A Special Train Journey

Is this about a train journey that was special or a journey on a special train or both?

It was Mar 1990. De-induction of Indian Armed Forces from Sri Lanka had begun. I decided to stay back and come along with the last batch, just for the heck of it. There was no point coming home early unnecessarily. Coming from an active zone, it didn’t make sense. Added to it was the order that we were to travel by a special train from Madras to our permanent location, Jaipur. I had never travelled on a special train before. My troops and I were in the last passenger ship that sailed out. As we sailed out and I went and stood on the upper deck to have a look-see around and to gulp in the sea air, I was astonished to see our Naval War Ships of various sizes all around, though at great distances from, our ship in the vast sea! They were also sailing out on de-induction and were giving our ship protection in the bargain. We were sailing in a tactical formation. It was huge, the number of ships and the area they covered in the sea! Man, I felt like Lord Nelson, leading the Armada!

We landed in Madras and my troops pitched our camp near the airport. We were only three Officers and around a hundred men. We had our special communication equipment and generators which were quite huge, heavy and high. We had to give our various requirements to the railways so that they could arrange for the correct type of wagons. Most of our wagons were open ones of various sizes. One of the wagons was a kitchen wagon in which food could be cooked. Such discussions enabled us to learn a lot about railways and their capabilities which are actually stupendous. We were to commence our journey from Royapuram Railway Station. This in itself was historical as Royapuram is one of the oldest railway stations in India, still operational. The first train of South India rolled out from this station in 1856 and we were rolling out in 1990. Due to the typical sizes of our equipment, the Railways had to cater for overhead clearance and various other technical details and so our route was not exactly going to be the main ones. Those were the reasons for us to start from Royapuram and go to Bharatpur another place near Jaipur, known for its Bird Sanctuary. Having the wagons at our disposal and completing the loading, we finally rolled out of Royapuram.

Since we were only three Officers we were not entitled to a First Class bogie. But we had one full second class bogie all to ourselves. Three more such bogies were for the men. A telephone line was laid between the driver in the front, we in the middle and the guard at the end. The phone itself was with a built-in generator without a dialler and to connect a call you had to crank it. Does anyone know about such magneto telephones? We were supposed to inform the Guard whenever we wanted the train to halt for any reason, like our meal times. If the Guard had to stop the train anywhere to allow the main trains to pass or cross, he would inform us. On such occasions, our train would move out of the main lines to the loop ones and halt till the other trains all cleared off. You have a general idea how the goods train goes, don’t you? This was similar. Our train was similarly long too with nearly thirty bogies, which included the open wagons, box wagons, a kitchen wagon and passenger cars and no vestibules, thank you. One of the closed wagons was our armoury. The journey was to take us a week to reach our destination as per the planned schedule. Very often the train used to go to the yard at stations and park itself for long hours, especially at nights. The most horrible thing we had to suffer was the nuisance of mosquitoes that swarmed us, particularly in the yards. I am not exaggerating when I say that we hardly slept whenever the train was static. The stock of rum with us was no help. Neither were our mosquito nets. There is an army advice they give in Panagarh. Tie the mosquito net on the bed and sleep outside to fool the mosquitoes! Sadly we could not practice it in the dark, grimy, dusty yards.

Army is a very resourceful thing. We somehow make the best of situation. I told you about the second class bogies. If you thought they were those nicely cushioned ones, you are mistaken. They were wooden berths. Now just we the three Officers had one full bogie to ourselves. That was luxury in itself. But the berths as you know are not wide enough. It would have been silly of us to struggle on the narrow berth even with our beddings, for one week. We had broad wooden planks with us. Don’t ask me how. Army always has the things necessary to create heaven in hell. So with the planks we bridged the berths. Thus each one of us had a compartment to ourselves as our bed rooms with mosquito nets innovatively tied. The rest of the bogie served as our sitting room and whatever else. Luxury at its best. The phone was given to the junior most to communicate with the guard and driver. He was the go-between them and us the seniors.

I said I never travelled on a special train before. That warrants a little explanation. You see the fighting units of the Army move en bloc from peace locations to field locations and vice versa on completion of their – the units’ - tenures. They carry their own weapons and equipment along with them. And such moves are always in special trains and not in our normal main or express trains. Technical Units in the Army do not move. The unit stays put in its location whether field or peace and the personnel get replaced routinely as and when each one’s tenure in the unit comes to an end. I am from a Technical Corps and so I moved from one unit to another regularly, unlike my friends in the fighting arms for most of whom special train is no big deal. Having heard stories about the fun of travelling on special trains, sometimes even with families, about how they conduct morning PT on the platforms to the complete awe of the people at the station, how they cook food in such large quantities, say for about five hundred men, in the train and how they distribute it on the platform to the Jawans to the wonder and amusement of the public and so on and so forth, I was very keen on such an adventure. That is why when it came my way I decided to grab the opportunity. I could have easily flown to Madras and then onwards to Jaipur, where my family was waiting (eagerly maybe). But then I would not have been telling you this story first hand.

Though we touched upon the main stations we had to take the side routes so often that even our references to the railway map could not confirm where we were at times. Then the youngster used to be queried and he in turn queried the driver/guard and gave us the seniors the info. Never keep a youngster idle. Our kitchen staff were up to their task and were always ready with tea, breakfast, lunch or dinner, depending upon the time of the day. All they needed to be told was the time. So we inform the guard the time to stop the train and the duration of the stop well in time. He adjusts the time and station accordingly and informs us. I must say the coordination was so good; rarely did we have to admonish them for any lapse in this regard. By the way, as the hospitality of the Army goes, they also partook the food. We also had rum issue parades, yes, that is also a parade in the Army, in which also they gladly took part though a bit shyly and consciously as they were on duty. Those drivers and guards who got our rum were the lucky ones, due to their change of duty.

Whenever we halted at regular stations, it was interesting to see the crowd looking at our train with awe and curiosity. Many struck conversations with us asking various questions. Since were returning from the Operations, we could whet their curiosity quite satisfactorily too. On a certain day we halted for long at Vijayawada and then proceeded to a yard at a nearby station for the night halt. Just for the heck of it, we walked up to the Yardmaster on sighting him and struck up a conversation. This conversation turned out to be of utmost importance. For we learned that our special train was heading for Kharagpur instead of Bharatpur! We were aghast. On questioning him he showed us the book carried by the Guard and showed us the destination written there in the railway code for Kharagpur. We understood the mistake created at Royapuram by the Railways (and by us for not ensuring the correctness. But who could have imagined!). Bharatpur sounded to them as Kharagpur. The latter is after all more known. The Yardmaster and the Guard expressed their helpless in the matter of diverting us. Now it was time for us to raise the level. With great difficulty and much reluctance and fear the Yard Master cranked the railway telephone to the Divisional Manager, on our insistence. The DM seemed quite annoyed at being disturbed at that time of night. After hearing us and then clarifying from the Guard and Yardmaster he told us quite sternly and authoritatively that he could not help but would have to send the train to Kharagpur only. Then I told him, “It’s fine with us if you want to send us on a Bharat darshan. We are coming back from the Operations at Sri Lanka and so are in no hurry and have rations for one week. Ultimately the Railways will have to send us to Bharatpur. Therefore after the week, Railways will have to feed us. That is all. It is your call now”. He seemed flustered and tried to say it is not the Railways’ mistake and hence not their responsibility etc. We waited. He must have dialled a few numbers on his own, came back on the line and told us that the train would be re-routed to Bharatpur. The Yardmaster and the Guard got busy and next day we were back at Vijayawada. People at the station were flabbergasted to see the train back. They worriedly asked us whether we were going back to Sri Lanka. If we had not discovered the error in the night, we would in any case have known it on our next lap as we would have been heading for East instead of North. Now we lost only a day. In the latter case we would have lost more than two days, that’s all. We, in any case had sufficient ration to feed the troops for more than two weeks comfortably. Army will never run short of food!

At one point, I decided to travel in the engine compartment. The driver was all apologies and tried to tell me how he cannot allow it as being against rules etc. I persisted and won. I tell you, it was scary. There was nothing in the front and I felt that any time the train could derail, especially at curves and jolts. You don’t feel protected at all as in normal passenger compartments. I felt as if I was in the air above the rails. At one point we had to cross a river on a bridge which had no railings on the side. I am not ashamed to say that my heart leapt to my throat as we approached the bridge. There was nothing to protect the train (as if!). If it just tilted a little we were down in the river or so it seemed. The driver was quite amused to see my discomfort all through. During that unusual experience I also understood that the drivers of the locomotives are in fact quite busy recording various things along the way. There are numerous sign boards for them, numerous check points numerous warning signs, numerous signals and so on. In fact he hasn’t a moment to spare and has to be on constant watch ahead all through his shift. It is not auto pilot at all. Not for a moment. The only item he allowed me to touch was the horn which I pressed and hooted with the glee of a child whenever he told me to. However I learnt about the various dials and knobs and controls in the engine compartment.

There were many more interesting (for us) incidents, but I think I must stop for now.

       I must be the only Army chap from the regular Army to travel in the engine compartment of a train along with the driver. I wonder whether anyone even in the Territorial Army (Railways) could have had that experience.

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