A picture taken at the inaugural run of the 43 DN/44 UP Kakinada port - Madras (Beach ) Circar express at the old Kakinada Port station. This picture was shared with me by a family friend from Kakinada, whose father was the Loco pilot on the inaugural run and served as the loco pilot for this train for several years before retiring as a Diesel loco pilot based at BZA around 1987.
Connecting Kakinada ( famously known as Second Madras ) and Madras Beach, this was a much loved train by not just the common people, but also politicians and the Telugu film industry's veteran movie stars. The train was the most famous named train...
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running in the Andhra Pradesh region at that time, and was the main stage for a movie called 'Circar express' , that is based on the famous novel 'Murder on the Orient express'.
The train initially had 1st and 2nd class coaches. While the exact details are unknown, it had a rake sharing arrangement with the Kakinada Vijayawada passenger, which used to run overnight at that time.
Despite a slow schedule, this train was the lifeline and pride of the coastal districts for over 4 decades until the advent of faster options and even to this day, remains the only dedicated daily train to Chennai from the Godavari districts. It used to depart from Kakinada port at 12 noon, reaching Madras Beach at 6:45 AM the next morning taking 5 hours more than the Howrah mail, and was the first train to use the newly Gauge converted Bhimavaram-Vijayawada-Guntur route.