171/172 did not allow passengers betwen BCT and NDLS in those days. From BCT, the shortest point allowed was Ambala Jn!

My thoughts, exactly! The 171/172 was an absolute class train - schedule, halt pattern, livery, prestige - it had all!

have travelled MG Vaishali from Siliguri to Lucknow Jn in summer of 1979. Took 2 nights and one day to cover the distance. The onward journey was Avadh Tirhout Mail (AT Mail) listed here. Thanks Mani, it is a memorable TT for me.

Such contempt for NDLS by 172 Up.

12 minute halt at such an unearthly hour that even the porters would be asleep!

HI Mani,

Yes. KUR was a technical hals and we used to get good hot puris at KUR at odd hours.

Gomti and Vikramshila were the first two non-Rajdhani trains to have non-stop runs between Delhi and Kanpur. Within a year, Vikramshila acquired halts at Aligarh and Tundla. Around this time, the Sonbhadra Exp. was introduced between New Delhi and Patna. So, for a while, Jayanti Janata / Sonbhadra / Vikramshila used to share slots in the NDLS-ALD and MGS-PNBE sections.

yes Gomti used to be Shatabdi then! Seems VikramShila used to be non-stop as well.

Tinsukia Mail is the predecessor of the Brahmaputra Mail. Can't remember when the renaming happened. Please do post scans from your TTs.

That will place Tinsukia mail close to Brahamputra mail, going by the last 2 digits and its route somewhat. I have laid my hands on some very old TTs as well as WTTs from 60s and 70s from the two DRM offices here of NER and NR. You people will see some great scans in the coming days. This includes the MG schedules of old NER which includes trains like AT mail, etc.

Once BG reached Guwahati, the BG/MG Assam Mails were replaced with the superfast BG NE exp. By 1979, the Tinsukia Mail had been speeded-up with a bunch of halts removed - Ghaziabad, Khurja, Hathras, Firozabad, Etawah, Shikohabad, Phaphund, Fatehpur. It's departure from NDLS was shifted to around 22.30.