India, Nov. 29 -- Time was when boarding a train to Ahmedabad was a 22-hour journey - it included a 14-hour night halt at Surat and a ferry ride across the Narmada ("Nerbudda") River.

Telling this story is an ageing sheet of brown paper neatly framed on a wall in the heritage gallery at the Western Railway (WR) headquarters at Churchgate. Dating to the British colonial era, it's the first-ever timetable of the railway, then known as the Bombay, Baroda and Central India (BB&CI) Railway.

It notes the inaugural run between Bombay and Ahmedabad, marking the launch of the BB&CI's operations in India exactly 161 years ago - on November 28, 1864.

Printed in italics, the timetable is the only document left that marks this historic event. Issue...