Train Talk (Chai & Choo Choos)

I googled "Aunlajori" just now. Sifting through the catch I found among other things that "Onlajori" is also a recognized spelling. I also got this quote from a novel Tamarind Woman by Anita Rau Badami.

The novel appears to have a chequered publishing history. It has also appeared under the name Tamarind Mem and has even been translated into German. I suppose "Aunlajori" was a name the author had heard somewhere without being able to locate it. The refernce to the Ganga is somewhat incongruous.

Another one! No wonder all the trains are full.

From a review of Tamarind Woman.

I take that back. According to her Wikipedia entry she was born at Rourkela so she may even have been to Aunlajori. The novel is supposed to have "grown out of her university thesis". I'm not sure how that works out.

And if everyone sold their house was travelling through India by train the trains would be full but there should be a lot of empty houses too.

This is a train with a history. In the 60s it ran from Patna to Tatanagar and back. (It didn't stop at Khusropur and Athmal Gola then. Do these places have their own reservation quotas now?) As Jharkhand was then still a part of Bihar, the name "South Bihar Express" was appropriate. Now that it has been extended to Durg it should be called the "Bihar-Chhattisgarh Express". It now starts at Danapur which always was the headquarters of the railway division that included Patna. Danapur used to be spelt "Dinapore". It was said that it was named after a lady called "Dina" (the first "Lady Di"). I have never been able to confirm this or find some other plausible source for the name. Anyway, the code DNR fits both spellings.

Evidently all direct trains from Tatanagar take this route. If we take a train to Barka Kana and then, say, the Barka Kana-Dehri on Son Passenger we pass through a station that both erail and Samit05 spell "Mccluskieganj" with a lower case "c" in third place.. The sign at the station probably says "MCCLUSKIEGANJ" so that wouldn't be anything to complain about but if the railway authorities have been using the wrong spelling (indianrail has block letters too) I think a resident of Scotland ought to lodge a protest.

I am assured by Madame W (and Wikipedia) that the McCluskies are Irish. Maybe Julia would like to write to IR with a complaint.

http://www.houseofnames.com/mccluskie-coat-of-arms

Yes, you are right. This document confirms it. (page 5)

I started reading through the thread from the beginning. I had completely forgotten that Dave had written this in his opening post: But then I found this on the IRFCA site. Aren't they applying double standards? And anyway I immediately found three omissions in the list and they don't deal with songs. In fact the biggest gap in the list is the 1969 film Bhuvan Shome. In fact this is a film about the railways. I remember identifying the railway station in the film when I last watched it but I have forgotten the name. It was somewhere in Gujarat. I can watch it again but I don't think it is worth the bother.

Another is the 1949 film Mahal in which the hero has an uncanny experience that anyone who has travelled, not just by train, might have had. The hero boards a train at Allahabad heading for Kanpur and the first stop of the train turns out to be Naini*. He hurriedly gets off the train and then blunders into the haunted mansion.

I am not registered with IRFCA but I think I'll do that now and see how long it takes me to be kicked out. It will probably be for persistent nit-picking. I immediately noticed that in film number 4 on the list (Achhut Kanya - I'm not going to mention the spelling) the female lead is named as Kanan Devi. In fact it was Devika Rani.

*For those not familiar with the Indian Railway network this train is evidently going in the wrong direction.

I see that IRCTC have responded to the competition posed by Golghar's Chai & Choo Choo Railtours by introducing tours to Dubai.

http://indiarailinfo.com/news/post/85874

There isn't a lot there to interest the railfan apart from the rather smart metro system which features driverless trains giving great views of the city out of the front and rear windscreens.

At least the Delhi Metro has lines of interest like the two standard gauge ones. And I don't think I should ever have gone to Mundka (or even have heard about it) if it hadn't been the terminus of one of the two.
And I'm sure taking the New York Subway to the Bronx is a lot more exciting.

I think it is time to continue on our "Magical Mistry Tour". We are now at Dehri on Sone. In my childhood days there was no road bridge across the Son at Dehri. This was the only "gap" in the Grand Trunk Road. Motor vehicles were transported across the river by train between Sonnagar and Dehri. I haven't been able to find out when the road bridge was built. It must have been in the mid-to-late 60s. Till then the only road bridge across the Son in Bihar was at Koilwar btween Patna and Ara (Arrah).
At Dehri we engage a taxi to take us to Tiura Pipardih along the route of the now defunct Dehri-Rohtas Light Railway. On the way we take photographs of abandoned track, signal boxes, level crossings, stations etc.
We could return to Dehri and continue our journey there or go on to Sasaram and catch the 53660 passenger train there to Patna. On the first part of the journey we keep our eyes peeled for any traces of the Arrah-Sasaram Light Railway.

Alternatively take the 13244 Dehri on Son-Patna Intercity Express (reservable chair-car!) to Bela. It gets there at 7:43. Bela, as I think I mentioned in an earlier post, is the station closest to the Barabar Caves, the "Marabar" Caves of Forster's "A Passage to India". We arrange for transportation at Bela, visit the caves and return in time to catch a later train to Patna. On the way we pass through Tehta. That is where Richard Blair, father of Eric (aka George Orwell) was posted from Motihari, Eric's birthplace.

At Patna we do a tour of "Forster's Chandrapore". the original station building at Bankipore* collapsed in the earthquake of 1934. It was replaced by a rather elegant art-deco pile which was completed in 1939. Sometime in the last few decades this building was pulled down and replaced by a concrete monstrosity which could easily win a prize for the ugliest railway station building in India.

If I am to act as guide the tour through Patna may take longer than planned as I am likely to keep bumping into people I was school with who will insist on telling me all about the professional careers of their children and how their grandchildren are doing at school.

*Patna Bankipore, now Patna Jn. (PNBE), the station now called "Patna Saheb" used to be called "Patna City" (PNC). That was the "native quarter".

An item in the news section of indiarailinfo this morning caught my eye.

http://indiarailinfo.com/news/post/86567

I'm not sure what the Indian presidential saloon might look like but here are a couple of pictures of the Spanish Royal train in the Madrid Railway museum. Spanish trains run on Broad Gauge tracks (1668 mm) so should be compatible with Indian trains.

I had a wonderfull trip along this line in 1980 with the Industrial Railway Society tour of industrial railways in India.

We explored the locomotive depot at Dehri which was packed with interest and the stock included an ex IR ZF class of the type used on the Kangra valley and Simla lines plus some massive eight coupled tank locomotives.

The main party rode behind a typically British 0-6-4 tank locomotive #6 built by Avonside of Bristol in 1926 but there was insufficient room for everyone and so some of us, including my brother and I, had to travel in the DRR 'ambulance' coach. This was immaculate and was hauled by a rail mounted jeep. We travelled as far as the Kalyanpur limeworks part way along the line. I don't think this establishment were expecting us but we were made very welcome by the manager, a very well spoken gentleman who had been educated at Oxford University. We had tea in the canteen and were allowed to explore a further locomotive shed that contained a 'mystery' six coupled locomotive which to this day I am not sure has been definately identified. I have a feeling it was built by Hawthorn Lesley but can't be sure. Working at the lime works was an American Baldwin locomotive from 1918 that had once belonged to the Bengal Provincial Railway Tarkessur - Magra Light line and there were two other british built 2' gauge locos at rest.

When it came time to head back to Dehri our small party were faced with an apparent problem in that the jeep was facing the wrong way and is obviously not a form of motive power with a cab each end. No problem - the driver produced a large jack which he placed under the centre of the vehicle, jacked it up and spun it round - job well done!

En-route we stopped at a wayside station where a meal had been prepared for us in a sort of lean-to shanty. This was most off-putting to most of the party as the meal was clearly not prepared in an environment that would pass inspection in the UK. The cook was observed to strain tea froma large kettle into an equally large teapot through a cloth he had just used to wipe down a filthy, greasy griddle. He squeezed it briskly with his bare hands. I am too well brought up to be rude to my hosts and so ate my meal [with no ill effects I hasten to add] but sadly most of the food went to waste.

A most memorable day and I often think wistfully of how I might, had I been somewhat richer in those days, have made a bid to return some of those locomotives to the UK. What gems they were - 2' gauge tank locomotives from Avonside, Kerr Stuart, North British Locomotive co and Hudswell Clark of Leeds. They still existed into the 1990s but I doubt they still do, or they must be almost rusted away.

According to the link in this article the Tarakeshwar(=Tarkessur)-Magra route is to be reopened as a broad gauge line. I didn't realize that the Tarakeshwar branch had been extended to Arambagh* (erail spells it "Arambag").
Samit05 shows a defunct line from Tarakehswar to Jamalpurganj besides the closed Tarakeshwar-Porabazr-Magra line. All these have to be investigated, preferably in the company of a Bengali-speaker.
I also see that the converted Bankura-Rainagar line has been extended to Mathanshipur and all these lines will someday be linked up.

*This was the constituency in which the then Chief Minister of West Bengal P.C.Sen was defeated by his successor Ajoy Mukherjee back in that tumultous year of 1967.

@Dave
So they will have to revive the "President's Platform" at New Delhi and State Entry Road can fulfil its purpose again.
I mentioned this platform on this or some other thread when we were talking about platform tickets.

Bad news from the DHR. There has been another serious landslide near Tindharia on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. There are some quite dramatic pictures on the DHRS website. http://www.dhrs.org/page106.html . The large building in the first photo is the Tindharia Locomotive works.

I promise I will never in the temptation to write about my RAC upgrades. Thanks for the welcome. Will share if I ever get to another place like Barog.

And sorry to hear the bad news from DHR.