A freight crosses us (Palanpur-Gandhidham passenger) at high speed at Chhansara on the edge of the Rann of Kutch. We were late by nearly 45 minutes which meant a rather dramatic sunset. (Bharath M)

I've always disliked them being called box "boys". In my eyes, the term boys somehow diminishes the utterly backbreaking and important work they do. Here, one such boy gets ready to sort the heavy trunks. Vijaywada Jn.
(Bharath M)

We've already lost most red-liveried mail coaches, for how many more years will at least this last? Madras.

Don't we all recognize the gleam in this boy's eyes? What are your first ever memories of looking out of the window?

The interminable wait for a late train. At Mahuda Jn in the Coalfields area.

How many times have we glibly dismissed vendors who sell their wares in our coaches? How many times do we make them completely invisible to ourselves? It is good to be reminded that they are people — they laugh and cry and love and get angry just like eve

An Arrival. There’s always a moment before a train arrives when the frenetic activity of a few seconds before stops. The platform is still, there is near silence only broken by the sound of the locomotive and heavy breathing of anticipation. Delhi Cantt.

I asked Ganshyam how many years he’s worked as a signalman. “31 years, sir”, he replied. He now works the cabin at Borawar on the Merta Rd-Phulera section.

It is nearly 11.30am at Sasan Gir. The passenger to Veraval is late.

The marshalling yard in Jolarpettai is quite big. How do the staff traverse it? A preferred way is to footplate - in every sense of the word.

Her face shows a relaxed happiness, but it belies. She was actually calling out to a person she knows to get back on the coach. Their train was leaving the station. He made it, just about. Adra Jn.

The last monthly season pass these students will buy for the narrow gauge train trip to school. Jhilimili.

After taking this photograph, I sat inside these coaches for nearly an hour and wrote. Wrote about magic of the metre gauge, the deliciousness of tea in the town and the utter futility of longing for something that has run its course. Bodinayakannur.

Omkareshwar is a beguiling place, not in the least because the Narmada flows nearby and the trains arrive in spectacular fashion.

All one needs for conversation in railway stations is an empty platform and a silent locomotive. Bangalore Cantt.