IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 2341 - 2360
From: Jishnu Mukerji <jis@fpk.email
Subject: Re: Track changes
Date: 20 Mar 1998 11:08:00 -0500
sank@telco.email wrote:
> > > For folks interested in electric traction, the New York - New
> > > Haven section is especially interesting because it's one of
> > > the few (or the only?) places where trains switch *on the fly*
> > > from using 3rd rail (which is I think 750V DC) to overhead
> > > catenary (20 kV AC?) for motive power.
>
> Btw doesn't something similiar happen to the Paris-London Eurostar
> TGV-type trains when they emerge from the Chunnel and switch over
> to British Southern Region 750V third-rail ?
Yes, there are many places in the world where such changeovers happen on
the fly, sometimes helped by the operator and sometimes automatically.
In case of the Eurostar the changeover takes place as the train passes
Dollands Moore, as a result of changes in switch setting in the
locomotive initiated by the driver. When the driver forgets to do this
on the way to London the Eurostar tends to loose both its pantographs as
they hit the roof of Sandling Tunnel, as was amply illustrated once
during the early days of Eurostar operation. Interestingly, a
configuration change also takes place near Freithun in France from the
TML configuration to the LGV configuration, which most people are
unaware of.
Eurostars have several setting of the system configuration switch which
controls not only the type of power supply but also the type of
signalling system and the type of catenary and various other things. The
settings are something like:
0. All configurations Off.
1. British AWS + 3rd rail 850V DC(nominal,
in practice often considerably less).
2. TML (Chunnel) TVM 430 + 25kV 50Hz AC.
3. LGV Nord Europe TVM 430 + 25kV 50Hz AC.
4. SNCF Crocodile + 25kV 50Hz AC.
5. Belgian TBM(?) + 3kV DC
6. SNCF Crocodile + 1.5kV DC (only on a few SNCF sets
used for London - Bourge St. Maurice service)
7. LGV Sud-Est pre-TVM430 + 25kV 50Hz AC (only on a
few SNCF sets used for London - Bourge St. Maurice
service).
8. British AWS + 25kV 50Hz AC (only on North of London
regional Eurostar sets)
Moving the configuration control switch to one of these positions
changes the configuration of the train appropriately. Changing
configuration includes doing things like changing how far the
retractable doorsteps will extend, and closing the inter-carriage fire
doors in the Chunnel and setting both the max height and the vertical
dwell of the pantograph. A configuration change from one catenary system
to another always involves the lowering and raising of the pantograph on
the fly even if the power system in the two configurations is the same.
This is needed to reconfigure the characteristics of the pantograph.
On the way from London to Paris a Eurostar goes through the following
configuration changes:
1. At Dollands Moore - British 3rd rail to TML
2. Around Freithun - TML to LGV
3. Near Gonesse - LGV to SNCF 25kV
The Eurostar to Brussels undergoes the following changes:
1. At Dollands Moore - British 3rd rail to TML
2. Around Freithun - TML to LGV
3. Near Halle (?) - LGV - Belgian, this keeps
shifting as more of the construction around
Brussels Midi is completed.
There was a very nice article on all this in Today's Railway magazine
within the last six months (I don't remember off the top of my head
which issue:-(). In the latest issue of Today's Railway there is an
article on the London to Bourge St. Maurice Eurostar service to the ski
slopes.
Jishnu.
From: Prakash Tendulkar <prakash@jps.email
Subject: Mumbai Suburban Rail Corporation is top priority: Naik
Date: 22 Mar 1998 06:10:00 -0500
Mumbai Suburban Rail Corporation is top priority: Naik
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, MARCH 21: Union Minister of State for Railways Ram Naik
said today that getting the centre's approval for the Mumbai
Suburban Rail Corporation would be his highest priority.
Addressing his first press conference here after his appointment
as a Union Minister for State, Naik said the proposal, which was
sanctioned by the Maharashtra cabinet in September 1997, would be
considered for approval by the central government.
As per the conditions stipulated by the World Bank for sanctioning
the loan for the proposed corporation, the Railway Ministry was
seriously considering the commercial exploitation of surplus land
to make up for the capital expenditure.
Asked about the inconvenience caused by the hutment dwellers on
the railway track, he said, ``Unless the state government assures
them of alternate accommodation, nobody can do anything about
it.'' Naik said he would try to put forward a ``status paper'' for
each state as was prepared by George Fernandes for Mumbai when he
was the Railway Minister in V P Singh's government. Asked about
his designation, he said ``I would have preferred a cabinet rank,
but in the days of coalition, work is more important.''
From: Sundar Krishnamurthy <coolsundar@hotmail.email
Subject: indianrailways.com!!!
Date: 24 Mar 1998 07:50:00 -0500
Hello guys..
Guess What!! I did a random <A HREF="http://www.indianrailways.com">http://www.indianrailways.com</A> on my browser
and got trainsported to a site - on Indian Railways.. Its maintained by
MicroPro India Ltd(<A HREF="http://www.micro-pro.com)">http://www.micro-pro.com)</A> of New Delhi.. and the site
administrator is one Mr. Anuj Tandon - anuj@micro-pro.email
It just features a barebones start-end time-table and an update on the
previous budget. None of the regional railway links on the homepage
work.. The details on the budget is quite detailed though...
The only pic you can find on the site is one bearded Mr. Rail Vilas
Paswan. Is Internet-savvy BJP complaining?? If you want a peek at the
BJP agenda.. look at <A HREF="http://www.bjp.org">http://www.bjp.org</A>.. This brings me to the point..
with Mumbai North MP and commuter friend Mr. Ram Naik of the BJP as
minister of state for railways.. let's see the sub-human conditions on
the EMU locals improve.. He was very vocal on a cross-city Bandra-Kurla
rail link..
Sundar Krishnamurthy
______________________________________________________
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From: poras p.saklatwalla <pps@godrejnet.email
Subject: AHMEDABAD RAJDHANI EXPRESS
Date: 26 Mar 1998 19:39:00 -0500
Hi Friends,
Why this sudden lull in mail exchanges ? Well I just read a few days back
that the Ahmedabad - NDLS Rajdhani Express has started service between
these two cities via Ajmer and Jaipur. It will be a double headed
Rajdhani with WDM 2 hauling it. So now if you don't get reservation on
the regular Rajdhani from Mumbai then one can travel to Ahmedabad by
Shatabdi or the Gujrat express and catch the Rajdhani from there. What I
am wondering is how will the train maintain its speed on single track or
is it double track all the way ? So now a Rajdhani express via Rajasthan
is on the move. Wonder will there be another Rajdhani to Udaipur very
soon.
Can someone give me info whether there is a Rajdhani Express to Amritsar
if not can one catch the Rajdhani to Jammu and then get down at Pathankot.
Today in IR how many Rajdhani's are operating ?
Has anyone travelled on a WAP loco hauled Rajdhani Express. For Mumbai
fans there is a loco WDM 2 of Erode shed parked outside at VT loco shed.
When is the Mumbai Goa shatabdi express starting. Otherwise I will now
travel by Madgaon express, but there is no point as it goes in the night.
P.P.SAKLATWALLA
From: Siddhartha Joshi <siddha@phy.email
Subject: Re: AHMEDABAD RAJDHANI EXPRESS
Date: 27 Mar 1998 04:03:00 -0500
Hello All,
> Why this sudden lull in mail exchanges ? Well I just read a few days back
> that the Ahmedabad - NDLS Rajdhani Express has started service between
> these two cities via Ajmer and Jaipur. It will be a double headed
> Rajdhani with WDM 2 hauling it.
Wow, double-header Rajdhani's are back!! That is excellent news!!
> Has anyone travelled on a WAP loco hauled Rajdhani Express.
Ya, lots and lots and lots of times. WHY??!!??
> For Mumbai
> fans there is a loco WDM 2 of Erode shed parked outside at VT loco shed.
That is interesting.
By the way, an all new website catering to your every rail desire will be
up very soon. Bharat Vohra and I have a comprehensive collection of rail
photographs and an introductory page will be coming your way.
Siddhartha..
From: PROTIP.DASGUPTA <protip@giasbmc.email
Subject: Re: AHMEDABAD RAJDHANI EXPRESS
Date: 26 Mar 1998 23:13:00 -0500
Poras,
the Ahemadabad Rajdhani has been around since last year actually and I do
not think its double headed cause its an 8-9 coach Rake!
It does however get hauled by a WDM2! As for the track, well The Ajmer
Shatabdi has been using it since 1996, from Ajmer to Delhi ie, via Jaipur!
Only the Ahmedabad-Ajmer section is new, but is surely good enough for it!
The track is single for most of the route except between Ahmedabad and
Mehesana and Delhi and Rewari!
The Rajdhanis in service as of today are as follows-
Bombay-Delhi Raj
Bombay-Hazrat Nizamudin(HZNM) AK Raj
Howrah-New Delhi Raj(via Gaya)
Howrah-New Delhi Raj(via Patna)
Patna-New Delhi Raj
Dibrugarh-Guwahati-New Delhi Raj
Bhubhaneshawar-New Delhi Raj
HZNM-Jammutawi Raj
HZNM-Secunderabad-Bangalore Raj
HZNM-Madras Raj
HZNM-Trivandrum Raj
Theses are the ones Im aware of, doubt if there are any more!
Regards,
Bharat Vohra
From: dheeraj <dheeraj@iitk.email
Subject: Re: Ahemdabad Rajdhani
Date: 28 Mar 1998 07:44:00 -0500
> the Ahemadabad Rajdhani has been around since last year actually
It was listed in the "Trains at a glance" but the service
started sometime this year.
> The Rajdhanis in service as of today are as follows-
And, of course, we hope that in the next budget, we will
have a separate Rajdhani for Secunderabad, and for Goa.
-dheeraj
--------------
Dheeraj Sanghi +91 (512) 59-7077 (Off)
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering +91 (512) 59-8627 (Res)
Indian Institute of Technology +91 (512) 59-0725 (Fax)
Kanpur - 208 016 (UP), INDIA. dheeraj@iitk.email
From: Larry Russell <lrussell@direct.email
Subject:
Date: 28 Mar 1998 16:13:00 -0500
anyone know which shed is BRC?
Larry
From: sank <sank@telco.email
Subject: Re:
Date: 29 Mar 1998 18:25:00 -0500
Larry Russell wrote:
> anyone know which shed is BRC?
> Larry
Vadodara ???
--
Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
--
From: poras p.saklatwalla <pps@godrejnet.email
Subject: Re:
Date: 29 Mar 1998 19:03:00 -0500
On Sun, 29 Mar 1998 sank@telco.email wrote:
> Larry Russell wrote:
>
> > anyone know which shed is BRC?
> > Larry
>
> Vadodara ???
>
>
> --
> Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
> Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
> tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
> --
>
>
>
P.P.SAKLATWALLA
BRC IS BARODA OR VADODRA ON BOMBAY AHMEDABAD LINE
From: PROTIP.DASGUPTA <protip@giasbmc.email
Subject: Re:
Date: 29 Mar 1998 08:29:00 -0500
Yes, BRC is very much Baroda or Vadodra!
As I mentioned earlier it is an electric shed which homes WAG1, WAG5,
WAP1, WAP4, WAM4 and Mainline AC EMU's
Regrads,
Bharat Vohra
From: Pushkar Apte <apte@spdc.email
Subject: Re:
Date: 30 Mar 1998 13:06:00 -0500
What about the new WAP-5/6 locos? Since they do haul the Mumbai
Rajdhani, I presume that Vadodara must have some facilities for those as
well...
PROTIP.DASGUPTA wrote:
> Yes, BRC is very much Baroda or Vadodra!
> As I mentioned earlier it is an electric shed which homes WAG1, WAG5,
> WAP1, WAP4, WAM4 and Mainline AC EMU's
> Regrads,
> Bharat Vohra
--
Regards,
Pushkar
-------
From: poras p.saklatwalla <pps@godrejnet.email
Subject: Re: The Last of Steam!
Date: 31 Mar 1998 20:41:00 -0500
On Tue, 31 Mar 1998, PROTIP.DASGUPTA wrote:
> Today friends, is sadly the last day for MG steam locos that were running
> on the WR metre gauge system...also the last MG steamers apart from a few
> left on the OOty line.
> Today will see the last few WR steam sheds shut down for good.
> Wankaner, Sabarmati, Jetalsar and of course Mhow!
> Sad but true....they served us well.
> May they rest in peace and may some of them be preserved somewhere or the
> other.
> Regards,
> Bharat Vohra
>
P.P.SAKLATWALLA
How sad the Iron horses of IR that served the country for so long will
finally be gone. The hiss and puff of the steam engine that passed
through so many villages of India, majestically will now be no more.
This is the price of liberalisation and modernisation and
industrialisation. The villages that used to wake up with steam engines
whistle, subah ki paheli gaadi jab nikalti hai ! famous lines of most
villagers in north India. Lets hope the IR overhauls some major steam
locos and runs it on tourist trains or at least the trains that are
historical like the Samjhauta express to Lahore. I have this feeling that
one day they will dot the Indian railway lines once again. I am literally
in tears with the passing away of steam. All I can say is that even if
they are preserved in NRM I will be happy. HAIL STEAM LOCOS THE PRIDE OF
INDIAN RAILWAYS ! ! !
From: sank <sank@telco.email
Subject: Re: The Last of Steam!
Date: 31 Mar 1998 20:57:00 -0500
PROTIP.DASGUPTA wrote:
> Today friends, is sadly the last day for MG steam locos that were running
> on the WR metre gauge system...
What regular steam are we now left with in India ? Is it just the Ooty line
and the Darjeeling-Himalayan ?Any preservation for the YP/YGs ?
Also: Did the Ooty line interchange with the regular MG network ?
--
Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
--
From: sank <sank@telco.email
Subject: NRM
Date: 31 Mar 1998 21:52:00 -0500
For those friends who may not have noticed this:
<A HREF="http://railmuseum.com/">http://railmuseum.com/</A>
.......Now can we persuade them to have a YG/YP type maintained in
running order........??
--
Jayant S : IDStudio : TTIL : ERC : TELCO
Pimpri : Pune : 411 018 : INDIA
tel - 91(212)774261 exn 2534
--
From: Philip Wormald <PWormald@compuserve.email
Subject: WDM2 Loco's
Date: 31 Mar 1998 02:42:00 -0500
How many WDM2 Loco's have been built, are they still being built. What
is the horsepower of the latest models, and which type of (model) engine is
now installed?
Many thanks,
Phil Wormald
From: Siddhartha Joshi <siddha@phy.email
Subject: The Last Puff
Date: 01 Apr 1998 04:09:00 -0500
Junta.
As meter-gauge steam officially goes off the Indian tracks today(broad is
long gone), one can't help but wonder. Wonder if we shall ever see these
workhorses again. Wonder if IR will have the sense to preserve some of
them in working order. Wonder if some enthusiast/philanthropist will get a
Sunday line running.(As they have done in the UK).
These engines were not just workhorses. They epitomised an era. The steam
engine was responsible in no small way for the industrialisation of
Western Europe, stirring as it was out of the centuries of lethargy that
preceded the Industrial Revolution. The railways were responsible for the
rapid colonialisation of the Far East. And nothing symbolised any better
this process than the image of a steam engine working its way along;
whether in the plantation colonies of South East Asia, transporting raw
materials and goods, or high up in the Khyber Pass, carrying a company of
troops to silence the rebels.
These workhorses did not therefore just carry goods and people and open up
undiscovered lands, they marked an epoch in modern history. They do not
deserve the fate to which they have been condemned. Why, I wonder, is the
IR so very unsentimental about its heritage? Probably ( and this has been
discussed over the IRFC postings ) the humungous bureaucracy makes most
individual attempts at preservation well nigh impossible, and financial
constraints make any IR plans unviable. Whatever the reasons, they can
rest assured that if such work be done, there will be no dearth of
individuals (counting in the entire IRFC list!!) who will flock to see
these living, breathing beauties do what they do best - pull trains.
Is anyone at IR listening??
Siddhartha.
________________________________________________________________________________
From: PROTIP.DASGUPTA <protip@giasbmc.email
Subject: Re:
Date: 31 Mar 1998 09:08:00 -0500
Pushkar
As far as I know WAP 5/6 are still all in the holding of Northern
Railway....gaziabad Shed. I doubt if any are stationed at Baroda.
They probably run a link with the up and down rajdhanis and therfore only
need an outstaions shed kind of facility at Baroda.
Also the Bombay Rajdhanis are very often seen hauled by good ol WAP 1's
and 4's.
Regards,
Bharat Vohra
On Mon, 30 Mar 1998, Pushkar Apte wrote:
> What about the new WAP-5/6 locos? Since they do haul the Mumbai
> Rajdhani, I presume that Vadodara must have some facilities for those as
> well...
>
> PROTIP.DASGUPTA wrote:
>
> > Yes, BRC is very much Baroda or Vadodra!
> > As I mentioned earlier it is an electric shed which homes WAG1, WAG5,
> > WAP1, WAP4, WAM4 and Mainline AC EMU's
> > Regrads,
> > Bharat Vohra
>
>
>
> --
>
> Regards,
> Pushkar
> -------
>
>
>
From: PROTIP.DASGUPTA <protip@giasbmc.email
Subject: The Last of Steam!
Date: 31 Mar 1998 09:11:00 -0500
Today friends, is sadly the last day for MG steam locos that were running
on the WR metre gauge system...also the last MG steamers apart from a few
left on the OOty line.
Today will see the last few WR steam sheds shut down for good.
Wankaner, Sabarmati, Jetalsar and of course Mhow!
Sad but true....they served us well.
May they rest in peace and may some of them be preserved somewhere or the
other.
Regards,
Bharat Vohra
From: C.L.Zeni <clzeni@mindspring.email
Subject: Re: The Last Puff
Date: 31 Mar 1998 12:40:00 -0500
Siddhartha Joshi wrote:
snip
>
> These workhorses did not therefore just carry goods and people and open up
> undiscovered lands, they marked an epoch in modern history. They do not
> deserve the fate to which they have been condemned. Why, I wonder, is the
> IR so very unsentimental about its heritage? Probably ( and this has been
> discussed over the IRFC postings ) the humungous bureaucracy makes most
> individual attempts at preservation well nigh impossible, and financial
> constraints make any IR plans unviable. snip
Here in the US we saw very much the same thing at the end of steam. A
fair number of locomotives were "stuffed and mounted" in city parks, etc
and left to deteriorate. A handful have been recovered and put back
into steam thru volunteer efforts. Only one railway here seemed to have
made a conscious effort to keep steam alive on the corporate level, that
being the Union Pacific. After being the first large railroad to
dieselize here in the early 1950s, our Southern Railway discovered what
a great public relations thing steam can be in the mid 1960s. The
Southern, and its successor (thru merger) Norfolk Southern kept steam in
annual excursion service until 1995, when they suddenly pulled the
plug. The two premier engines they had, Norfolk and Western 4-8-4 No.
611 and N&W 2-6-6-4 No. 1218 were returned to the museums from whence
they came. They now sit cold and lifeless - truly a shame. N&W
scrapped all the steam they had save two others in 1960-61 and the only
reason 611 and 1218 survived was because they were sold to an industrial
plant to be used as steam generators! They survived there a number of
years then were retrieved and museum-ed.
Let's hope some locos survive in excursion service in India. I do hope
IR does this.
--
Craig Zeni - REPLY TO -->> clzeni at mindspring dot com
<A HREF="http://www.mindspring.com/~clzeni/index.html">http://www.mindspring.com/~clzeni/index.html</A>