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The Frontier Mail

Page history last edited by Michael 6 years, 3 months ago

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     There was rail service from Bombay to Peshawar long before September of 1928 (for example the Punjab Limited), but it wasn't a de luxe train. With the establishment of the Frontier Mail, travelers can walk off their ship at Bombay, onto the train, and be whisked off to the North-West Frontier in style, arriving in Peshawar in three days. Prior to 1930, the main station in Bombay was Colaba Terminus, replaced in that year by Bombay Central Station.

     It's operated by the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (BB&CI) to Delhi, and the North-West Railway (NWR) beyond there.

 

Equipment and Consist

 

     The steam locomotives are of the H class (4-6-0, 69 tons) from Bombay to Baroda; and then the XC class (4-6-2, 99 tons) to Peshawar. After World War Two the famous WP class was introduced, notable for the domed nose with a silver star painted on it. The Frontier Mail operates on the Indian broad gauge, 5' 6", and the cars are thus a bit wider than those of America or Britain -- typically about 12' wide and 75' long. All of the locomotives and rolling stock were constructed in Scotland or England.

     The coaches are non-corridor stock, meaning there is no connection between coaches -- you can only move between coaches at station stops. This was seen as an important amenity, as it gave more privacy for the first-class passengers and allowed full-width compartments. 

     There are at least seven cars in the consist:  a baggage and mail van, the dining car, and five coaches:  one third class (120 passengers), three second class (78 passengers each), one first class (30 passengers and 6 servants). The second- and third-class coaches have nine compartments, and even the third-class coaches have a toilet for each compartment. Some of the second- and third-class compartments are reserved for women and children only.

     The dining car is only open to first- and second-class passengers; it serves excellent breakfasts, luncheons and dinners. When meals are not being served, the dining car is available as a lounge, with newspapers, books, playing cards, drinks, stationery, etc.

 

a typical menu

breakfast:  porridge, fried fish with lemon, grilled sausages with mashed potatoes, eggs and bacon, jam and marmalade, tea, coffee, fruit.

luncheon:  soup, chicken fricassee, mixed curry and rice, cold ham or beef tongue and salad, fruit salad, cheese (something, perhaps biscuits), coffee.

dinner:  soup, fish mayonnaise, roast duck and rice, charlotte potatoes, (something) asparagus, cheese (something, perhaps biscuits), dessert, coffee.

 

     The first class coaches coaches are 79 feet long, and have nominally six compartments; but an arrangement of connecting doors between the middle two pairs of compartments can provide two "double saloons". Each compartment provides accommodation for six persons by day and four by night; they contain two sofas running lengthwise, surmounted by two upper berths, which are let down at night for sleeping purposes. Each compartment will have a lavatory and bathroom with shower, two or more electric fans, electric lighting, including bed lamps, two Queen Ann armchairs, a small collapsible table and a chest of drawers; the large windows each have a pane of glass, a mesh of fine gauze wire as a protection against dirt and dust, and wooden shutters to exclude the glare of the sun. Each traveler has to provide their sheets, blankets and pillows, and will probably be accompanied by a native servant who travels in a special compartment at the end of the carriage.

 

likely layout of the first-class coach

 

     The first-class coach and the dining car have a simple air conditioning system from 1934 onwards:  blocks of ice are loaded into boxes below the floor, and electric fans blow air over the ice and up through vents into the carriage interior. Ceiling fans and insulated car bodies attempt to maintain the cool temperature.

     At any of the longer stops, there are "retiring rooms" available for the first-class passengers -- essentially hotel rooms in the station. The second and third class passengers can take advantage of snack bars, washrooms, etc. in the stations. The station in Bombay also has retiring rooms available for first-class passengers.

     The 1984 film A Passage to India has several scenes aboard a first-class Indian express train, and is set in the period 1920-1939.

 

      "Leaving Bombay, one travels for 350 miles over the flat plain that lies between the Western Ghats and the sea; there are five major rivers to be spanned, two of which require bridges of over three-quarters of a mile in length, bridges the foundations of which are continually subjected to the seasonal rush of swollen waters. The track then mounts the Western Ghats, climbing to over 2,000 ft. above sea-level in a distance of about sixty miles; thence on for another 500 miles of arid country, where water is almost always scarce and inevitably bad, where whole railway colonies have had to be built in the "blue" and equipped with all the amenities of domestic and social life; thence from Delhi over the wide, sandy, yet fertile plains of the Punjab, rising at last into the barren foothills of the Hindu Kush.

     The coal for this train will have come some 1,500 miles from the mines in Bengal, the water for the engine has had to be pumped from deep wells or brought from a nearby river; the steel for the rails has been brought from the Tatanagar Mills in Bengal; the locomotive has been manufactured, most likely, in England and shipped whole to India; the rolling-stock has probably been made abroad and erected in the railway carriage shops in Bombay; there will have been about eight changes of engine; and one will have lived in the same compartment for two days and two nights."

-- Modern Transport in India, 1935

 

Route and Schedule

 

     In September, October, November and December the northbound train leaves daily from the Ballard Pier in Bombay, for the convenience of travelers from overseas. The rest of the year it departs from Bombay Central Station. Some of the stops are:

 

  • Bombay - either Bombay Central Station or Ballard Pier Station

    • Dahanu Road - short stop to allow passengers to enter and leave the dining car

    • Surat - short stop to allow passengers to enter and leave the dining car

  • Baroda

  • Nagda

    • Shamgarh - short stop to allow passengers to enter or leave the dining car

    • Kotah - short stop to allow passengers to enter or leave the dining car

    • Sawai Madhopur - short stop to allow passengers to enter or leave the dining car

  • Mathura

  • Delhi - a fairly long stop, some carriages are detached or attached

  • Ambala - connection to Simla

  • Amritsar

  • Lahore

  • Rawalpindi

  • Peshawar

 

     From Bombay to Peshawar takes 72 hours, and is very reliable; a delay of even a few minutes is rare. Arrivals at Bombay are usually after sunset, and the railway company lights up the station with floodlights when the train pulls in.

     First-class fare, per person, is £12 from Bombay to Peshawar, meals included.

 

Frontier Mail - northbound

station

day

arrive

depart

notes

Bombay

A

--

7:50 pm

departure

Baroda

B

5:30 am 

6 am 

breakfast begins

Nagda

B

11 am

11:30 am

luncheon begins

Kota

B

5 pm

5:30 pm

dinner begins

Mathura

C

midnight

12:30 am

 

Delhi

C

3:30 am

4 am

carriages changed

Ambala

C

7 am

7:30 am

breakfast begins

Amritsar

C

11:45 am

noon

luncheon begins

Lahore

C

1 pm

1:20 pm

 

Rawalpindi

C

5:40 pm

6 pm

dinner begins

Peshawar

C

7:50 pm

--

destination

Several minor water and coaling stops not shown.

 

Frontier Mail - southbound

station

day

arrive

depart

notes

Peshawar

A

--

7:00 pm

dinner begins

Rawalpindi

A

8:50 pm

9:10 pm

 

Lahore

B

1:30 am

1:50 am

 

Amritsar

B

2:50 am

3 am

 

Ambala

B

7:15 am

7:45 am

breakfast begins

Delhi

B

10:45 am

11:15 am

luncheon begins

Mathura

B

2:15 pm

2:45 pm

 

Sawai Madhopur

B

7 pm

7:20 pm

dinner begins

Nagda

C

3:15 am

3:30 am

 

Baroda

C

8:30 am

9 am

breakfast begins

Surat

C

noon

12:20 pm

luncheon begins

Bombay

C

7:00 pm

--  

Several minor water and coal stops not shown.

 

 

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