Articles on Indian Railways
Opinions expressed in these articles are solely the authors'. Presentation of a particular viewpoint in an article here does not constitute an endorsement for that viewpoint.
Articles by IRFCA members
The following articles were contributed by IRFCA members. NOTE: Many trip reports and travelogues are available in the members' trip reports section.
- Dr. Ian Manning on the Indian Railways (1965-1969)
- Metric Musings, a series of articles by R. Sivaramakrishnan, 2006
- Indian Steam in Cinema by Harsh Vardhan, 2006
- A Closet Admirer of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway by Mohan Bhuyan
- Ticketless Travel -- A Perspective by P V S Praveen, 2002
- Cochin Harbour Terminus by Jimmy Jose, 2003
- K R Vaidyanathan: Railwayman and Writer - a biography, by Ravindra Bhalerao, 2008
- The Metre Gauge Diesel Railcar (YRD-1) - by Harsh Vardhan, 2008
- Bravest of the Brave - Winners of the Victoria Cross, by B M S Bisht, 2009
- A Journal on the Cochin State Forest Tramway by Devan Varma, 2005 (MS Word, 1MB)
- Wayside Stations of Old by Vinod Nanekar, 2007
- Working of a Junction Station by Vinod Nanekar, 2007
- Mysteries of a Defunct Ropeway, by R. Sivaramakrishnan, 2007
- Inspection Report -- Kalluru by P V S Praveen, 2002
- Station Code Oddities by Ajai Banerji, 2007
- Colonial Place Names in the Subcontinent by Ajai Banerjee, 2006
- Crisis in Jodhpur Division by Rajeev Shrivastava, 2004
- Solving the Water Crisis in Degana by Rajeev Shrivastava, 2004
- Mumbai EMUs Overshooting Platforms by Prakash Tendulkar, 2006
- A Disaster Recovery Operation - a Photo-Essay by S Srinivas, 2002
- Derailment at Bihta on the East Indian Railway, 17 July 1937, by Ken Staynor, 2009
- Indian Railways in Postal Stamps by Vikas Singh, 2005
- Indian Railways in postal First Day Covers by Vikas Singh, 2005
- Indian Railways in Coins and Cards by Vikas Singh, 2005
- Philatelic Celebrations of the DHR's 125th Year by Vikas Singh, 2006
- Vernacular Languages in Indian Railways by Rajendra Aklekar, 2002
- Modelling Indian Railways in LEGO® by Samarth Moray, 2004
- A Daily Train of Fresh Fruit from Afghanistan, by B M S Bisht, 2009
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- A Railfan's Quest for Truth by Ajai Banerji, 2010
- The End of Steam - Wankaner and Morbi in 1997 by John Smith, 2010
- Romancing the Timetable by Dr Jitendra Mulky, 2010
- The Third Generation Railwayman That Wasn't by Bharat Vohra, 2010
- Bridge Across the River Saryu by Rajeev Shrivastava, 2004
- Battle Scars - A Motor Trolley Accident by Rajeev Shrivastava, 2005
- A Study of Major Accidents of IR in 2004-2005 by Ajai Banerji, 2006
- Renaming of Stations by Ajai Banerji, 2006
- A Pantograph Breaks at Nagpur by Alok Patel, 2004
- The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and its Locomotives by Vikas Singh, 2007
- The Palace on Wheels by Ray Ellis, 1992
- The Patiala State Monorail Tramway - A Reappraisal by Simon Darvill, 2012
- The Patiala State Monorail Tramway (index page to other articles)
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- A note on the Zonal Reorganization of IR by Ajai Banerji
- WPs in Mumbai for IR's 150-year celebration by Rajendra Aklekar, 2002
- IR's 150-year Celebrations & Plans by Rajendra Aklekar, 2002
- Indian Railways' 150th-Year Celebrations. More articles on the sesquicentennial festivities, by various IRFCA members, 2002-2003.
- Eminent Railwaymen of Yesteryears by R R Bhandari, 2008
- Anglo-Indians' Contributions to Indian Railways by V Anand, 2003
- Reminiscences of Mr Janardhanan, SE, ERS loco shed, 2005
- Making Surface Rail a Viable Mode for Urban Mass Transit by M. Ravibabu, 2006
- Travelling in Sleeper Coaches by P V S Praveen, 2004
- How does one join Indian Railways? by P V S Praveen, 2004
- A Tribute to the Darjeeling Mail by Joydeep Dutta, 2004
- Quilon by Jimmy Jose, 2005
- The WDM-2 loco - A Tribute by Joydeep Dutta, 2001
- Inspection Report -- Hagari by P V S Praveen, 2002
- Inspection Report -- Juturu by P V S Praveen, 2002
- Inspection Report -- Accident Van at Gooty by P V S Praveen, 2002
- Raipur Night, by Owen Berkeley-Hill, 2010
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- Memories of a Military Special Train, by Shirish Paranjape, 2010
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- A Journey by Indian Railways - 1972, by Shirish Paranjape, 2010
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- Antiques from the BB&CI railway treasure chest (book review) by Ravindra Bhalerao, 2010
- From Bori Bunder to Rajdhani (book review) by Ravindra Bhalerao, 2010
- The Railways and the Coronation Durbar of King George V, 1911, by BMS Bisht, 2008
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- Stories of Pt. Nehru's railway travel, by BMS Bisht, 2008
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- Gandhiji's freedom struggle and railway travel, by BMS Bisht, 2010
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- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauj and the railways, by BMS Bisht, 2010
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- Railway Staff College, Dehradun, by BMS Bisht, 2008
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- A Traffic Probationer's Reminiscences, by G T Simpson, BB&CI Rly., 1942, with a foreword by BMS Bisht, 2008
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- The West End Watch Co. by Shantanu Sen, 2011
- The Tezpur Balipara Light Railway by Mohan Bhuyan, 2011
- Number 1 Down Mail, reviewing the book 'SER - March to New Millennium', by Ravindra Bhalerao, 2011
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- A Raj Affair, by Ravindra Bhalerao, 2009
- An Evening with Anoop Jhingron, an interview by Ravindra Bhalerao, 2012
- Reminiscences of a Railwayman - Part 1, by S. Natarajan, GM, Indian Railways (SR, CR, SER, CLW, RDSO), 1995
- Reminiscences of a Railwayman - Part 2, by S. Natarajan, GM, Indian Railways (SR, CR, SER, CLW, RDSO), 1995
- Reminiscences of a Railwayman - Part 3, by S. Natarajan, GM, Indian Railways (SR, CR, SER, CLW, RDSO), 1995
- Reminiscences of a Railwayman - Part 4, by S. Natarajan, GM, Indian Railways (SR, CR, SER, CLW, RDSO), 1995
- Running a Railway with No Staff Overhead, by Manohar V Rakhe, 2012
Focus on Pakistan
- The Khojak Tunnel by Owais Mughal, 2006
- Meter Gauge in Sindh by Owais Mughal, 2009
- The Horse Tramway of Pakistan, by Owais Mughal, 2010
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- Changa Manga Forest Railway by Owais Mughal, 2007
- The Khyber Pass Railway, by Owais Mughal, 2006
- The Chappar Rift, by Owais Mughal, 2009
- The Bolan Pass Railway, by Owais Mughal, 2006
- The Zhob Valley Railway, by Owais Mughal, 2009
- The Trans-Baluchistan Railway, by Owais Mughal, 2009
- Karachi to Kotri: The first railways in Pakistan, by Owais Mughal, 2009
- The First Locomotives in Lahore, by Owais Mughal, 2008
- The Indus Flotilla Company, by Owais Mughal, 2009
- The Lansdowne Bridge over the Indus at Sukkur, by Owais Mughal, 2007
- The Attock Bridge over the Indus, by Owais Mughal, 2009
- Quetta to Lahore in 1925, by Imanul Haque, adapted by Izaz Haque, 2010
- Pakistan in 1996, by Dr Roland Ziegler, 1996. Translated into English, 2012.
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Also see the section on clippings and miscellany, a listing of which is provided below:
Trip reports and Travelogues
Trip reports can be found under the members section.
Articles from newspapers, periodicals, and other websites
The following articles originally appeared in newspapers or on other websites. Articles reproduced here by permission of authors or publishers, or believed to be in the public domain.
- Parlakimedi Light Railway and its Locomotives by Vikas Singh, 2007
- The Heritage of Royapuram Railway Station by Vikas Singh, 2007
- The Life-lines of Mumbai by Shirish B Paranjape, 2001
- Railways Since Independence by Shirish B Paranjape, 1998
- The Felicitous Rajdhani Journey by Shirish B Paranjape, 1997
- What's in a name! by Shirish B Paranjape, 1994
- Loco Nomenclature on IR by Shirish B Paranjape, 2000
- The Bhopal Gas Tragedy by V Anand, 2002
- An Indian "Might-Have-Been", subtitled "A Transient History of the Patiala State Monorail Tramway" by H. R. Ambler, The Railway Magazine, Feb. 1969.
- Pakistan Tour Steam Loco Report - Jan/Feb 2006, by Thomas Kautzor. Includes lists of steam locos and other rolling stock observed during a trip to Pakistan.
- Diesel vs. Electric, a presentation from IRSME (MS PowerPoint file, 1.4MB!)
- On the Right Tracks, by Manohar V Rakhe, 2010
- Third Class in Indian Railways, by Mahatma Gandhi, 1917
- Collected Op-Ed articles, part 1, by R C Acharya, 2002
- Collected Op-Ed articles, part 2, by R C Acharya, 2011
- Narrow gauge railways run again in Sri Lanka, by Asela K. Kulatunga, 2012
Articles from the FNRM and ISRS
The articles below are from newsletters of the Indian Steam Railway Society (ISRS) and its predecessor organization, the Friends of the National Railway Museum. An (incomplete) set of newsletters for the ISRS can be found here.
Also see The Indian Steam Pages.
- Preserving the rail road by Joydeep Dutta, 1998
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway by Dr GVJA Harshavardhan, 1998
- Why I am a steam fan by R C Dubey, 1998
- Travel notes by Bill Aitken, 1998
- A dream comes true by R Thumanivannan, 1998
- A trip down memory lane by Harsh Vardhan, 1998
- Preservation priorities - A suggested top ten by Bill Aitken, 1998
- Diesel traction in India -- When did it all begin? by S Shankar, 1998
- Aspects of modern Edmondson tickets in India - Part 1 by John L King, 1998
- Aspects of modern Edmondson tickets in India - Part 2 by John L King, 1998
- Trains of fame and locos with a name - Part 1 by Joydeep Dutta and Harsh Vardhan, 1998
- Trains of fame and locos with a name - Part 2 by Joydeep Dutta and Harsh Vardhan, 1998
- Trains of fame and locos with a name - Part 3 by Harsh Vardhan and Joydeep Dutta, 1999
- The Darjeeling Streamliner - A mystery solved by David Barrie, 1999
- Our tryst with steam by Sarosh B Mehta and Viraf Mulla, 1999
- Down by the station by Bill Aitken, 2000
- The romance of steam by Joydeep Dutta, 2000
- Whither steam, the preservation moment... and the DHR itself? by Terry Martin, 2000
- Branch line to Farukh Nagar by John Lacey, 2000
- Pushpak for speed - the new WDP-2 loco by Joydeep Dutta and Harsh Vardhan, 2001
- Getting the railways back on track by M N Prasad, 2001
- Steam in History by R R Bhandari, 2004
Steam and Heritage news bulletins
The following news bulletins on the steam survivors, heritage and preservation activities, and the National Railway Museum were published in the newsletters of the Indian Steam Railway Society and its predecessor organization, the Friends of the National Railway Museum. It is hoped that these are of some interest to railfans as they cover the period 1998-2000 when the last of normal timetabled steam was disappearing from India.