Look the the numbering - even numbers are for DOWN trains, compared too today's system of Odd DOWN Even UP.

I see EIR's train #3 is Bombay Mail. In the same era, BB&CI's train #3 was Frontier Mail. Didn't this system of overlapping numbers cause confusion then?

To add more, The Toofan ran via Grand chord and via Aligarh those days. Bombay mail has the same route as of today. When did it run via Patna though?

I do know that the first issue of "Trains at a Glance" came in the latter half of 1977. So the All India TT and TAAG coexisted for a while?

Jimmy, The Zonal Time Tables, I believe, WERE always there.
The All India Time-table, seen in this photograph, more or less, is a mix of all the Zonal TTs.
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I have with me 1956 SR Time-table.:-)

Jitendra, Zonal timetables have always been published - the earliest I have seen is 1899 issue of BBCIR though I am sure they must be published before this time as well. The All India complete Railway Time Table was published by Indian Railway for a limited time only, perhaps to get a piece of the sales of the Bradshaw but I am only guessing this. It must have been a Herculean task for the Railway Board to collect and compile this information from various zones and publish in time. I have seen zonal timetables with a ten page errata!

I agree with Harsh. I think the George Fernandes as RM in 1977 was responsible for the Hajipurization of the timetable.

I have the Nov. 1977 issue which I believe was the last one. Love those cheeky Elpar, Peerless etc. ads on the covers.

After this the zonal time tables came into force?

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.