April 23, 2022

Amritsar - Mumbai Railway Line -Engines - Steam / Diesel and Electric - My Memories

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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Frontier Mail , a very prestigious train during British times started by B B C R - Bombay Baroda Central Railway ).
 
It ran between Colaba ( Bombay / Mumbai of today ) and Landi Kotal ( Peshawar )in NWFP - North West Frontier Province ( now in Pakistan ).
 
At Colaba terminus , Frontier Mail's timings coincided with timings of Passenger ships ( P and O - Peninsula and Oriental ) which anchored at Colaba jetty along with Rail terminus of Frontier Mail.
Passengers ( mostly Britishers ) would disembark from the train and board the Ship gangway ( right adjacent ) to the train and vice versa..
 
After 1947 sea travel gave way to travel by air.
 
The Railway line between Churchgate Station and Colaba ( in Mumbai ) was removed.
Now the train ( Golden Temple Express ) runs between Amritsar Station and Bombay Central ( Mumbai ).
For Historical clip of Frontier Mail and Khyber Pass , please click 
 



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1 comment:

  1. Ashwani Kumar AggarwalApril 24, 2022

    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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