusual about this station which is not in India?
11. This shows the abandoned station which used to be a ferry terminal as well as being adjacent to a zonal headquarters until the mid-60s. Name it.
12. The fate of Dhanushkodi is well known. But you can still see the remains of it. A small terminus in the North-East was less fortunate as it fell into the Brahmaputra after an earthquake in the 1950s. Which was it?
ANSWERS:
The best response was by Biswarup Basu. Honourable mention to Ganesh Iyer and Bharat Parashar:
Kot Kapura is the northern most point of metre gauge in India. It was connected by MG to Bathinda and Fazilka, which are to its south.
The Tirap siding is beyond Ledo, and is the eastern most point of IR in India. BG goods trains run there. Further east there is the abandoned MG line to Lekhapani. There are also non-IR industrial lines nearby.
The normal practice is to have the state’s official language on top. In Nagaland (Dimapur) and Mendipathar (Meghalaya), English script is used for official purposes so it is on top.
Dogri language, which is one of the 22 official languages.
This is a part of Rampur station (between Bareilly and Moradabad in UP). This platform had been used for the royal train of the Nawab of Rampur. The dilapidated platform and coaches are probably still there.
In Gujarat, on an abandoned portion of the Cutch State Railway.
7. Balochistan, at the foot of the Bolan Pass going to Quetta. This station, like Karjat, is the base for banking locomotives for uphill trains.
8. Madhya Pradesh, on the Kota-Bina section.
9. These are connected with unusual gauges which were not used anywhere else on IR. The Arconum-Conjeevaram line was initially constructed with 3’6″ and was soon converted to metre gauge, and finally to broad gauge more recently. The Azimganj-Nalhati section was initially constructed with 4’0″ and was soon converted to broad gauge. This loco was converted at the same time and can still be seen at the National Rail Museum.
10. Quasba (Kamalasagar until the late 40s) is in Bangladesh on the main line from Akhaura to Chattogram. It is practically on the border with India and trains can easily be observed from the Indian side.
11. Pandu, on the south bank of the Brahmaputra. A ferry service from Aminigaon ran there until the mid-1960s. The NF zone headquarters was initially here and later moved to Maligaon.
12. Saikhowa Ghat, on a branch from Makum. This branch now terminates at Dangari.
Similarly, if you cannot reach Singapore during the lockdown you can go to:
This place in Odisha was once listed as Singapore Road. Later it became Singapuram Road before settling on its present name.
If you cannot reach Kuala Lumpur, there is
This is in the hills of southern Assam.
If you want to visit the capital of New Zealand, there is
in the Nilgiris. Both are named after the same person.
Riga is the capital of Latvia in Europe. For this we have one in Bihar:
This Riga was of some interest to steam enthusiasts, as you can see above.
If you wish to venture further to Dundee in Scotland, there is
near Jabalpur in MP.
Not sure if you really want to go to Accra, the capital of Ghana. For that, we have this place near Kolkata:
A smaller country in Africa is called Guinea-Bissau. For that we have Bissau in Rajasthan:
However, you have to draw the line somewhere. If you are going to Jakarta and you are sent to this place instead, you should not accept it.
This is in one of the more remote parts of Uttarakhand, where the Special Frontier Force roams. Even the elite troops of the Mukti Bahini trained here in 1971.
This is not exhaustive but just a few samples. For instance, there is Runneymede station in the Nilgiris which has counterparts in Britain and other Commonwealth countries*.
There are more examples from India and neigboring countries.
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