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Indian Super Railway |
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Indian Super Railway |
by: S. SHANKAR
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16 Apr. 1853 - 16 Apr. 2002 |
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Miscellany |
MISCELLANY
Here is a collection of images of some behind-the-scenes activity on the IR, as well as some pics from the trains themselves which could not be put into any specific category:
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1.An old signalling cabin and semaphore signal at Kumbakonam station give the place a real period setting. This pic was shot in Nov. 1997. |
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2. An observation car on display at the mega-rail expo held at Bangalore in 1996. This is one of the re-built cars that runs of the Nilgiri line. (Mettupalayam-Ooty). (Complimentary pic from my sister). |
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3. A WCM/4 rests easy at Poona station in 1995 after having brought in an accident relief train, which has probably spend all night putting an unfortunate train back on the rails. |
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4.Concrete sleepers being carried to a worksite on the Bombay-Madras line. This pic was shot from the train at Adoni in 1995. |
| 5. Dusk, and time to light up the signals: such practices are rapidly giving way to modern multi-aspect color light signals. (Scanned from a photocopy of a pic that appeared in a book circa 1968: this pic has been chosen more from an artistic point of view). |
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| 6. Pint-sized box cars on the Neral-Matheran 2' 0" gauge rail line, shot at Neral in 1992. Note more re-conditioned cars on a bg freight car just beyond the fence. |
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| 7. As fascinating as an old wreck at the bottom of the ocean! Fellow irfca member and railfan Apurva Bahadur captured the mangled remains of a mg freight car right at the bottom of the Braganza Ghat near Goa. The authorities probably decided that salvage was not worth it, and left the car there to rot. (Picture by Apurva Bahadur.) |
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| 8.I have been always fascinated by the mg chopper type coupler. Here is a closeup of the coupler between two cars at Kumbakonam, shot in Nov.1997. With rapid doing away with the mg, such sights will become rare on the IR. |
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9.A 2-car funicular trainset which climbs up the mountain to the hilltop temple at Palani in Southern India. There are now two sets, one climbs up while the other descends. This privately owned funicular is the only funicular railway in India, and was built with Japanese knowhow. A handful of flat cars for freight also exist, to carry supplies from the town to the hilltop temple. (Picture by R. Venkatesh). |
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10. Laying of concrete sleepers being demonstrated at the mega-rail expo at Bangalore in 1996. (Complimentary pic from my sister). |
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11. The grand building of Madras Egmore station, shot in 1992. Note the elephant crest of the erstwhile SIR still intact above the entrance. |
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12. Egmore has only two platforms. An unique feature of the station was that one could drive right upto one's train car on a road running between the platforms. A small truck emerges from the station on that road. |
| 13.One of the quaintest elements of rail operations in India is probably the mobile ticket window. This is the only one of its kind I've seen so far: on the ng Daund-Baramati line. The guard doubles as ticker window clerk at the Baramati end. This operation came to an end after the line was re-gauged to bg. (circa 1997). Regular diesel hauled bg passenger trains now ply the Poona (Pune)-Daund-Baramati route. (Picture courtesy: Apurva Bahadur.) |
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| 14. A between-the-cars shot of the Brindavan Express, showing the old and new types of vestibules. On the right in the older collapsible one made of canvas. On the left is the sturdier, more stable and less hazardous one of metal with a big rubber tube running breadthwise for cushioning. The light was too bright for a clearer exposure between the cars. (Nov.1997). |
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| 15. This fascinating picture by Apurva Bahadur shows the abandoned mg station at Madgaon (Margao) in Goa. The new bg alignment is seen to the right. There are more pics by Apurva capturing the old mg station in greater detail, but this picture shows the old vs. new most appropriately. .(Picture by Apurva Bahadur.) |
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| 16. Electrification paraphernalia at the Tambaram car shed. Note spool cars and the 2-car testing train. I very strongly suspect that the test train is the same 2-car dmu used on the Bangalore - Yelahanka line, now converted. This was shot in 1992. |
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17. A guard car (caboose) at Kumbakonam in Nov. 1997. Note the inhuman conditions for the guard: there is no fan, no electric lighting, no lookout window (the one on the side has been sealed off), no cushioned seat. The contraption gets uncomfortably hot in summer. There is no security either. The loo is a WC bowl planted plop in the centre of the car. (Wonder how it percolated deep South from the NF railway?) |
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18. The longest station name in India? (The photo unfortunately got stuck to something, and part of it got ripped off). Shot in 1992. |
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19. A contraption at Nandalur on the Bombay-Madras line. The machine is very probably a ballast compactor.(Nov. 1997). |
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20. A defunct steam crane at Lonavla in 1992. Note railway scrap (notably wheel sets) in the freight car alongside. |
| 21. This interesting pic shows re-gauging work in progress at Bangalore City station in 1992. The mg track has been ripped up. Note modern bg track on concrete sleepers at the far end of the platform. |
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| 22. An interesting jog down memory lane: the railways came to the estates of the Gaekwar of Baroda long before the locomotives did. Before the advent of steam engines, the Gaekwar had his trains hauled by pairs of bullocks. Lovingly referred to by some historians as 'bullockomotives', pic shows one of these bullockomotive hauled trains. (circa 1854-55). This pic is in the collection of the National Rail Museum Delhi as well, but is no longer on display in the indoor galleries. (Picture courtesy: Mrinal Das.) |
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| 23. And finally, another peek into history: prior to electrification of the Bombay-Poona main line in 1929, steam traction was used. The old track alignment in the days of steam consisted of several zig zagging switchbacks and reversals. There is a viaduct leading to the spot you see in this pic. For decades, a neon sign for 'Amrutanjan' pain balm was fitted on this bridge: few road travellers actually realized that this was in effect a romantic relic from the past: a reversing station. The modern elevated expressway now obscures this grand structure from one side. |
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Miscellany |
