Vadodara: Since the last 25 years, Ikbal Sheikh, a senior point man posted at the Dabhoi railway station, has followed an uninterrupted routine – that of giving a green signal to a train that chugs daily from Dabhoi to Miyagam-Karjan.On Saturday evening, Sheikh bid adieu to a train on the 33-km long Dabhoi-Miyagam line which not only has the distinction of being the first narrow gauge section started in the country in 1862 but has also ran without any interruption since 1873.Since it started operations in 1862 under the umbrella of erstwhile Gaekwad Baroda State Railway (GBSR) when its coaches were pulled by oxen, the narrow gauge lines on the Dabhoi-Miyagam stretch have taken a break of just two years.“Since the last ten years, I run this train which is more fondly called as ‘babugadi’ by locals because of its small size and the compact coaches,” said loco pilot Shakil Pathan.‘Dabhoi Lines’ - a book authored by former divisional railway manager of Vadodara railway division A K Srivastava describes how the Dabhoi-Miyagam line was surveyed for transporting opium but the railway line was later laid to connect Dabhoi, which was a prominent cotton trading centre in Gujarat with Miyagam-Karjan - the location from where it could reach the broad gauge line laid by the British-owned Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway (BBCI) to connect to Mumbai, which was an important textile manufacturing centre in the yesteryears.The steam engines were added to the coaches in 1863. When it started, the two feet six inches gauge had rails weighing 13 lbs. (pounds) to a yard. And the line was designed and constructed by a British man A W Forde.In 1863, Maharaja Khanderao purchased three steam locomotives built by Neilson and Co., Glasgow. These 0-4-0 ST (wheel arrangement) locomotives proved to be too heavy for the rails and there was no option other than replacing the rails with heavier ones.This was undertaken during the reign of Maharaja Malharrao in 1871, when the old rails were removed and new 30 lbs. (pounds) to a yard rails were laid. This was the only time when this line had remained closed and then reopened for traffic on April 8, 1873.“When all over the world narrow gauge lines are becoming more a subject of nostalgia and journey into yesteryears, it is Dabhoi-Miyagam line that is ferrying passengers every day, five trains, seven coaches, serving passengers as it was serving at the time of Maharaja Khanderao Gaekwad,” Srivastava had stated in his book that was published in 2011 to mark the 150 years journey of railways in Vadodara.“We had heard tales from our elders on how this train used to get pulled by oxen. Now, we will share the nostalgic journey that we have experienced all this years in ‘babugadi’,” said Jetha Solanki, a passenger, who purchased Rs ten ticket from Dabhoi to reach Miyagam on Saturday with six halts mid-way.

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