Villagers waiting at Bhatgaon railway station to serve cold drinks, snacks and lunch packets to passengers.

Raipur: It was, literally, a journey down the memory lane for 88-year-old Mangu Dhritleher.

The octogenarian boarded the Kendri-Kurud narrow gauge train at Telibandha railway station inside Raipur city on April 30, on its last journey in the 117-year-old rail route, just to “be part of history”.

“So much has changed in the last seven decades. I had never imagined in my wildest dream when I boarded the train for the first time in a mid-summer day in 1938 that our ‘chukchuk gaadi’ — as the narrow gauge train called in local parlance — will one day pass into history, since it was the only mode of transportation from Ra-ipur to Dhamtari then,” Mangu, a resident of Bhat-gaon, midway between Raipur-Kurud route, recounted.

The railway route was conceived in 1871 during the British rule to connect Raipur to Nagpur and the first train in the Raipur-Kurud narrow gauge railway track, part of Raipur-Nagpur route, ran on September 10, 1900, creating a history for the region.

“My first journey in the train had then cost me just four ‘anna (paisa)’ in terms of fare and the ticket for my last journey tod-ay cost `15,” Mangu observed philosophically to describe how things have changed in his lifetime.

Three railway stations in the narrow gauge route — Telibandha, Mana and Bhatgaon — in the Raipur city were closed down to pave way for the construction of a 22-km expressway at a cost of Rs 258 crore to connect Raipur railway station to the local Swami Vivekanand airport directly on road.

The narrow gauge train had become an inseparable part of socio-cultural-economic life of nearly five lakh people in around 10,000 villages in Raipur-Dhamtari region.

The train used to be only conveyance of both bridegroom and bride parties in the region. It was also the key transportation mode for the local villagers who visited nearby places along with their family members to either participate in festivals, including marriage ceremonies, or watch movies in Raipur.

“The journey was short, but romantic,” senior assistant loco pilot Sunil Kumar recalled.