Train Talk (Chai & Choo Choos)

There was a choice of travel round via Stirling as well as a train ferry from Granton (on the outskirts of Edinburgh) to Burntisland in Fife on the north shore of the Forth estuary. The Stirling route was operated by the Caledonian Railway while the
Fife route was owned by the North British. Deadly rivals although they had to share the last 40 miles or so into Aberdeen.

It was recently announced that the painting of the Forth Rail Bridge had been completed and that the new paint should last for 40 years. Another common phrase appears doomed. "It's like painting the Forth Bridge" used to describe an apparently endless task.

Train 12963, the Mewar Express in the opposite direction, was our introduction to Indian trains. We listened to the recommendation of our hotel and had two hours to wait on Hazrat Nizamuddin station - not the cheeriest place I have ever been.

If our plan works we will arrive in Udaipur from Ahmedabad in metre gauge 2AC splendour. I note that this line is having its annual break in service due to washouts etc at the moment but have my fingers crossed for it to be repaired in good time.

I sent an e-mail to the Dholpur Palace asking about their tariff. Room charges range from Rs.7000/- + taxes to 19,000/-+ taxes although they do offer discounts for tour leaders.

So Dave, our little fantasy Choo Choo tour gang spent yesterday pottering about on the Dhaulpur line, and last night in the luxury of the Dholpur Palace. Where are we going today?

Perhaps we could take up Golghar's suggestion from #341.

This would mean a backtrack to Mathura Junction (MTJ) for the first leg. Train 18477 Kalinga-Utkal Express looks conveniently timed (09.39 departure) although it has been en-route for 36 hours by the time it gets to Dholpur. I think we will assume that it is reasonably on time and that Golghar is able to use his influence to sort out availability.

This train will get us to Mathura at 11.55. and it needs to be on time as the only suitable connection is train 55338 Achhnera - Kasganj Passenger departing at 12 noon. This is an unreserved train so we may need our sharp elbows. We arrive at Kasganj at 14.40 so have time for a late lunch before our next train.
Does anybody have a restaurant recommendation handy for the station?

So on to today's main attraction - the Kasanj-Gonda Gokul Express Train 15316. This appears to be a leisurely tour of outback Uttar Pradesh and its hitherto unknown delights (cue Golghar). The train leaves at 17.35 and arrives at its destination (Gonda Junction) at 07.10 tomorrow morning, a trip of 498km on a single metre gauge train. Impressive. I think that we should take the precaution of booking Sleeper berths in the solitary reserved coach. According to indiarailinfo the Catering arrangements are ??? Note. Have an extra big late lunch at Kasganj.

Who's next?

Kasganj is the administrative headquarters of a district called "Kanshi Ram Nagar". For those who have been following politics in Uttar Pradesh, this was the name of the mentor of former Chief Minister Mayawati Devi. Now that she is in opposition and the state has a new Chief Minister (What a coincidence! Look where he went to school!) I'm sure all the upmarket eating places have been driven off the high street at Kasganj. So we will have to pack our own parathas.

Fifty years ago that whole swathe from Pilibhit to Bahraich* was all marsh and elephant grass. I think it has been turned into agricultural land now.

According to the Indian Railway Atlas the stretch from Bahraich to Gonda is threatened with conversion.

Small world isn't it?

Taking up your suggestion from the Rajesh Khanna thread about posting the movie clips from the DHR here is my favourite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1My...feature=relmfu

I'm not sure that the loop featured near the beginning of the clip is Batasia near Ghoom/Ghum. I think that it is the loop at Agony Point lower down the line.

Was this the thread where you posted the other clip?

The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

I haven't been able to find it but here it is again.

There was some other thread where scenes from Hindi films shot on trains were posted and forum members asked to identify the railways. The old Howrah-Amta-Champadanga and Howrah-Shekhala lines cropped up in films. I think this is on one of those old narrow-gauge lines. You have to skip the ad or wait for it to finish.

Good one! I hadn't seen that one before

Here is one I like, I first saw it when biman posted it in antakshari last year and RWe did a translation here.

Oooh I found a new one from the same film as Golghar's above. I only clicked on it as it featured Johnny Walker

This is for Dave - it features a nice smart-looking tram!

That was definitely the GCIRC thread that I quoted above. For a while (from about #1500) it turned into an attempt to identify every song and dance number filmed on or around Indian trains.

There's a link here to the Bollyrail section of the GCIRC website.

http://gcirc.wordpress.com/2011/01/0...ngs-on-trains/

Very smart indeed. Thank you. The young lady should have used the first class car then she could have sat in the ladies only section. I also enjoyed the wobbly lamp-post at about 0.38 in.

Last night I was reading George MacDonald Fraser's "Quartered Safe Out Here", his wartime reminiscences, which include a short chapter on spending a week's leave in "Cal". The Museum was turned into accommodation but the cases housing the exhibits were left in situ. He says that they spent a lot of time taking tram rides.

This is the "teacher taking his charges on an ecuational trip" number from "Jagriti". We had the song on shellac at home and I used to play it on a wind-up gramophone. There was also a "naughty" version of the song in circulation.

I have the whole film on VCD. I must watch it again. It should actually be in a "film anecdotes" thread. It is the remake of a 1937 film President and was originally being shot with Guru Dutt in the main role. After the actor died (or was it suicide? - still something of a taboo in 1964) the film had to be re-shot with Dharmendra. I have seen footage of Guru Dutt in a documentary on his life.
A similar thing happened in Hollywood with Solomon and Sheba when Tyrone Power died during filming and they had to remake everything with Yul Brynner in the title role. In fact Tyrone Power had a heart attack in front of the camera.

I have unilaterally changed the name of our Fantasy Train Trip. See #12 for an explanation of sorts.

Having lived on parathas (are paranthas the same thing?) since breakfast at Dholpur on day 2 we need to consider the inner man (and inner honorary bloke) today.

We are currently standing on the platform at Gonda Junction (GD). We need to go somewhere with decent food next. Any suggestions? I have heard that Lucknow cuisine is well thought of.

I've lost track of where we are Dave. We had one night in the Dholpur Palace and then dashed off straight after breakfast (no time to laze around and play croquet on the manicured lawns ) for a day and a night on trains, is that right? And we are surviving on Golghar's parathas and various bits which I filched from the Dholpur Palace breakfast buffet .

Lucknow sounds a good idea - how do we get there? Can we go to Nagpur later on for some oranges?

Let's call it berk-free! At those speeds we won't feel any jerks anyway.

Parantha, actually pronounced "prantha" is Panjabi for the Hindi/Urdu paratha.

At Gonda Jn. we take the 55034 Gonda-Sitapur Passenger. It leaves Gonda at 11:25 and is scheduled to reach Mahmudabad Avadh at 13:49. The only Express train on this route, the 15273 Satyagraha Express, leaves at 1840 and as it is nearly 10 hours into its journey it is likely to be delayed.
On the train we can have our last parathas for lunch. Parathas, like Scotch Whisky, Christmas puddings and a lot of other enjoyable things, mature well. That's why people like to carry them on journeys.

Now Mahmudabad was the seat of the Rajas of Mahmudabad, the biggest landowners in what was then called the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. I referred to this place in a previous post as the estate of the family Vikram Seth based the Muslim landowning family in A Suitable Boy on. They own (owned?) Hazratganj, once the main shopping area in Lucknow. Their family cooks used to be legendary. I'm sure we can drop by at the palace for dinner.


Now to get back to the original title of the thread. In the 1950s when the song Julia mentioned in post #352 was very popular you sometimes heard tea-vendors on station platforms hawking their wares with the line

Pee lo chai garam..mm..mm..mm pee lo chai garam
(drink tea hottt.. drink tea hot)

sung to the refrain of this very song

vande mātaram..mm..mm..mm vande mātaram
(I worship (thee) motherrrr... I worship thee mother)

Thanks for that explanation.

So that is the real location of the Nawab of Baitar's library in the book.

I'm looking forward to this feast.

I was just looking at The Great Indian Railway Atlas (Is GIRA or TGIRA the conventional abbreviation?) to see where we could go from Mahmudabad Awadh and I found this grey dashed line from Shahjahanpur to Mailani via Powayan and Khotar. (I have the 2005 edition) According to the legend that means "closed line". I have no memory ot there ever having been such a line. If it did exist it must have been closed ages ago. In the late fifties railway maps of India didn't even have a memory of such a line ever having existed.

I just looked at the area on this site. There is a suspiciously straight-looking road from Shahjahapur to Mailani through Powayan and Khotar (here it is spelt "Khutar"). This must have been the embankment for a railway line. In those days only the railways could have "acquired" land along a straight line. Road alignments tended to grow out of traditional rights of way. This could have been a shared road/rail embankment too.

So the next stop will be Shahjahanpur and there we rent a car to take us slowly to Mailani, looking for traces of the railway on the way, talking to locals to ask it they have any memory of a railway along the route. That should get us to Mailani, which we passed through on our journey from Kasganj to Gonda. There we are back on metre-gauge and can then take a train to Lucknow City or Aishbagh. I am not very familiar with Lucknow. Could one of the Lakhnavis on IM tell us which station is closer to the fleshpots of Lucknow? Most importantly, we need a hotel that is upto Mrs.W's standards and a restaurant with authentic Lakhnavi cuisine.

@Dave
The city in the novel is a clever hybrid of Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi and Patna. This event plays a central role in the novel. It occurred in 1954 and the novel is set in the years 1951/52 (death of George VI, 1st general elections in India etc.) but that is of course poetic licence.