The Royal Saloon

The Royal Couple travelled in this to Delhi from Bombay. They disembarked at Salimgarh Fort for a Royal reception. The very utilitarian Old Delhi Railway station was not considered appropriate for their reception.


Now those whose affairs bring them to the Gateway City will appreciate the advantages of an alternative route to the North. In addition to the highly efficient service maintained by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, the Bombay , Baroda & Central India have their own easy broad-gauge line by way of Nagda and Muttra. Slipping out of Colaba station ( Note: Somewhere near the entrance of cuffe parade road) at a comfortable hour after dinner, the smooth running coaches turn off at Baroda at sunrise, pass over the Godhra-Baroda Chord to Rutlam, and then turning North run through Eastern Rajputana and reach Delhi just when the sun has warmed the chill morning air. The route is short, and there are no natural obstacles to be surmounted except a few big rivers, and the leisurely journey lands the traveller unjaded at his destination. There are some who rail at the restricted space of the corridor train and sigh for the spacious isolation of the box compartment; but when they have learnt to value the privilege of a bath and unrestricted access to the refreshment car, they will hang on the nearest lamp-post the man who proposes to abolish the corridor.But all the carrying power in the world is of little avail without terminal facilities. Quick to recognise this the Railway board have established a broad-gauge station in the heart of the Durbar encampment, available for all the railways, with subordinate stations to serve other important centres: they have constructed at Shukurpur a huge marshalling and stabling depot, and they have built a narrow gauge railway which threads in and out of the whole Durbar. We are not likely to witness a repetition of the events of 1903 when men went hungry to bed whilst stores rotted unclaimed in heaps by the rail-side.


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