Nope. Could never find any official records for the exact date of inauguration. If only the terminals are considered ( Madras and Mettupalayam) then the start date is sometime between 1889 and 1893. If the exact name is a consideration, then sometime between 1918-1920.
1. There was no direct train between MAS and MTP in 1889. Passengers had to take the Calicut mail (present day 12601/02) and take a connecting train at Podanur.
2. There was a direct train between MAS and MTP as of November 9th, 1893. The mail had a horrible...
more... accident on that date near Karaimadai (Well documented). At that time, the mail was starting at MAS at 5:45 AM in the morning and reaching MTP around 4:30AM the next morning. A picture from the accident site is available on IRFCA (
click here3. Records from 1902 mention that the Madras-Howrah mail's schedule was changed in such a way as to facilitate a connection to the Mettupalayam mail. The mail was considerably sped up by now ( or may be it was a different train compared to the one in 1893 - couldn't find any records for that period) and was departing from Central some time in the late afternoon. ( The Howrah mail used to terminate at Beach station at that time).
4. The same mail train was running in 1909, with an arrival at MAS at 7:15 AM in the morning. (Again, a very rare capture of the train at MAS taken in 1909. Credits - Mr.Senthil Kumar, IRFCA -
click here4. The first mention of a 'Blue Mountain express' is in 1920. The train had a terrible accident at Bommidi ( between JTJ and SA).
5. It is preset in all the timetables after 1931.
I don't know if it was always a premium train, but at least when it was running with the 'Blue Mountain' name, it was a crack train of the M&SMR. It used to cover MAS-AJJ in 1 hour and MAS-KPD in 2 hours flat even back in 1931, and was a premium train on par with the Deccan Queen. At that time, it used to depart from MAS at 9:15PM and reach MTP by 8:30 AM in the morning.