I was very young when I first travelled in ' Frontier Mail ' around 1966 , with my parents , from Jullundur to Bombay . I had always been fascinated by Railway engines.
Frontier Mail has a Steam engine from Jullundur onward . But when I woke up after my second night I found that an electric engine , a new type of engine for me , was pulling our train. We were nearing Bombay .
I was told that it was a standard practice to change engines from Steam to Electric and vice versa on return at a station named Dahod in Gujarat.
After a few years the switch of engines started to be done at Godhra - Gujarat.
Then Ratlam in M P.
In 1976 when I was studying in Delhi while passing under Tilak bridge, New Delhi I found that the railway line had been electrified till New Delhi
Finally in 1980 s entire Bombay - Amritsar line was on electric traction. No need to switch / change engines but only the engine staff.
Bombay had been renamed Mumbai and Frontier Mail became 'Golden Temple Express .
Frontier Mail entire train's one part which started from Pathankot and joined the main train at Old Delhi and was named Kashmir Mail became Jammu Mail with the railway line having been extended from Pathankot to Jammu Tawi
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Jammu-Sialkot Railway Line - Pre Independence Times
Before Partition , Dera Baba Nanak was a very important , Highway / Railway line ( with its Railway Cum Road bridge over River Ravi ) linking Delhi /Amritsar / Jullundur routes with another strategic town - Sialkot. From Sialkot the Highway split- to Jammu and via Muzaffarabad ( Jhelum Road to Srinagar . The main highway connecting Jammu and Srinagar ran through Sialkot and Muzzafarabad . From Sialkot , a narrow gauge train ran ( Via Ranbir Singh Pura ) to Jammu. Old Jammu station ( in derelict condition ) stills exists on the Right Bank of River Tawi. When , broad gauge railway line was built by India to Jammu , the new Railway station ( on the Left Bank of the River Tawi ) was named Jammu Tawi
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