IRFCA Mailing List Archive


Messages 2281 - 2300

From: Sundar Krishnamurthy <coolsundar@hotmail.email

Subject: Re: Loco shed/station codes

Date: 06 Mar 1998 09:50:00 -0500


Hi Mr. Sanyal..

>City, MA'S' for Madras Central,... There must be others.
>So, is there any method to this madness?

Taking about strange station codes - lets hear one for Balharshah on the
New Delhi Chennai Trunk - its called BPQ(!!!). Similarly, Ajni - a
marshalling yard and suburb of Nagpur (NGP) is coded AQ! Mangalore is
MAQ.. But Vijaywada is BZA!

Also, SR loves the alphabet J - (anything to do with Jayalalitha??)
Arrakkonam is AJJ (no J in Arrakkonam), Jolarpettai is JTJ..

>Most Indian railway station codes seem to be three letters. But 2
>letter and 4 letter codes also exist. It might not be too hard to
>make an exhaustive list of those. Here is a start:
>2 letter codes: BP - Barrackpore, BT - Barasat (?)

Many two letter ones abound - PA for Pune, DR for Dadar, RU for
Renigunta. ED for Erode, WR for Wardha, RC is Raichur, ET for Itarsi
(why ET, anything extra terrestrial??) ...

>4 letter codes: PNBE, NDLS, SDAH (Sealdah station in Calcutta).

A lot more - CHTS is Cochin Harbour Terminus (Station?), TPTY is
Tirupati, HNZM for Hazrat Nizamuddin outside Delhi ...

>
>Also, how many cities in India have a "Central" station? I know of 4:
>Bombay, Madras, Kanpur, and Trivandrum; are there others? Why not
>a Calcutta Central or Delhi Central? Why was Sealdah not named
>Calcutta something? Please post if any of you have any answers.
>

Any idea why a road gets suffixed outside many station names? Nasik
Road, Manthralayam Road. Something to do with the station lying outside
limits and requiring a trip on the "road"??

Another thing about Loco Sheds .. I have not yet properly followed the
thread for lack of time but still, I don't know if this is a repeat ...
Anyway..
There are two types of sheds .. one where locos are shedded (based) and
others of the standing type (where they cool their motors after a run).
The latter occurs outside important cities and termini.
Base Sheds : Arrakkonam, Vatva, Valsad, Itarsi etc.
Standing sheds : Mumbai CST, Khar-BAMY, Lonavala, Igatpuri, Basin Bridge
etc.

Usually, in many cases, IR has chosen to develop an outer station of a
city/town/district as a railway nerve center and important station
Eg : Balharshah after Chandrapur, Gooty after Guntakal, Bhusaval after
Jalgaon, Krishnarajapuram after Bangalore, Lallagudda outside Hyderabad,
Vatva etc.

And.. many orphaned locomotives exist .. for example; on CR - WCAM2's
and WCAM3's have no shed code on their front or sides! CR keeps most of
its DC locos this way.. even though WCG2's proclaim their Kalyan (KYN)
homestead. Many Erode WDM2's on SR have a bare front (no loco shed logos
..) with some having a simple SR ED on the side.. I think this can spark
off a separate thread on loco shed logos!!! But then, the Erode shed
logo has a beatiful flying deer ....

There are many base sheds in close proximity ... Guntakal and Gooty,
both home to a wide variety of diesel beauties are 28 kms apart, Ajni
and Nagpur (WAG locos - both) are 4 odd kms apart, any more???

Incidentally, the 6009/10 Mumbai Chennai Mail has 3 loco changes - the
standard ones at Pune and Renigunta, and a diesel change at Gooty. This
is effected on account of sending back a roaming, tired loco back home
and bringing out a fresh, fuelled, checked WDM2 for the next round of
trips...

Sundar.


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at <A HREF="http://www.hotmail.com">http://www.hotmail.com</A>

From: T.H.Sanyal. <THS1@PSUVM.EMAIL

Subject: Re: Loco shed/station codes

Date: 06 Mar 1998 15:08:00 -0500


Jishnu wrote:

>Who knows?? Random speculation with zero foundation in facts follows ...
>Maybe Cawnpore Anwargunj was CNA, and the next station Cawnpore Central
>was named CNB, or maybe Cawnpore Central was called something else

I would imagine the BG station preceded the MG station (Anwarganj) so
this scenario seems unlikely. I have seen an occasional CPC for Kanpur
Central, but I don't know if this was just a mistake by the clerk filling
in the form or a genuine alternate code.

>I bet the code for Ib is IB:-)

I won't bet against this one :-)

ths.

From: T.H.Sanyal. <THS1@PSUVM.EMAIL

Subject: Re: Loco shed/station codes

Date: 06 Mar 1998 15:17:00 -0500


>MAQ.. But Vijaywada is BZA!

Pre-1947, Vijaywada was Bejwada, I think; that should explain the B.

>Also, SR loves the alphabet J - (anything to do with Jayalalitha??)
>Arrakkonam is AJJ (no J in Arrakkonam), Jolarpettai is JTJ..

Both of those stations are Junctions, that could explain one J in AJJ
and explains JTJ completely.

>Renigunta. ED for Erode, WR for Wardha, RC is Raichur, ET for Itarsi
>(why ET, anything extra terrestrial??) ...

That used to be spelled Etarsi, possibly.

>Any idea why a road gets suffixed outside many station names? Nasik
>Road, Manthralayam Road. Something to do with the station lying outside
>limits and requiring a trip on the "road"??

That is generally correct.

ths.

From: S Pai <

Subject: Re: Loco shed/station codes

Date: 06 Mar 1998 14:48:00 -0500


>> But Vijaywada is BZA!

> Pre-1947, Vijaywada was Bejwada, I think; that should explain the B.

I've seen it spelled "Beziawada" or variations thereof, so that would
explain it completely.

A 'J' at the end is almost surely an indication of "Junction".

-Satish

From: VIRAF P.. MULLA <sncf@godrejnet.email

Subject: Re: Loco shed/station codes

Date: 07 Mar 1998 17:14:00 -0500


HI,

On Fri, 6 Mar 1998, Shankar wrote:

> The emergency flasher became mandatory in 1982 or so (+/- one year),and it was
> declared so after a collision near Virar involving the Saurashtra Janata
> Express and another train.
> Needless to say, at the time, this announcement met with considerable criticism
> with most people questioning that while you put up a light up front visible 2 km
> away, what about the rear? Most trains till about five years back still carried
> a miserable oil lamp at the rear end, visible barely 200 metres away! In fact,in
> the Saurashtra Janata case in point, it was a train ramming another from the
> rear. Thedriver of the train behind could not see the train in front till he had
> almost rammed into it!Its only now that electric tail lamps are being provided.
> Nontheless, the IR pressed ahead, and all engines were retrofitted with this
> flasher., including shunting and yard engines. Interestingly however,steam locos
> were not fitted with it, even when they continued in service till as recently as
> 1995.
> You will not see this orange flasher only on the dc emus in the Bombay
> area,both on the CR as well as the WR.These emus already have an additional
> red tail lamp


The accident you refer involved the Saurashtra Mail ramming into a
Stationary EMU at Vasai Road station.That was because of the signal
failure. The guard of the EMU saw the oncomming mail and just to warn the
Saurashtra Mail's driver switched on the headlight which was mistaken by
the driver as an oncommiong train on the other track. The trains were on a
gentle curve. The EMUs then too carried a bright red electric tail lamps.

Yes you are right that it was this accident that the flashers were
introduced on IR.


Viraf Mulla
C-20/14, Jeevan Bima Nagar,
Borivali (West)
Mumbai 400103
Tel: +91-22-8954510
E-mail: sncf@godrejnet.email
==========================

From: sank <sank@telco.email

Subject: Re: Loco shed/station codes

Date: 07 Mar 1998 18:18:00 -0500


My two bits worth:

TDH for Tindharia on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway,
SGU for Siliguri, KGN for Kurseong, NJP for
New Jalpaiguri..............

--
Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
--

From: Shankar <shankie@emirates.email

Subject: Re: Loco shed/station codes

Date: 07 Mar 1998 23:11:00 -0500


Hello Sundar,

Just three points:

A: The two types of sheds you refer to are technically called "Home" sheds and
"Stabling" sheds, I think. I've read often about such and such (usually)
steam loco 'homed' at xxx. (e.g. the WP/P prototypes were homed at Daund).
Stabling sheds are those where locomotives simply cool their motors.
Same goes for yards too. You have MARSHALLING yards, STABLING yards and
WASHING sidings. Any more?

B: The "Road" after the station indicates that its the nearest railhead for that
particular town. The road to that town originates at this station:you still
need to travel a while by road to get to that town.
There are n number of examples: Kodaikanal Road, Khurda Road,Mantralayam Road
Jajhpur Kheonjar Road, Nasik Road, etc.etc.
At some such "Road" stations, there exists what is called a RAILWAY OUT
AGENCY (I think maintained by the Railways:it used to be listed in the Indian
Bradshaw before it ceased publication in its detailed form) which provides
bus connections to coincide with train arrivals.

C: I agree that the WCMs appear orphaned, with no mention of the shed to which
they are attached. I have photographed at least one WCM/2 with the shed logo
lightly stencilled to the side.(Central Railway:Loco Shed Kalyan).
With regards to the WCAM/3 however, I can tell you that they are probably not
officially attached to any shed as yet.Most of them bear a plate on the side
(just below the driver's cab window) which reads :"On lease from BHEL" or
words to that effect.

Best regards.

Shankar.

P.S.:Hey Sundar, did you receive my post to you about your photographs?



At 11:50 AM 3/6/98 PST, you wrote:
>Hi Mr. Sanyal..
>
>>City, MA'S' for Madras Central,... There must be others.
>>So, is there any method to this madness?
>
>Taking about strange station codes - lets hear one for Balharshah on the
>New Delhi Chennai Trunk - its called BPQ(!!!). Similarly, Ajni - a
>marshalling yard and suburb of Nagpur (NGP) is coded AQ! Mangalore is
>MAQ.. But Vijaywada is BZA!
>
>Also, SR loves the alphabet J - (anything to do with Jayalalitha??)
>Arrakkonam is AJJ (no J in Arrakkonam), Jolarpettai is JTJ..
>
>>Most Indian railway station codes seem to be three letters. But 2
>>letter and 4 letter codes also exist. It might not be too hard to
>>make an exhaustive list of those. Here is a start:
>>2 letter codes: BP - Barrackpore, BT - Barasat (?)
>
>Many two letter ones abound - PA for Pune, DR for Dadar, RU for
>Renigunta. ED for Erode, WR for Wardha, RC is Raichur, ET for Itarsi
>(why ET, anything extra terrestrial??) ...
>
>>4 letter codes: PNBE, NDLS, SDAH (Sealdah station in Calcutta).
>
>A lot more - CHTS is Cochin Harbour Terminus (Station?), TPTY is
>Tirupati, HNZM for Hazrat Nizamuddin outside Delhi ...
>
>>
>>Also, how many cities in India have a "Central" station? I know of 4:
>>Bombay, Madras, Kanpur, and Trivandrum; are there others? Why not
>>a Calcutta Central or Delhi Central? Why was Sealdah not named
>>Calcutta something? Please post if any of you have any answers.
>>
>
>Any idea why a road gets suffixed outside many station names? Nasik
>Road, Manthralayam Road. Something to do with the station lying outside
>limits and requiring a trip on the "road"??
>
>Another thing about Loco Sheds .. I have not yet properly followed the
>thread for lack of time but still, I don't know if this is a repeat ...
>Anyway..
>There are two types of sheds .. one where locos are shedded (based) and
>others of the standing type (where they cool their motors after a run).
>The latter occurs outside important cities and termini.
>Base Sheds : Arrakkonam, Vatva, Valsad, Itarsi etc.
>Standing sheds : Mumbai CST, Khar-BAMY, Lonavala, Igatpuri, Basin Bridge
>etc.
>
>Usually, in many cases, IR has chosen to develop an outer station of a
>city/town/district as a railway nerve center and important station
>Eg : Balharshah after Chandrapur, Gooty after Guntakal, Bhusaval after
>Jalgaon, Krishnarajapuram after Bangalore, Lallagudda outside Hyderabad,
>Vatva etc.
>
>And.. many orphaned locomotives exist .. for example; on CR - WCAM2's
>and WCAM3's have no shed code on their front or sides! CR keeps most of
>its DC locos this way.. even though WCG2's proclaim their Kalyan (KYN)
>homestead. Many Erode WDM2's on SR have a bare front (no loco shed logos
>..) with some having a simple SR ED on the side.. I think this can spark
>off a separate thread on loco shed logos!!! But then, the Erode shed
>logo has a beatiful flying deer ....
>
>There are many base sheds in close proximity ... Guntakal and Gooty,
>both home to a wide variety of diesel beauties are 28 kms apart, Ajni
>and Nagpur (WAG locos - both) are 4 odd kms apart, any more???
>
>Incidentally, the 6009/10 Mumbai Chennai Mail has 3 loco changes - the
>standard ones at Pune and Renigunta, and a diesel change at Gooty. This
>is effected on account of sending back a roaming, tired loco back home
>and bringing out a fresh, fuelled, checked WDM2 for the next round of
>trips...
>
>Sundar.
>
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at <A HREF="http://www.hotmail.com">http://www.hotmail.com</A>
>
>

From: poras p.saklatwalla <pps@godrejnet.email

Subject: WDM 4

Date: 09 Mar 1998 17:23:00 -0500


Hi Friends,
Just arrived from Pune this morning and am straight to work. Yesterday at
Pune I saw a WDM 4 ON the Pune Manmad passenger at around 2.00 pm. The
front of the engine was like a aeroplane and had a different rythm
altogether. The loco was there near the station for only 15 minutes but
looked like an enraged bull dog, when it pulled in the train. Could
someone send some more details about this loco.

Also at Pune I got to see WDM 2'S of various colours and from different
loco sheds in the south, of which the one from Erode was the best it's
colour being Red then a strip of white and Navy blue. It was later on
attached to Swarnajayanti express.

Coming to trains there were supposed to be many Swarnajayanti expresses to
be introduced by the erstwhile railway minister. What has happened ? I
only know one from HNZM TO MYSORE VIA PUNE. I don't know why it takes
this route when one can easily go on the Karnataka exp route. All major
southbound trains from NDLS go via NAGPUR BALLARSHAH VIJAYWADA OR NAGPUR
KAZIPET SECUNDERABAD then why does KARNATAKA EXPRESS GO via Busawal manmad
daund and wadi to Bangalore, the NDLS BANGALORE RAJDHANI DOES not take
this route. Can anyone explain ?

Any idea when is the Shatabdi to Goa Starting ? I am desperately waiting
to Board the train !



P.P.SAKLATWALLA.
EXTN :4226/4232/4237

From: Auroprem Kandaswami <kandaswa@apple.email

Subject: More on "Road" Stations

Date: 09 Mar 1998 04:15:00 -0500


Hi all,

Talking of stations that end with "Road", can somebody
explain the origins of Matunga Road in Mumbai (W.R.) ?

This name seems to be very peculiar, because there is
no place called "Matunga" very close to the station!
While, Dadar is called the same (without any additional
qualifiers) on both C.R and W.R., I cannot understand
why the "Road" is suffixed to Matunga station on W.R.

(Another interesting station pair in Mumbai, is Parel
on C.R. and Elphinstone Road on W.R. - Both these
stations are adjacent to each other. One could see
one of them from the other. But the naming is really
weird - especially Elphinstone Road!)

- Auro

From: Shankar <shankie@emirates.email

Subject: Re: WDM 4

Date: 10 Mar 1998 07:35:00 -0500


1. A WDM/4 at Poona? Thats interesting! I have lived in Poona since 1971, and
am still based there, (though I now live in Dubai). In these 28 years, I have
neither seen nor heard of a WDM/4 at Poona.
It probably only goes on the show that with electrification progressing in leaps
and bounds, the diesels are now being sent to places way off the mark from
their base stations.
My only guess is, she might have come to Poona with the Howrah-Poona Azad Hind
Express, or Varanasi-Poona Express, or something like that.

2. There has been a lot of correspondence over the last week about the WDM/4.

3. Just for the record, Poras, did you get my earlier posts about the mail
trains and dining cars?

4. The idea of the Mysore-Nizamuddin Swarnajayanti Express was to provide a
direct link to Delhi for residents of Hubli, Dharwad, Belgaum and cities in that
belt. After coming all the way to Belgaum, the shortest available route is now
to Miraj and then on to Poona, and then Daund-Manmad. Quite a circuitous route,
but then the idea is to serve as many areas as possible.

5. Why different trains go by different routes? I have said this before, and I
say it again: the idea is to cover as many areas as possible to cover as many
people as possible. And every major centre must have a direct link to Delhi:
thats IR policy. After all, the IR is a service provider. Imagine what will
happen if all trains follow the same route!

6. Last, I am not aware of any other Swarnajayanti Expresses as yet.Must be one
of the brainwaves of the IR: their thinking keeps changing. First it was 3rd-
class-only Janata Expresses. Then came FAST Janata Expresses (most Janata
Expresses were frightfully slow). These fast Janatas were called Jayanti Janata
Expresses. Then with a whole lot of (by now) 2nd-only trains,the names
'Janata'and 'Jayanti Janata' were dropped. ("Janata" expresses today are
so called only if another express of a similar nature runs on the same route,
due to which re-naming the J.Exp as merely Exp. will cause a duplication in
names). Then came Rajdhanis and Shatabdis, which are rapidly being expanded.
After that came the brainwave of "equally fast train" to follow a superfast
after a very brief interval, so as to ease the pressure on the main superfast.
After AK Rajdhani (which follows the Rajdhani) and Pragati (which follows the
Deccan Queen) I'm not aware of any more such "follow" trains. Last year,four
"fully unreserved" express trains were introduced. Now the concept of Swarna-
Jayantis. What will the IR think of (and abandon halfway) next?

Best regards.

Shankar.




At 07:53 AM 3/9/98 +0530, you wrote:
>Hi Friends,
>Just arrived from Pune this morning and am straight to work. Yesterday at
>Pune I saw a WDM 4 ON the Pune Manmad passenger at around 2.00 pm. The
>front of the engine was like a aeroplane and had a different rythm
>altogether. The loco was there near the station for only 15 minutes but
>looked like an enraged bull dog, when it pulled in the train. Could
>someone send some more details about this loco.
>
>Also at Pune I got to see WDM 2'S of various colours and from different
>loco sheds in the south, of which the one from Erode was the best it's
>colour being Red then a strip of white and Navy blue. It was later on
>attached to Swarnajayanti express.
>
>Coming to trains there were supposed to be many Swarnajayanti expresses to
>be introduced by the erstwhile railway minister. What has happened ? I
>only know one from HNZM TO MYSORE VIA PUNE. I don't know why it takes
>this route when one can easily go on the Karnataka exp route. All major
>southbound trains from NDLS go via NAGPUR BALLARSHAH VIJAYWADA OR NAGPUR
>KAZIPET SECUNDERABAD then why does KARNATAKA EXPRESS GO via Busawal manmad
>daund and wadi to Bangalore, the NDLS BANGALORE RAJDHANI DOES not take
>this route. Can anyone explain ?
>
>Any idea when is the Shatabdi to Goa Starting ? I am desperately waiting
>to Board the train !
>
>
>
>P.P.SAKLATWALLA.
>EXTN :4226/4232/4237
>
>
>
>

From: Shankar <shankie@emirates.email

Subject: Re: More on "Road" Stations

Date: 10 Mar 1998 07:35:00 -0500


Hello Auro,
At least Matunga Road I can understand: Matunga is CR suburb,whereas Matunga
Road is a station on the WR (situated at the far side of Matunga), so the road
probably originated from there to go to downtown Matunga. The whole area is so
very hopelessly clogged nowadays that one probably will never feel the
diff,but it might have mattered in the good old days.
Parel and Elphinston Rd: I agree with you entirely. In fact the WR counterpart
of Parel, i.e Lower Parel, is miles away!
Dadar, well, probably because both are in effect the SAME station, with a conn-
ecting foot overbridge in between. The hopeless clogging and traffic restriction
imposed (coupled with the necessicity to go all the way round from 'BB' Dadar to
'TT' Dadar) seem to make things hell., but examine closely: there is a service
road between the CR and WR platforms, thats all.When Kurla and Kurla Terminus
(which are quite some distance away from each other) can have the same name,why
not Dadar,which as I said is in effect the same station?
What I cannot understand however are names like Reay Road and Sandhurst road.
Probably,there is no road to any such places here:these stations only happen to
be situated on city roads so named!
I think we ought to leave suburban stations out for the time being.The distance
are all there, but the fast emus and the hopeless clogging make it all seem like
one massive sea of humanity,each one choking on the other.
Just go a few miles out of Bombay,and the meaning suddenly becomes very clear:
Vasai Road, Dahanu Road, Nasik Road....
But on a similar vein, although I'm contradicting myself, what about Khar Road?
Best regards.
Shankar.

At 08:15 AM 3/9/98 -0800, you wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Talking of stations that end with "Road", can somebody
> explain the origins of Matunga Road in Mumbai (W.R.) ?
>
> This name seems to be very peculiar, because there is
> no place called "Matunga" very close to the station!
> While, Dadar is called the same (without any additional
> qualifiers) on both C.R and W.R., I cannot understand
> why the "Road" is suffixed to Matunga station on W.R.
>
> (Another interesting station pair in Mumbai, is Parel
> on C.R. and Elphinstone Road on W.R. - Both these
> stations are adjacent to each other. One could see
> one of them from the other. But the naming is really
> weird - especially Elphinstone Road!)
>
> - Auro
>
>
>

From: BHEL Bhopal <hthbpi@hth01.email

Subject: Re: Vatva shed

Date: 12 Mar 1998 02:53:00 -0500


>>Dear Mr. Larry,
>>Vatva shed is near Ahmedabad (within 20 Kms. from the railway station).

>Thank you for the information, I was in Ahmedabad last month and wondered
>if Vatva was the broad gauge shed. I went to Sabarmati for a visit and was
>well recieved by the Senior CME. He neglected to mention Vatva. Both sheds
>seem to have about the same amount of locomotives assigned to them
>(100-150).
>
>Incidentally, do you have a listing of BHEL built electric locomotives and
>when each was constructed? My locomotive data base is incomplete on these.
>Any help would be most appreciated.
>Sincerely
>Larry Russell, Associate Editor, Extra 2200 South
>"The Locomotive Newsmagazine"

Dear Mr. Larry,

Information on BHEL produced electric Locomotives, as requested by you,
is as follows:

Loco type : WAG5 (4000 HP)
Total supplied till date: 75
Year of manufacture of
1st of this type : 1989

Loco type : WCAM2 (4700 HP in AC section & 2900 in DC)
Total supplied till date: 20
Year of manufacture of
1st of this type : 1995

Loco type : WCAM3 (5000 HP in AC section and 4600 in DC)
Total supplied till date: 35 (out of order of 53)
Year of manufacture of
1st of this type : 1996/97

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact
me.

I am also interested in your "The Locomotive Newsmagazine". Can you please
send me the latest issue of the magazine.

Best Regards,

Sudhir Kumar Gupta

=========================================================================
Sudhir Kumar Gupta | Centre for Electric Transportation |
Senior Engineer | Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited |
Phone: 91-755-506429 (Office) | Bhopal - 462022 INDIA |
: 91-755-588225 (Residence) | |
Fax : 91-755-506850/540425 | |
email: s.k.gupta@ieee.email | |
or | |
hthbpi@bhel.email | |
=========================================================================

From: Auroprem Kandaswami <kandaswa@apple.email

Subject: Railways seeks bigger plan size

Date: 11 Mar 1998 04:02:00 -0500


Courtesy: The Hindu, New Delhi
Dated: 11 March 1998

The Railways has indicated the need for a higher plan size in the
next financial year in order to cater to the requirements arising
out of the higher growth targets set by the Planning Commission.
Keeping in tune with this requirement, the Railways has asked for
the plan size for 1998-99 to be fixed at Rs. 10,000 crores, though
senior officials reconcile themselves to the fact that the actual
size might be in the region of Rs. 9,000 crores.

Even the lower size could be acceptable to the Railways when compared
to this year's plan size of Rs. 8,300 crores. ``It will at least enable
us keep in step with the rate of inflation and the size, therefore,
would be indicative of the type of funds given last year,'' said the
Railway Board chairman, Mr. V. K. Agarwal.

However, the exact size of the annual plan for next year, a
crucial component to enable the Railways upgrade the network
and rolling stock and spread out to newer areas, would have to
wait till the installation of the new government.

Even though the composition of the new government is not
clear, the Railway Board chief would like a shift in the way the
plan size is fixed. Instead of the earlier system of allocation being
first fixed by the Union Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission
and the railways then being asked to tailor its needs accordingly, the
authorities should take into account the growth planned for the year and
then fix the plan size, Mr. Agarwal suggested.

Already saddled with the burden of completing projects worth a
staggering Rs. 18,000 crores, a special meeting of the Railway
Board is being planned in mid-March to prepare an action plan.
One, the Railways would be able to prioritise its projects.
According to indications available so far, officials would prefer to
put a freeze on new lines, although it is obvious that the new
Government would like to push through some new line projects
of its own. Similarly, the Railways would not be able to carry out
gauge conversions in the whole-sale manner done earlier.

Officials' plan in this regard could be helped to some extent by
the fact that most high revenue earning sections have already
been converted into broad gauge and so stonewalling the
conversion of the remaining metre gauge lines - most of them
with low revenue earning potential - might become easier. The
concentration would be on traffic facilities, doublings and
replacing old tracks and bridges. According to Mr. Agarwal, the
action plan was being evolved in consultation with the entire top
brass so that ``acceptability in the system is better'' even
though individuals at the top might change.

As for the current year, despite the recession and the revised
Fifth Pay Commission burden, the Railways might end the year
with a surplus of about Rs. 800 crores which would be fractionally
short of the figure envisaged in the budgetary estimates. The
figures justify the optimism. Till the end of February, the Railways
had earned Rs. 25,503 crores which was much higher than last year's
comparative figures of Rs. 21,690 crores and just short of the
budgetary proposals of Rs. 25,685 crores. The Railways' main bread
earner, freight traffic, was two million tonnes above the target with
coal and cement being above the target and offering from iron and
steel as raw material lower than expected.

`We will be able to steer through,' observed the Railway Board chairman.

From: Philip Wormald <PWormald@compuserve.email

Subject: WDM1 ALCO question

Date: 13 Mar 1998 01:59:00 -0500


I am trying to find out how many of the WDM1 17000 - 17099 series
DL500 ALCO's are still in regular use? I understand some were based
at Gonda Junction.
I can supply recent information on the DL500's in Europe.

Many Thanks,

Phil Wormald

From: sank <sank@telco.email

Subject: Alco DL500s (WDM1) in India:

Date: 14 Mar 1998 00:32:00 -0500


Received this query today: can anyone shed more light on this ? I think
they were last
heard of operating in Bihar and eastern UP.............

--
Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
--

From: Shankar <shankie@emirates.email

Subject: Re: Alco DL500s (WDM1) in India:

Date: 14 Mar 1998 01:07:00 -0500


Hello Sank,

Info about the WDM/1s is very limited, tucked away as the locomotives are in
an obscure corner of the country. I have the following info:

The WDM/1s were the first bg diesels to appear in India. They were built by
Alco in 1957, and hit Indian tracks by 1958.

Unlike the WDM/2 and 4, which are 'road switcher' or 'hood' type of diesels,
the WDM/1s were carbody diesels, i.e. the engine, generator and drivers' cab
are situated within a fully enclosed carbody, which will bear the full impact
in the event of a collision.

Back home in the US, the locomotive was built in two formats: 'A' units:(with
cab) and 'B' or booster units, without cab. The idea is to couple as many
engines in as many permutations and combinations as possible to obtain the
requisite power to haul that particular train.

However, only the 'A' units came to India. They were comparatively low powered,
at 1800 odd hp, but the biggest disadvantage was that they were UNIDIRECTIONAL,
i.e. had the cab at one end only. They are otherwise aestethically very
pleasing,and looked like the WCMx class of dc electrics with one nose sliced
off.

They were put on line on the heavy ore and coal carrying lines of the SER,and
the IR really had a go at trying and stretching diesel traction to its outermost
limits with these engines. Some of the choicest expresses were also 'dieselized'
esp the Howrah Madras Mail, which was initially double (WDM/1) headed before the
WDM/2 and 4s came in.

The WDM/1s follow the Co-Co wheel arrangement.However, the limited power plus
the unidirectional profile, coupled with the coming in of the more versatile
and convenient WDM/2 meant that the WDM/1s were not re-ordered.

In the mid 1980s, several of the now 30-year old WDM/1s were re-powered at
the Kharagpur Workshops of the SER with MAK II diesel powerpaks.

The last I know of these engines is that all of them are now on the NER, based
at Gonda.They work freight as well as passenger trains.

Best regards.

Shankar.



At 03:02 PM 3/13/98 +0530, you wrote:
>Received this query today: can anyone shed more light on this ? I think
>they were last
>heard of operating in Bihar and eastern UP.............
>
>--
>Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
>Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
>tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
>--
>
>
><HTML>
>Received this query today:&nbsp;can anyone shed more light on this ?&nbsp;I
>think they were last
><BR>heard of operating in Bihar and eastern UP.............
><PRE>--&nbsp;
>Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
>Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
>tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
>--</PRE>
>&nbsp;</HTML>
>Received: from telcop.pune.telco.co.in (telcop [128.9.24.24]) by
idnyx.idstudio.pune.telco.co.in (950413.SGI.8.6.12/950213.SGI.AUTOCF) via
ESMTP id JAA01752 for <sank@idnyx.email Fri, 13 Mar
1998 09:01:13 +0530
>Return-Path: <alco@planet.email
>Received: from mars.planet.net.au by telco.co.in via ESMTP
(940816.SGI.8.6.9/940406.SGI)
> for <sank@telco.email id EAA14112; Thu, 12 Mar 1998 04:40:41 +2359
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[202.161.0.101]) by mars.planet.net.au (8.8.6/8.6.12) with SMTP id KAA02254
for <sank@telco.email Thu, 12 Mar 1998 10:06:57 +1100 (EST)
>Message-ID: <35072760.1497@planet.email
>Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 10:08:00 +1000
>From: Goodwin Alco <alco@planet.email
>Reply-To: alco@planet.email
>Organization: Alcos International
>X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01C-KIT (Win95; I)
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: sank@telco.email
>Subject: Re: Query
>References: <35064B3C.5C850A4B@idnyx.email
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>sank@telco.email wrote:
>>
>> Were any DL515 types ever sold to the Central Railway of Peru ?
>>
>> --
>> Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
>> Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
>> tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
>> --
>>
>>
>Dear Sir,
> I have asked a few people and am now just awaiting a reply.
> In the meantime , I have been trying very hard to research the DL500
>World Series locomotives around the world for a possible book. The
>hardest by far has been India, peru and Argentina. Are you able to help
>in any way with these areas?
> Best Wishes
> Brad Peadon
> Alcos International
>
>

From: Rangachari Anand <ranand@us.email

Subject: Re: Alco DL500s (WDM1) in India:

Date: 13 Mar 1998 07:24:00 -0500


By any chance was the WDM1 an export version of the ALCO PA? On a related
topic, I have seen photos of some Australian carbody ALCOs (1955 vintage) which
also appear to be very similar to the WDM1.

R. Anand
anand@watson.email

From: Philip Wormald <PWormald@compuserve.email

Subject: WDM1 ALCO question

Date: 13 Mar 1998 01:59:00 -0500


Sender: Philip Wormald <PWormald@compuserve.email
To: India Rail list <acha@cs.email
Message-ID: <199803130300_MC2-3693-CD7D@compuserve.email

I am trying to find out how many of the WDM1 17000 - 17099 series
DL500 ALCO's are still in regular use? I understand some were based
at Gonda Junction.
I can supply recent information on the DL500's in Europe.

Many Thanks,

Phil Wormald

From: Shankar <shankie@emirates.email

Subject: Re:Fw: WDM1 ALCO question

Date: 14 Mar 1998 05:44:00 -0500


Hello Philip,
To the best of my knowledge all the WDM/1s are still alive. I have not heard
on any of them being retired as yet.
At any rate, some of them were re-powered at Kharagpur in the mid 1980s with
MAK II powerpaks.Which makes the rejuvenated ones less than fifteen years old.
Yes, you are right, all of them (at least as far as I know) are based at Gonda:
they are no longer with the SER.
I saw one near Patna in 1986, but that seemed to be more of the exception than
the rule: you don't see them near Patna that often.
Best regards.
Shankar.


At 08:14 AM 3/13/98 -0800, you wrote:
>
>------- Forwarded Message
>
>Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 02:59:55 -0500
>From: Philip Wormald <PWormald@compuserve.email
>Subject: WDM1 ALCO question
>Sender: Philip Wormald <PWormald@compuserve.email
>To: India Rail list <acha@cs.email
>Message-ID: <199803130300_MC2-3693-CD7D@compuserve.email
>
>I am trying to find out how many of the WDM1 17000 - 17099 series
>DL500 ALCO's are still in regular use? I understand some were based
>at Gonda Junction.
>I can supply recent information on the DL500's in Europe.
>
>Many Thanks,
>
>Phil Wormald
>
>------- End of Forwarded Message
>
>
>

From: sank <sank@telco.email

Subject: Re: Alco DL500s (WDM1) in India:

Date: 15 Mar 1998 18:07:00 -0500


Rangachari Anand wrote:

> By any chance was the WDM1 an export version of the ALCO PA? On a related
> topic, I have seen photos of some Australian carbody ALCOs (1955 vintage) which
> also appear to be very similar to the WDM1.

I do not think they were derived directly from the PA types though the outline
isgenerically similiar: the PAs had a much longer nose, I think.

Yes, the Australian locos were basically the same export type (DL500). DL500s were

exported by Alco all over the world. You can see more pictures at:

<A HREF="http://members.tripod.com/~alcos/index.html">http://members.tripod.com/~alcos/index.html</A>

and at:

<A HREF="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Rolf_Stumpf/country.htm">http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Rolf_Stumpf/country.htm</A>

--
Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
--