What were the longest steam runs in India?
Probably the longest runs on broad gauge were by the GSM class 4-6-0’s of the Bengal Nagpur Railway, which hauled trains between Calcutta and Nagpur (1130km, 700miles). These locos were built around 1938, and could generate 1544 indicated hp at 100km/h (64mph). Runs of up to 700km were not unusual, e.g., WP’s and XC’s hauled trains between Gangapur and Vadodara (crew change at Ratlam), Gangapur and Delhi. On MG, runs of around 600km were not unusual. The Ajanta Exp. was hauled by the same loco (a superheated P or YB) between Kacheguda and Manmad, a distance of 630km. (The loco was coaled at Purna, which in later years became a loco change point as well.) Hubli YCs hauled trains between Pune and Hubli (560km) and between Hubli and Bangalore City (469km). On occasion, though, the same YC would haul a train between Pune and Bangalore, for a 1029km-long run, which was probably the longest MG run.
