Our Journey - Meter Gauge Railway

The journey of Meter gauge train used to be a world in itself. From late 80s to mid 90s when I had traveled the trains were operated with steam locomotive, then later from 1995 the train was began to operated with Ydm4 diesel locomotive  .Then two to three pairs of passenger trains and three pairs of express trains would pass through our lakhimpur railway staition which came from Bareilly, Palia and Mailani junction and reached Lucknow via Sitapur. I usually used to travel from Lakhimpur to Lucknow and return from Lucknow to Lakhimpur and it took about four hours to complete this journey as trains were often crossed due to single meter gauge railway line, which made trains had to stay at the station lying between this route . And as a crossed train passed through the station, the token is then given to the other train's loco pilot standing there and it used to move towards its destination . Between the train journey of Lucknow and Lakhimpur, it was necessary to stop every train at Sidhauli and Sitapur junction . The rail traffic between Sitapur-Mailani was started by the Rohilkhand and Kumaon Railway Company on 15 April 1887.  The company was registered by the British government on 6 October  1882.  Later the British Government unified the railway and started operating on 1 January 1943 under the name of Awadh and Tirhut railway.  Later, from 14 April 1952, the Lucknow-Mailani-Bareilly Meter gauge railway became known as the Northeast Railway.  In these stages between Lucknow to Sitapur 15 November 1886 (86.30 KM ) ,  Sitapur to Lakhimpur 15 April 1887 (106.92 km) , Lakhimpur to Gola 15 December 1887 (58.18 km) , Pilibhit from Gola 1 April 1891 (about 86 km , the service of Meter gauge railway was started. Meter gauge trains started in the British rule about 130 years ago, via the district Kheri to the capital Lucknow, via Bareilly, Rajasthan, Jodhpur, Kathgodam, Agra and Mathura . Last scheduled train running on Sitapur-Mailani section at 6:00 pm on October 15, 2016: No 52244 Down Passenger train had departed from Sitapur station towards its destination for last time and Meter gauge railway service on this route was closed forever and now broad gauge railway has started operating on this route, which has also been now electrified .

Mailani-Shahjahanpur Steam Tramway Rail Service In 1894, the Steam Tramway Railroad of the Narrow gauge railway Line from Mailani to Khutar was started. Puvayan Stream was done by Tram Way Company.  The company was a branch of the Rohilkhand and Kumaon Railway, but in 16 December 1900, it was closed due to the independence movement and the Second World War and its rail tracks and engines were sent to Persia. This company was given compensation of Rs. 40 thousand annually.  In 1921 attempts were made to start this railway route, but it was stopped as a loss deal. After the brief history of this meter gauge railway route, which I have received from a newspaper and website, it is presented here for information , Now I will share some my experiences of this route with you so that all of you can become aware of this wonderful train service which is now closed forever. 

The train running from our city Lakhimpur very early was the Nainital Express which reached Lakhimpur at three o'clock at the end of the night and left five minutes after that and it was the luxury train on this route which had many coach but our most favorite train was sanctuary express which had arrived our Lakhimpur at early morning on five o'Clock and the train used to departed late night from the Palia railway station located nearby Dudhwa Tiger Reserve . 

During winters, we used to reach Lakhimpur railway station before five o'clock in the colder morning to get a ticket for Lucknow from the ticket counter . After taking the ticket, we used to walk around the railway platform and sometimes looked towards the railway track towards which the our train was coming.

Until the train did not come, we used to   check books on the bookstore available at the railway station and we had also purchased a few books whenever we liked , usually we used to buy books of comics or some stories and some people also purchased newspapers and read the morning newspaper during the journey.  Many people were also seen taking tea sips in the morning, which were sold on railway platforms through authorized railway vendors . On this meter gauge railway route of Lucknow-Lakhimpur the book stalls was only available at the the Lucknow , Sitapur and Lakhimpur . When the train was about to reached the station, a hanging iron rod was hit by a railway employe as a bell, which gave the passengers an impression that the train would arrive on the platform in a few minutes . And we all had prepared themselves and had began to stood along the edges of the railway platform but when we heard the whistle of arriving train we step back from the edges and wait unless the train stopped at the railway platform . As soon as train stopped at the station, Passengers had not even gets out of the doors of the train coach , the passengers of the to travel ahead started entered in and many hurried to sit on the window seat . 

The loco pilot used to start whistling as soon as the token was exchanged as the signal gets green light in front of the standby engine which meant that now the train had to starts moving for the onward journey and from the last coach by the train guard there was a hint of green signal that the train would start running from the platform . Our sanctuary train used to stop at kheri  station for a minute , but after that it had stopped at Hargaon station and not stopped at the oel station which was before to it  , and after that, our train crossed the Jharekapur station, and it had stopped at Sitapur Junction for approximately ten minutes . Most of the passengers traveling on this train were jobbers or students who worked or went to study in Lucknow and usually the passengers had monthly pass . When trains were operated with a steam engine, it used to stay for about half an hour at Sitapur junction to meet its water and coal needs and during this time many passengers usually opened their tiffins and ate  food which brought from home. Some Passengers also had used to purchased some of the poori sabzi on the platform by the vendors there . When canned water bottles had not available , people would get off the train and drink water from the handpump or tap available on the platform or filled the water in the thermos they brought with them . Well now our train resumed its journey from Sitapur and stops at the next station Khairabad where its stayed for a minute if any other train was not passed on a down track . Our train left Barai Jalalpur railway station and stopped at the station of Kamalapur and after a few seconds then it moved ahead and stopped at Sidhuli railway station for five minutes and the passengers got off the train and on its platform to brought the famous Samosa of Sidhauli .There used to be only one shop and every passenger was eager to get the samosas of that shop before the train would run from the station and train began to move many times and the passengers used to ran to entered into their coach . From here, milk containers were hung on the windows of railway coaches which the milk sellers used to take off at Muhabulla Pur railway station . Our train used to stop at Daliganj via Atariya, Itounja, Bakshi Ka Talab railway station between Sidhauli, at daligunj railway station where many passengers used to get off and most of the coaches were empty when the train crossed the bridge on the Gomti river and at about nine thirty in the morning our train had reached to Lucknow city railway station and usually our journey was over here .

Now the meter gauge railway services is no more on this route but it would always be remembered by us as a passenger of these trains .

📝 Uruj Shahid © 2021