A few historic railway photographs around Hubli. These are from scans of the 'Locomotive, Railway carriage and wagon review', which was a periodical published regularly from 1896-1959. A few issues of these periodicals are available completely on Google books. A request has been made by some railfans to make all of the books available completely.
Pic 2 : Steam locomotive workshop at Hubli, circa 1900. Hubli was a premier MG locomotive shed and workshop. The workshop was setup in 1885, and it was the main traction center for the Southern Mahratta railway. In 1908, it became part of the Madras and Southern Mahratta railway. After independence, it belonged initially to the Southern railway and was transferred to the South Central railway in...
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1966, before eventually coming under the South Western railway. The workshop handled the POH and maintenance of YG and YP class locomotives in later years. Shortly after the formation of SCR, the MG coach workshop at Lallaguda (LGD) was shutdown and all MG coach workshop activities for SCR were transferred to Hubli. After the conversion to BG, the workshop still remains one of the most highly rated workshops in the country.
Pic 1: One of the 4-6-0 standard MG passenger locomotive of the Southern Mahratta railway, homed at Hubli circa 1900. These were the powers for the Bangalore-Pune fast MG mail service.
Pic 3: The Nanjangud-Pune fast mail train, Circa 1907. The mail train which was initially running between Bangalore and Pune, was later extended to run between Nanjangud and Pune, which were the North and South extremes of the Southern Mahratta railway. From 1908, an afternoon intercity (present day 12609/10's predecessor) was started between Madras and Bangalore to connect to this mail train at Bangalore and provide a connection for passengers from Madras to Pune and the Western ghats. The mail departed from Bangalore in the night, and reached Pune on the morning of the 3rd day (about 36 hours journey).
About an year after this photo was taken, the mail train was attached with a dining car as well, as the route had become a favorite one for tourists heading to the western ghats. The coach composition for this train was 2 Guard-cum-third class coaches, 3 third class coaches, a mail-cum-third class coach and a composite 1st-cum-2nd class coach. The coach on the right end (last coach in the train) is the Guard-cum-third class coach, which had a small section reserved for Female 3rd class passengers. The 2nd from the right is a third class coach with separate partitions for luggage and 3rd class European travelers. The next coach,(blocked by the tree in front of it) is mail-cum-third class coach. The white coach in the center is the composite 1st-cum-2nd class coach, with the first class cabins in the center (The door to these cabins is visible in the center) and the 2nd class cabins on either sides. The remaining coaches are pure 3rd class coaches with the leading coach being the Guard coach.

दक्षिण पश्चिम रेलवे/ SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY
प्रेस विज्ञप्ति/ Press Release No.396 Dt: 14.02.2020

FLAGGING OFF OF INTERCITY EXPRESS SPECIAL TRAIN BETWEEN VIYAPURA AND HUBBALLI

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cater the raising demand of public & local representatives of Vijayapura & Hubballi region, South Western Railway is pleased to run Train No. 07329 / 07330 Hubballi – Vijayapura - Hubballi Intercity Express Special daily.
Shri Suresh Angadi, Hon’ble MoSR and Shri Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi, Hon’ble MP, Vijayapura and public representatives of the concerned region have been instrumental in providing better & convenient train services on this route. South Western Railway urges the rail users of this region to patronize these train services and make their journey memorable.
The service was planned to flag off on 16.02.2020 earlier. But due to some technical reasons, now the service will be flagged off on 17.02.2020. Shri Chandrakantgouda.C. Patil, Hon’ble Minister of Mines & Geology and District In-charge Minister of Vijayapura, Govt. of Karnataka and Shri Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi, Hon’ble MP, Vijayapura will flag off the inaugural special at 11:00 hrs on 17.02.2020 from Vijayapura in presence of other dignitaries. The Inaugural Intercity Express Special with Train No. 07330 Vijayapura – Hubballi will run in open timings.
Regular service of Train No. 07329 / 07330 Hubballi – Vijayapura - Hubballi Intercity daily Express Special will commence from Hubballi from 17.02.2020 and from Vijayapura from 18.02.2020 until further advice.
As regular service Train No. 07329 Hubballi – Vijayapura Intercity Express Special will depart daily from Hubballi at 16:45 hrs and arrive Vijayapura at 22:40 hrs on the same day.
Enroute this train will arrive / depart Gadag – 17:55/18:05 hrs, Mallapur – 18:40/18:41 hrs, Hole Alur - 18:54/18:55 hrs, Badami – 19:20/19:21 hrs, Bagalkot - 19:50/19:52 hrs, Almatti – 20:50/20:51 hrs and Basavana Bagevadi Road - 21:14/21:15 hrs.
In the return direction Train No. 07330 Vijayapura - Hubballi Intercity Express Special will depart daily from Vijayapura at 05:30 hrs and arrive Hubballi at 11:05 hrs on the same day.
Enroute this train will arrive / depart Basavana Bagevadi Road - 06:04/06:05 hrs, Almatti – 06:24/06:25 hrs, Bagalkot - 07:18/07:20 hrs, Badami – 07:49/07:50 hrs, Hole Alur - 08:11/08:12hrs, Mallapur – 08:24/08:25 hrs and Gadag – 09:30/09:40 hrs.
The Train will have a composition of FIVE Second Class Sleeper Coaches, SEVEN General Second Class Coaches and and TWO Luggage cum Brake-van.
The timings of this train will enable the passenger to reach Hubballi in the morning and return on the same day after finishing their work.

Chief Public Relations Officer
South Western Railway, Hubballi
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(Public Relations Branch, South Western Railway, Rail Soudha, Gadag Road, Hubballi-580020)