Page 10 - Seniorstoday December 2023 Issue

Nostalgia

On the Tracks of

a Bygone Era

The Punjab Mail at Bombay Central station - 1960

Rail travel in the sixties and seventies was a journey through time and
space, reminisces Vickram Sethi

Rail travel in the sixties and seventies the eyes and nose face etc. Coal specs
was a journey through time and space. would be littered all over the compartment.
To travel by train one had to plan much You could book a coupé and on an extra
in advance. Bookings opened one month payment the railways would provide a tub
before and there were always long queues with ice that would cool the compartment.
but it was easy if you knew someone in the There was something majestic about
railways who could get your ticket from the steam engine, the hiss and clang, the
the VIP quota. My travels as a child were chugging, the whistle and the power of
mostly to a small town called Jhansi. We the engine that pulled the train on its
would travel by Punjab Mail from Mumbai long journey. These engines fuelled by
to Jhansi. The train left Victoria Terminus coal were in awesome sight. There was a
(VT Station) at 2.30 in the afternoon and gradual transition to the diesel locomotives
reached Jhansi the next day approximately but the rhythmic puffing of the steam
by 1pm. There were only fixed departure
times, arrivals were dependent on many
factors and it was not uncommon for trains
to be 5 to 10 hours late.
Every summer vacation I would make
this trip. My earliest memory is of the
steam engine if one looked out of the
window little specs of coal would get into

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