RailEnquiry

NEW DELHI: A black and white photograph of a crowded train, showing people hanging out of doors and sitting on the roof, is iconic. Without even going to the caption, you can make out that it's from the Partition-era.

It was this refugee train photographed at Ambala station that caught everyone's eye at an exhibition of rare photographs to commemorate 160 years of Indian Railways.

The emotive picture of the exodus captures the very essence of railways and its intimate relationship with life and travel in India. Another photograph shows a platform with 2 tea stalls - 'Hindu Tea stall' and 'Mohammedan Tea stall'-painted in bold so that people don't drink from another community's stall. It's reminiscent of the strong communal differences in those times.

Another intriguing photograph has a narrow gauge train (Dabhoi to Miyagam) of 1863 drawn by bullocks and not an engine.

Today, a sleeper-class train ride may only leave you nauseated with the stink from filthy bathrooms, but even third class waiting rooms of those days were neatly done. "They had such beautiful architecture even in the third class. I am sure they could afford it because the population was so less," said a visitor. A photograph of the Madras-Egmore station canteen shows waiters dressed in suits and Gandhi caps. Another photo shows the staff of Flying Ranee (Bombay-Surat) gifting tea kits to their passengers. A view of the dining car in a train also gives a glimpse of how luxurious some first class rides were. The distinction among the different classes of travel was a bit too stark.

During the Raj, the first and second classes had the most opulent and comfortable coaches, but the third and fourth class seemed quite "cattle class". Goods wagons were often used for carrying the third class passengers.

The fourth class, which was withdrawn after opposition from activists, was without benches. Passengers had to sit on the floor.

Another interesting section of the exhibition is the railway bridges and tunnels. Visitors to the exhibition hoped that Indian Railways would strive to keep toilets and platforms cleaner.