Last year, I made a detailed post about the history of Bombay-Ahmedabad line, on account of its completion of 159 years. (you can read it here) This year marks 160 years of this long and busy route, so I decided to do something different this time. So here's a deeper look into the humble openings of this route.
Also, this will be my last post for quite some time, since my 10th Standard Prelims are starting soon.. I'll probably resume my writing by April!
1) A 30 coach train, and a long journey.
The inaugural train of 28th November 1864 ran between Grant rd and Surat. Another train would cover the rest of the part till Ahmedabad.
It was early morning (before 7 a.m.), and a wine bottle was smashed upon the engine by Traffic Manager of BB&CI Railway, J.B.Hayes. The crowd cheered, but the sound was overwhelmed by the whistle of the locomotive. The train soon departed.
Amazingly, the train had 30 coaches! They consisted of First, Second and Third Class coaches, the last two of which were more in number well filled, as contrasted to the lesser number of First class coaches, which were still barely filled.
The train left at around 7:00 a.m. that day, and reached Surat at 5:10 p.m. in the evening. For those willing to travel further, there were special provision for the upcoming wait till morning. There was a refreshment room, and a Traveler's Bungalow at Surat. The next departure was at 7:00 a.m. in the morning, at the 24 hr mark in the journey. The train would leave Surat, and after 5 stops, the passengers would deboard to catch their 'Nerbudda' Ferry at Unclesur. The next train would depart Broach at 10:42, and after some more stops, the passengers would reach their destination at Ahmedabad at 5:00 p.m. at the 34 hour mark of their journey. Imagine! Nowadays, it takes at best 5 hrs and at worst, around 13 hrs at most. Certainly have we come a long way ever since!
2) The Timetable
On 26th of November that year,2 days before the run, the Traffic Manager of the Railway Company issued an advert for major newspapers in Bombay, like The Bombay Gazette, and The Times of India.
The advertisement, besides containing a Timetable for the train services, included other things too.For instance, there was the mention of the discontinuity at Surat, the accommodations for passengers willing to travel further than Surat. The most prominent of all in the advert was a section addressing the Nerbudda River Ferry. This was a peculiar discontinuity, and it had interesting solutions. Besides the boats themselves, there was a provision of Palkhees, Shigrams, Carriages, and even Horses! The charges of each were neatly mentioned. There was even a charge for dogs, at four annas each! A High resolution image of the Timetable is put below. (Credit:The Asiatic Society of Mumbai for Digitized copy)
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| The Timetable..From The Bombay Gazette, 28-11-1864 Source: The Asiatic Society of Mumbai |
3) The Noble Third Class Coaches
Third Class coaches of those days were infamous for their designs. They were the cheapest class to travel in, but the system of Third class coaches was 'cheaper' than the fare itself. It was a horrible system. In many railways, Third Class Coaches, marked outside as 'III' were a horror for the passengers. Often, too many passengers would be packed all at once into the small coaches of those days. The condition of passengers was almost like how cattle would be herded into a goods train. It offered the absolute minimum of comfort, and surprisingly, the condition of these coaches did not change much, even until the 20th Century; indeed, Gandhiji traveled all throughout the country in this very Third Class, and persuaded to make the arrangements better for the ordinary passenger.
BB&CI, in this matter, took a rather noble step. It introduced one of the first double decker railway coaches which were to be used for the Third class. These were built at the Amroli workshops in early 1860s. They were aimed at providing comfort to the neglected passengers, and The Times of India described that the well planned layout provided for:
' an arrangement which will add greatly to the comfort of those who never travel in any other class of carriage, and whose comfort has been too much neglected hitherto.'
~The Times of India, 29th November 1864 (To read that entire article from 160 yrs back, visit this post)
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| My sketch of the coach design (made with reference to original blueprints) |
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| Side view |
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| Oblique view |
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| A closer view |
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| View inside the lower deck |
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| View from a window |
The seats of the lower deck appear to be rather low, and passengers sat with their backs facing the windows, as you see above. Sort of like today's Metro coaches. There would have been stairs too, to access the upper deck.
The real fun lies in the upper deck. Here, there were two sections you could be in, as you can see in the above image. In the middle section, you would sit with those railings at your back, and feet inside that middle space. So, sitting here would give you a view like this- (see below)
The upper deck
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| View from middle section |
Alternatively, if you were tired a bit, and wanted to spread your legs, and maybe sleep for a while, you could retreat to the portion close to the windows! The wind would blow over your face, as you took your well needed rest in a 34 hour long journey. This was certainly an unexpected luxury for a Third class passenger!
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| View while lying in comfort near the windows... |
Final words..
And such was the humble beginnings of the BB&CI Railway. Over the years, the railway would overtake its rival GIPR (which later became the Central Railway) and become more technologically advanced than the latter. BB&CIR was eventually renamed as Western Railway in 1951. The line still continues to be among the busiest lines, with heavy passenger traffic even after those 160 years, and we have certainly come a long distance from that 34 hr journey from Bombay to Ahmedabad ever since.
P.S. This post was uploaded at 7:00 a.m. on 28th November 1864, i.e. 160 yrs after the exact moment that train left the Grant Rd. Terminus!
Thanks for the Scroll!
P.S. This post was uploaded at 7:00 a.m. on 28th November 1864, i.e. 160 yrs after the exact moment that train left the Grant Rd. Terminus!
