150 years of Bombay – Calcutta connection: The Alfred Viaduct

This is Part II in a series on the region where the Bombay Calcutta rail connection was first completed 150 years ago. You can read Part I on the inauguration by the Duke of Edinburgh here

The Duke of Edinburgh on his way to Bombay inaugurated a bridge on the river Tawa (then called Towa) which he named the Alfred via-duct. The Tawa River is the largest tributary of the Narmada. The viaduct, followed by a tunnel on a curve of about 300 metres long, was the toughest to build for Brereton and his team.

The Viceroy Lord Mayo was effusive in his praise of Brereton and had said “But last they will, and it may happen that a thousand years hence, Mr Brereton’s ghost may still hover with anxious solicitude over the unbroken piers of the Towa Viaduct, when Macauley’s New Zealander is sitting on the ruins of London Bridge.”

Present Day: Train on the Alfred Viaduct. Photo: Raghavendra Rao

To add to this fulsome praise, Neville Chamberlain, the Duke’s aide asked Brereton for pictures of the Alfred viaduct to be sent.

The viaduct’s construction in record time paved the way for early connectivity between Bombay and Calcutta. Over the next few decades after the inauguration, trains established direct connectivity between the two cities.

In 1926, the Imperial Indian Mail, later well known for its dining car, commenced operations as the premier mail train between Bombay and Calcutta.

Photo Source: trains-worldexpresses.com

The Luck of John Fernandez

What was so special about this viaduct? The best ever description of this terrain was found by the great writer Ruskin Bond while editing a book of short stories based on Indian Railways.

Bond, while looking for stories for the compilation, found The Luck of John Fernandez, by J W Best. Taken from a 1932 issue of the Indian State Railways Magazine, Best’s narrative gives us glimpses into the life of an engine-driver based at Itarsi near the town of Hoshangabad, and today a key junction in Central India.

“A small arm of the forest—rather, a little finger— crosses the railway for a short distance near Bagra. This, you must picture to yourself, unless perchance you pass the place in the train as you read. Low forest, some bamboos, many thorns and deep shade beneath the shimmer of sun-kissed leaves above” wrote Best aptly describing the terrain.

The story is about a cash strapped engine driver in the 1920s at Itarsi who wants to smell good roasted meat in the house again for Easter, besides presenting a gramophone to his wife and how his prayers to St Anthony were answered after he left for work on Easter day.

“Some ten miles away from Itarsi, the railway crosses the sandy bed of the Tawa River by a bridge, then dives into a tunnel to emerge in that little finger of jungle that stretches over the line near Bagra. Here on the Railway, Fernandez found the answer to his prayers,” writes Best. “But he had not forgotten St Anthony, indeed the blessed saint’s name resounded in his head to the throbs of the railway engine as he drove it eastwards. It seemed that the steam from the engine’s bowels hissed the saint’s name in regular throbs. ‘Ssssstán—on—y! sssssstán—tony! sssstán—tony!’ it gasped as the train gained speed.”

Photo: Nitin Master

“Time is a very worrying factor in the engine driver’s life; he has to keep it not lose it. John Fernandez had five comfortable minutes in hand as his train thundered over the Tawa Bridge disturbing the blue rock pigeons that circled between its piers. As the engine roared into the tunnel beyond, Fernandez looked for daylight. Emerging, the train took the curve and the cutting and as it did so John saw in the straight ahead of him a confused mass of bushy tailed dogs scrambling over the carcass of a deer.”

A modern locomotive emerging from the tunnel near Bagra

The engine had hit the dogs. The cowcatcher caught the body of the stag, hurled it back into the jungle down the embankment, flinging the dogs on both sides of the line.

“Soon the brakes told, and the train pulled up. Telling his stoker to mind the engine, John Fernandez seized a heavy spanner and ran back along the line. The good work finished, John wiped his brow with some cotton waste that he had in his pocket, then seizing two of the dogs by their tails, he dragged them to his engine where he stowed them away on the coal in the tender. Quickly backing his train, he piled up eight more of them.”

“Then, after an anxious glance at his watch in which he realized that he had lost ten minutes of precious time, he marked the position of the dead stag and ran his train into Bagra station,” penned Best.

Bagra Tawa station in recent times

At Bagra, John called upon a friend to unload and skin the dead dogs, arrange for the disposal of venison and sent a telegram to the Father at Itarsi saying that St Anthony had done his work well. John made Rs 150 from 10 dog skins, the author wrote.

Still the same single line section, but not for long

Cut to 2019. The Tawa Bridge and the Bagra Tawa tunnel are still on the same eight-kilometre stretch of single track between the stations Sontalai and Bagra Tawa.

The Sontalai – Bagra Tawa section is now being doubled and the Imperial Indian Mail is now Train number 12321 /12322 Howrah-Mumbai Mail via Allahabad Cheoki.

The tunnel has a small Bheel Baba shrine within and a dargah on top of the hill.

The small Bheel Baba shrine inside the tunnel

What happened to John Fernandez?

“By the time that the train had reached the end of its journey the time lost on account of the dogs had been made up — lost did I say! No; gained,” wrote Best.

“Was it wrong of John Fernandez to stop his train? Did he get into trouble over it? Ask the District Traffic Superintendent. He will probably tell you that I am a liar. Whatever he says about me I can survive it. I happen to know that the D.T.S. is a sportsman,” the writer signs off.

End of Part II

Also read: Part III – on the Bagra Tawa line in the present

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This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Great write up, sir.

    Just to nitpick however, the present day 12321/22 Howrah-Mumbai Mail via Allahabad Cheoki and the Imperial mail were completely independent trains.

    The 12321/22 has been running continuously from the time the Bombay-Calcutta rail link was completed, initially as through coaches, and later as a standalone train. It was already in operation for over more than 50 years by the time the Imperial mail commenced it’s service. Both the 12321/22 and the Imperial mail were in operation during the 1926-1939 period. The Imperial mail was discontinued at the onset of WW2 and was never re-introduced again. The old, slower mail train (now 12321/22) continued operating during the war.

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