54) Celebrating 150 years of serving the Indian Nation by the Railways in 2002-03:

Celebrating 150 years of serving the Indian Nation by the Railways in 2002-03:

I remember that ever since I was a toddler, I had a special fascination for Railway Engines and Passenger/Freight trains.  My father being an Ophthalmologist in the King Georges Medical College at Lucknow, (Uttar Pradesh-India) we were staying at a location which was very close to the Railway shunting Yard.  As I grew older, I would persuade my Nanny (Ayah) to take me to the Railway lines to watch the shunting carried out by steam engines. One particular driver would even let us climb the steam locomotive and take a joy ride while the engine delivered its precious bogies, much to my childish delight (and properly supervised by my Nanny); I looked upon in fascination at how a steam engine worked. Of course, when my father shifted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College at Aligarh as a Senior Professor, my trysts with steam engines at the shunting yard came to an end.

 Several years later, when the days of steam locomotives had been overtaken by diesel and Electric locomotives, I was visiting the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, India. While I was crossing over to another platform through the overbridge at the Varanasi Railway Station, I couldn’t help notice  a lone steam engine shunting a few bogies across the Railway station, possibly one of its last few jobs, because steam locomotives were being  phased out shortly thereafter. One can now see them at Railway Headquarters/museums only. I stopped for a while to watch the engine at work (my old fascination for steam engines getting the better of me), when I suddenly noticed a bunch of kids shouting excitedly, “Look! Look! A steam engine!!” I saw their excitement as they made their parents (foreigners visiting Varanasi) take several photos/videos of the steam engine. The fascination for steam engines was indeed universal!!

The Powhattan Arrow (one of my first train models):

When the first English settlers came to stay in Jamestown (U.S.A.) in 1607,  an Indian confederation of tribes, called the Powhattan, headed by a paramount chief called “Wahunsunacawh” (or “Chief Powhattan”) were living in East Virginia. After the initial skirmishes between the Native Indians and the English settlers, including requisitioning some Indians as labor, there was an intermingling of the two cultures by way of marriages between the English settlers and the Indian tribes.

Naturally, therefore, one of the passenger trains between Norfolk, Virginia to Cincinnati, Ohio (U.S.A.) was called the “Powhattan Arrow” which made its maiden run on 28^th April 1946 (shortly after the end of World War II)and was one of the most popular trains of its times. In the 1960s, when I was a kid my aunt visiting us from London, brought me two sets of model electric trains complete with stations , signals etc. – one was the “Powhattan Arrow” and the other was a British Freight train , both of which I was extremely possessive of.

The first Passenger and Freight trains in India:

On April 16^th 1853, at 3.35 PM, the first Passenger train in India left the Bombay (present day Mumbai) Bori Bunder for Thane. This train had 14 Railway carriages and carried 400 passengers, mostly guests.

While the credit of being the first Passenger traffic train run goes to the Mumbai – Thane ride on 16^th April 1853, how many of us know that the first freight train had reportedly run on 22^nd December 1851 between Roorkee and Piran Kaliyar. In order to take care of the irrigation problems of farmers in this area, a large quantity of clay which was available in the Piran Kaliyar area, (a short distance from Roorkee), was required to be transported for construction of a water-canal on the Ganges. To facilitate transportation of the clay, a steam engine was imported from England in 1851 and the train had two bogies to transport the clay over a distance of about two and a half kms. between Roorkee and Piran Kaliyar, at a speed of about four miles an hour. The train was operational till 1852 when the engine had a fire accident, shortly after the construction of the canal was completed.

An interesting point to remember is that the early locomotives/steam engines used in India were all imported. The first Steam locomotive was built in India in 1895 when India developed its own capabilities. Large scale locomotive production in India began only with the establishment of the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works(CLW) in 1947 and Diesel Locomotive works,(DLW) Varanasi in 1961,Diesel Loco Modernisation Works (DMW) Patiala in 1981 BHEL has chipped in with Electric Locomotive components/units since 1980s among other suppliers/manufacturers. For Passenger coaches, Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in 1952 Chennai, Rail Coach Factory (RCF) 1986 at Kapurthala and the Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) in 1984 at Bangalore for Railway Wheels and axles.

Indian Railways Network:

Indian Railways today is the fourth largest network globally, after that of the U.S.A., Russia and China.It employs about 14 lac personnel (second largest work-force in Railway establishments, globally) to manage a vast infrastructure of Railway stations, passenger/freight train movement ( It is estimated to transport over 35 million passengers and over 3.0 tonnes of freight daily). India has Rail links with its neighbouring countries viz, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangla Desh, Burma. Rail links with Vietnam and China are being mulled for implementation.

Heritage and other trains:

Some of the famous Heritage trains operated by the Indian Railways are: The Darjeeling-Himalayan in West Bengal very popular among tourists, as are the Kalka-Simla Railway in the the Shivalik mountains (This train has featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for engaging the steepest rise in altitude during its short journey), the Neral-Matheran Railway, and the most famous and prestigious Palace on wheels, apart from Golden Chariot, Royal Orient Express and the Deccan Odyssey et al. In addition the Indian Railways conducts short tours on special trains for historical/heritage/famous sites and places within the country.

The Mascot: Bholu the Guard:

On 16^th April 2002, to commemorate the 150^th year of operations of the Indian Railways, a new mascot in the form of an Elephant “Bholu the Guard” (Bholu meaning innocent/humble/simple) was designed and unveiled for the first time at the Bangalore City Railway station. It was quite a poignant moment when an elephant dressed in blue and white, as the mascot, flagged off the Karnataka Express at 6.25PM to commemorate the Indian Railways first run on 16^th April 1853. The event also started year-long commemorative functions to celebrate the glorious heritage of the Indian Railways. An elephant was chosen as the mascot for the Indian Railways, because the large and reliable animal (elephant) is widely used for carrying human passengers and freight and the symbolism aptly portrays the mammoth contribution and size of the Indian Railways in ferrying both passengers and freight. Besides, despite its size, the elephant has a friendly, helpful and non-aggressive disposition, all qualities which the Indian Railways strives to inculcate in its personnel. Why “the Guard”? Because like the Elephant which has a phenomenal memory, the Railway Guards never forget the safety of passengers/freight , their timely passage to the desired destinations, and overall responsibility of the safety of the trains. The Guards have been guiding the trains with their “Red” (for halting) and “Green” (for starting the train) lanterns/flags over the centuries. Hence, Bholu carries the quaint old symbol of the lantern in his hand symbolizing the everlasting alertness of the Railway Guards, in particular, and the other Railway personnel in general.

Unfortunately, we do not see much of Bholu the Guard mascot, as the Indian Railways have not popularized their mascot in Advertisements and Railway Properties.

A poster of Bholu the Guard which we were pleasantly surprised to see at Deolali Railway Station in August 2013. It is one of the very few Indian Railway stations which have displayed their mascot. I wish that the mascot is made a compulsory display item at every Indian Railway station, so as to showcase their glorious heritage. The blurb at the bottom of the poster reads : "Suraksha hi Jeevan hai" (in Hindi) meaning "Safety is synonymous with Life".

A horrific experience of a Diesel Engine Driver:

While I was travelling by Indian Railways Train from Lucknow to Pune, I noticed that one of the Passengers had been hurt in the eye and enquired from him as to how he had managed to get the injury. It turned out that he was a Diesel Locomotive Driver and had sustained that injury while he was on one of his routine Passenger Train runs. At dusk some village children had hurled a volley of stones towards his locomotive one of which hit him in the eye. He was undergoing treatment at Pune and partial vision had been restored to his eye. I remember that in Mumbai all commuter train Rakes had been provided with protective grills on vulnerable windows for such unwarranted anti-social activity. Maybe, the Indian Railways can come up with something similar to protect Engine Drivers/Guards from sustaining such physical injury.

Classification of Locomotives:

While   advanced classification have been introduced sometime in the early 2000s, it is interesting to know the basic codes for Railway locomotives/Power sources/Gauge:

Power Codes:

D: Diesel, C: DC Traction, A: AC Traction, CA: Dual Power AC/DC traction

Gauge Codes:

W: Broad Gauge, Y: Meter Gauge, Z: Narrow Gauge, N: Narrow Gauge

Load Codes:

M: Mixed Traffic, P: Passenger, G: Goods, S: Shunting, U: Multiple Unit

Thus, when the Diesel Engine Driver mentioned above talked about a new WDP locomotive being introduced (an advanced category from what he was driving when he was injured), it was short for  “Broad Gauge, Diesel, Passenger locomotive” (simple, huh?). Of course, several other advanced codes are added to these categories for classification of modern locomotives for Railway Personnel to instantly recognize/identify, but that is another story.

Commemorative coins:

The Reserve Bank of India in 2003 at the end of the 150^th year celebrations of the glorious heritage of the Indian Railways issued a two rupee coin for general circulation. On this occasion, another Rs.100/- coin was issued as a Proof and uncirculated specimen.

Obverse image of the coin issued for general circulation. The obverse of the coin has the Lion Capital in the centre together with the words “Satyameva Jayate “(Truth always Prevails) which together form the emblem/Coat of Arms of India. The numeral “2” denoting the denomination of the coin is below the emblem. On the left periphery are the words “Bharat” and “Rupiye” in Hindi and on the right periphery are the words “India” and “Rupees” in English.

This coin is hendecagonal (11sided) in shape, weighs 6 gms, its metal composition is Cupro-Nickel (75%Copper – 25% Nickel) and it has a diameter of 26 mm. This coin has been minted at Mumbai Mint. Notice the diamond mint mark below the year of issue “2003” on this face of the coin which is a Mumbai mint mark.

Reverse image of the above coin. This face of the coin shows an image of “Bholu the Guard” the mascot of the Indian Railways, holding a Lantern. On the left periphery of the coin is mentioned “150 Glorious years” while on the right periphery “150 Gauravpurn Varsh” is mentioned in Hindi. Notice, that, a departure has been made from the normal practice in recent years of writing the Hindi version on the left periphery and the English version on the right periphery of the coin, as has been followed on the obverse. “Railways” in English too appears before the word “Railway” in Hindi in a similar fashion on the top centre of the coin.

A commemorative logo released in 2003 to mark 150 years of existence of the Indian Railways

The symbol/logo of the Indian Railways

Posted on 18.12.2013:
The undernoted scanned images are of a Commemorative coins Proof set consisting of Rs.100/- and Rs.2/- coins minted at the Kolkata Mint on the occasion of completion of 150 years of the Indian Railways. 

 The cover of the commemorative coin album showing a Steam Engine driven train. The Engine displays a plaque with the words "FAIRY QUEEN EXPRESS". "Bholu the Guard" is holding his "trademark" lantern giving a green signal to the engine driver. Also mentioned on the cover is "150 Glorious Years" and "Commemorative coins 2003- India" and "Proof Set".

 The back cover of the above coin album, showing a steam engine driven train chugging along merrily over a Railway Bridge.

The obverse faces of the two coins - Rs.100/- and Rs.2/- .

Obverse Face of the Rs.100/- coin. I wonder whether the Reserve Bank of India or the India Government Mints considered issuing Rs.150/- commemorative coins for the occasion or whether they had a Commemorative coin "limit" of minting a maximum of Rs.100/- coins for any occasion in 2003.

 Obverse of the Rs.2/- coin minted for the occasion.

 The reverse faces of the two coins - Rs.100/- and Rs.2/- .

         Reverse of the Rs.100/- coin issued for the occasion.

              Reverse of the Rs.2/- coin minted for the occasion.

The specifications for the two coins are as under:

Rs.100/- (One hundred Rupees):

Shape and outside diameter: Circular, 44 mm.

No. of Serrations: 200

Weight: 35 grams

Metal Composition: Quaternary Alloy: Silver: 50%; Copper: 40%; Nickel: 5% and Zinc: 5%.

Rs. 2/- (Two Rupees): 

Shape and outside diameter: eleven-sided, 26 mm.

No. of serrations: Nil

Weight: 6 grams

Metal Composition : Copper: 75% and Nickel: 25%. 

Posted on 11.03.2015:

 The above image is that of a miniature sheet of a stamp in the denomination of Rs.15.00 issued by India Post, showing a period scene towards the early days of the Indian Railways during the British Raj. 

Posted on 14.12.2016: 

During a recent trip to Lucknow, I happened to go along with my friend Rihan Ahmad to the Lohia Park for a morning walk, where I spotted this Steam Railway Engine kept on a raised platform for posterity. I could'nt help but take photographs of it for this blog post:

This is me (Rajeev Prasad) standing before the steam engine, which has been exhibited in excellent condition

              A side-view of the steam engine on display at the Park

TheSerial number of this Steam Engine is YG 3318. It was built by Tata Engineering Locomotive Company

                       A full side-ways view of the Steam Engine

                           A Frontal view of the Steam Engine


Posted on 29.06.2017:

India Post has brought out a beautiful Booklet titled "Romance of Rail and a journey of INDIAN POSTAGE STAMPS" which contains four stamps of the denomination of 1 Re, 1Re 50 P, Rs.2/-and Rs.4/- which were issued at the time of celebration of the completion of the Centenry of the South Eastern Railway on 28.03.1987:

                                 The Cover of the Booklet

                      The 200 Paise or Rs.2/- Stamp

                             The 150 Paise or Rs.1.50 Stamp

                              The 400 Paise or Rs.4/- Stamp

                                The 100 Paise or Re 1/- stamp

 (The above Commemorative coins set is from the collection of Jayant Biswas & the circulation coin has been contributed for my collection by Krishna Tonpe. The miniature sheet of stamps issued by India Post is from the collection of Rahul Kumar).