IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 5981 - 6000
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Buffer Query
Date: 03 May 1999 03:14:04 -0500
The French WAM 1s and the WAG 1s had 'Rectangle ending in a
semi circle' type of Buffers.
Jayant S wrote:
> Just wondering: has any BG stock in
> India ever had unusual shapes given
> to the side buffers, apart from the
> usual circular shape ? Side buffers
> in Europe were often elliptical,
> sometimes even square. Anything like
> these here ?
>
> On a different note: why did some
> locos on VR, Australia, have buffers
> which looked like truncated circles ?
> --
> JS
> --
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Buffer Query, Attn: Our Australian friends
Date: 03 May 1999 03:34:50 -0500
Jayant S wrote:
> Just wondering: has any BG stock in
> India ever had unusual shapes given
> to the side buffers, apart from the
> usual circular shape ? Side buffers
> in Europe were often elliptical,
> sometimes even square. Anything like
> these here ?
>
> On a different note: why did some
> locos on VR, Australia, have buffers
> which looked like truncated circles ?
Are you referring to the two buffers being joint together ?
Actually they seem to forged from one piece of steel. Our
Australian friends on the IRFCA should explain how these
unique buffers came into existence.
I have read somewhere that the reason for 'non round' buffers
is that with the round items there is a chance of buffers
locking into each other (intermeshing) and causing
derailments. This was the British view and they did produce
some really aesthetically pleasing oval buffers in the past.
But all the new British locos seem to have round buffers.
Apurva
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Reporting on accidents
Date: 03 May 1999 04:26:19 -0500
> Your suggestion about an independent force like TASK is very
interesting.
> And this country needs many such bodies to get the citizens directly
> involved in affairs that concern them.
An NGO in making for the railway safety issues ? How interesting !
Apurva
From: Harsh Vardhan <>
Subject: Re: Buffer Query
Date: 03 May 1999 20:14:21 -0500
>Just wondering: has any BG stock in
>India ever had unusual shapes given
>to the side buffers, apart from the
>usual circular shape ? Side buffers
>in Europe were often elliptical,
>sometimes even square. Anything like
>these here ?
>
Yes, indeed there were variations. Surprisingly, the steam lococs
although
they came from many different builders and countries, were quick to
standardise this feature.
So the variety remains with other stock.
WDM 3 - Square somewhat rectangular with sharper edges with the vertical
sides curved.
The prototype WAM 1 - Same as above but with rounded off edges.
An exhibit(The Dynamometer Car perhaps) at the NRM has elliptical ones.
Even rounded ones came in different sizes and variety.
Incidently Sri Lankan locos have examples of every kind of variety in
the
book.
Harsh
From: Jayant S <>
Subject: Re: Australian Buffer Query:
Date: 03 May 1999 20:20:03 -0500
Apurva Bahadur wrote:
> Are you referring to the two buffers being joint together ?
> Actually they seem to forged from one piece of steel. Our
> Australian friends on the IRFCA should explain how these
> unique buffers came into existence.
Take a close look at some Australian VR locos here:
<A HREF="http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ajmbrook/steam.htm">http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ajmbrook/steam.htm</A>
The side buffers look like they've actually
had a bite taken out of them. I've been wondering
about this for some time.
Dr. Walker: any comment on this ?
Also, while we are on the subject of buffers,
is IR BG passenger stock likely to continue into
the forseeable future with side buffers and
link couplings ? Or will ICF introduce central
couplers at some point ?
--
JS
--
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: [Fwd: Buffer Query, Attn: Our Australian friends
Date: 03 May 1999 22:35:35 -0500
Many thanks to Dr. K for his views on this subject !
Apurva
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: [Fwd: DMRC Website was Calcutta Metro
Date: 03 May 1999 22:37:44 -0500
Thanks to Craig,
In view of this why not use the Mumbai EMUs as the Delhi metro
vehicles ? Afterall the additional digging (the jumbo width as
well !) as to be done only once.
Apurva
From: VIRAF P.. MULLA <>
Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article
Date: 03 May 1999 23:21:37 -0500
Dear Satish,
> Oh, yes, I'm aware that most of these "great" shots are carefully
> arranged and are hardly impromptu. Colin Garratt got some flak for
> spending *weeks* trying to get the perfect shot of some steam locos
(in
> ER) with a shepherd boy "casually" sitting near the tracks...
On his next trip Colin Garratt wanted to repeat the same shot with the
same shoeshine boy who had modelled as a Cattle Boy. But since Bhadu Das
(the model) was working out of town a similar shot was taken with
another
Shoeshine boy this time posing as a Country Boy with an XC in
background.
He even had IR re-paint some of the locos to suit his photographic
tastes for
> this!
Yes an ugly blue to depict XC as an "Indian Version of The Flying
Scotsman."
> IR itself seems to have precious
> little film footage or photographs -- all the good photos of IR locos
> are by private photographers.
Fully agree with you. You should see the way the old photographic glass
plates and some vintage photographs are stored in the Western railway
archives.
==========================
Viraf Mulla
C-20/14, Jeevan Bima Nagar,
Borivali (West)
Mumbai 400103
Tel: +91-22-8954510
E-mail: sncf@godrej.email
==========================
From: VIRAF P.. MULLA <>
Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article
Date: 04 May 1999 00:39:20 -0500
>
> Without much information to go on, I am guessing that this is the same
> photograph that appears on the cover of "The Imperial Way" by Paul
> Theroux and Steven (?) McCurry. It shows two railwaymen (one holding
> a flag in his hand and standing just above the cowcatcher of the loco,
> with a turban on his head) and the front of a steam loco with the Taj
> out of focus in the distant background. A great shot!
Yes Satish the Photograph is the same. During his journey from Peshwar
to
Chittagong Paul Theroux travels on the following trains:
The Khyber mail.
208 Dn. International Express to India.
The Simla Mail.
2 Dm. to Delhi.
Madras Janta to Agra.
Ganga - Yamuna Express to Varanasi.
Howrah Mail.
The Kamrup Express to New Jalpaiguri.
The DHR toy train.
Ulka Express to Chittagong.
> If anyone has seen both, can they comment
> on what the overlap between the National Geographic article and the
> book is?
Yes I have both.
>
> Another picture I like a lot is the dusk shot of the Agra (Fort?)
station
> showing several stabled rakes from the top, with the dome of the Jama
> Masjid in the background; the entire picture is suffused with a deep
> red colour because it's close to sunset (well, maybe McCurry used
> some filters to intensify the effect too :-) ).
>
I have seen the same shot in an inflight magazine. I have the copy but
will have to search.
Paul Theroux has written another book THE GREAT RAILWAY BAZAAR (Penguin
Books). It is a very nice book where the author travels from London to
Tokyo (via Asia) and back via Trans-Siberian.
The Trains on which he travels are:
The 15.30-London to Paris.
The Direct Orient Express.
The Van Golu Express.
The Theran Express.
The Night mail to Meshed
The Khyber Pass local.
The Khyber Mail to lahore Jn.
The Frontier mail.
The KAlka Mail to Simla.
The Rajdhani Express to Bombay.
The Delhi Mail from jaipur.
The Grand Trunk Express.
The local to Rameswaram.
The Talaimannar Mail.
The 16.25 from Galle.
The Howrah mail.
The Mandalay Express.
The Local to Maymyo.
The Lashio Mail.
The Night Express from Nong Khai.
The International express to Butterworth.
The Golden Arrow to Kaula Lumpur.
The North Star Night Express to Singapore.
The Saigon-Bien Hoa Passenger Train.
The Hue-Danang passenger Train.
The Hatsukari (Early Bird) Limited Express to Sapporo.
The Ozora (Big Sky) Limited express to Sapporo.
The Hikari (Sunbeam) Super Express to Kyoto.
The Kodama (Echo) to Osaka.
The Trans-Siberian Express.
A great book for lovers of train travel.
Are there any magazines / publications pertaining to Train Travels
around the world?
Regards
Viraf
==========================
Viraf Mulla
C-20/14, Jeevan Bima Nagar,
Borivali (West)
Mumbai 400103
Tel: +91-22-8954510
E-mail: sncf@godrej.email
==========================
From: Krishnan Anand <>
Subject: Railway Documentary on Natinal Geographic Channel
Date: 04 May 1999 00:50:59 -0500
For those who are not aware of this,
National Geographic Channel has
been
screening a proramme called "The Great Indian Railways". For all of us
Steam
Loco buffs this is THE PROGRAMME to watch for. Thos who have already
seen
this then this mail will not enthuse, but please dont miss this out. I
dont
mind seeing this a hundred times over. I seriously felt that this
documentary gave me so much of insight into the aftermath of steam being
removed from the railroads. The emotions, the pride of driving a steam
loco,
the feelings where so very well depicted that we were all moved. I was
too
good a documentary. And it has taken a foreign channel to bring out the
most
minutest details of Indian Railways.
The best part of the show was the "Black beauty" contest, the one that
was
shown was the last of the contests after which it ceased to exists. One
Loco
named "Nandini" from Asansol shed took the first prize followed by i
think
one from Rampurhat(i hope i am right). The judges said that their
evaluation
was on the functionality and efficiency of the Loco. THere was also a
small
real time demo of how the Ball-token exchanges take place. It was an
extensive coverage of both WP and YP class locos. It covered the Asansol
shed, then Madurai and also one shed in Rajasthan.
One driver quoted "Though we have technological advances into diesels
and
electric, there is no muscle in them unlike a steam loco which is
rugged,
tough and challenging to drive". These people considered their Locos as
one
in their family and there was also a shot that showed the chief foreman
almost in tears seeing the locos being decommissioned.
It has a part on DHR too. It depicted the Suburban services, the Palace
on
Wheels and even the auto driver menace outside Chennai Central station.
So all you railnuts out there this is a documentary that no one should
miss
out. It was screened yesterday (3/5/99 between 2.00p.m and 3.00p.m). It
will
definitely be re-telecast. I am eager to have another look at it.
regards,
Anand
----Original Message Follows----
From: "VIRAF P.. MULLA " <sncf@godrej.email
To: S Pai <spai@aya.email
CC: Indian Railways List <irfca@cs.email
Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article
Date: Tue, 4 May 1999 11:51:37 +0530 (IST)
Dear Satish,
> Oh, yes, I'm aware that most of these "great" shots are carefully
> arranged and are hardly impromptu. Colin Garratt got some flak for
> spending *weeks* trying to get the perfect shot of some steam locos
(in
> ER) with a shepherd boy "casually" sitting near the tracks...
On his next trip Colin Garratt wanted to repeat the same shot with the
same shoeshine boy who had modelled as a Cattle Boy. But since Bhadu Das
(the model) was working out of town a similar shot was taken with
another
Shoeshine boy this time posing as a Country Boy with an XC in
background.
He even had IR re-paint some of the locos to suit his photographic
tastes
for
> this!
Yes an ugly blue to depict XC as an "Indian Version of The Flying
Scotsman."
> IR itself seems to have precious
> little film footage or photographs -- all the good photos of IR locos
> are by private photographers.
Fully agree with you. You should see the way the old photographic glass
plates and some vintage photographs are stored in the Western railway
archives.
==========================
Viraf Mulla
C-20/14, Jeevan Bima Nagar,
Borivali (West)
Mumbai 400103
Tel: +91-22-8954510
E-mail: sncf@godrej.email
==========================
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at <A HREF="http://www.hotmail.com">http://www.hotmail.com</A>
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Re: Australian Buffer Query:
Date: 04 May 1999 01:34:43 -0500
> Take a close look at some Australian VR locos here:
> <A HREF="http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ajmbrook/steam.htm">http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ajmbrook/steam.htm</A>
> The side buffers look like they've actually
> had a bite taken out of them. I've been wondering
> about this for some time.
The buffer I am referring to is one found on a Australian
diesel
loco, typically their class 48. The two buffer disks are joint
by
a 'web' of metal, thus joining the left and right buffer in
one
piece. Have a look at these locos
at:<A HREF="http://www.sydney.cyber.net.au/~mainline/">http://www.sydney.cyber.net.au/~mainline/</A>
Apurva
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: [Fwd: Buffer Query, Attn: Our Australian friends
Date: 04 May 1999 01:51:07 -0500
From: Suresh Mutuswami <>
Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article
Date: 04 May 1999 03:47:33 -0500
On Tue, 4 May 1999, VIRAF P. MULLA wrote:
>
> Paul Theroux has written another book THE GREAT RAILWAY BAZAAR
(Penguin
> Books). It is a very nice book where the author travels from London to
> Tokyo (via Asia) and back via Trans-Siberian.
> A great book for lovers of train travel.
>
> Are there any magazines / publications pertaining to Train Travels
> around the world?
One of my favourite parts in "The Great Railway Bazaar" is when the
author having covered most of Asia is going through Japan en route to
catching the Trans Siberian Express back to Europe. Theroux is
impressed
by the speed and efficiency of the Japanese Railways but still finds his
mind wandering "...to the sprawl of the Indian Railways...and to trains
that move to the rhythm of Chattanooga-choo-choo." This observation
captures the romance of rail travel nicely and shows that rail travel is
not at all about going by "fast" trains a la the Japanese Shinkansen or
the French TGV. I remember a newspaper article (by Bill Aitken?)
mentioning that a friend of his having travelled by the TGV just
couldn't
wait to get back to the Indian Railways! This is probably my prejudice
but I can't help feeling happy that the Shatabdi set of trains - which I
think is a step in the wrong direction - are making losses.
Paul Theroux has other books which also features travels by train. One
is
of course, "Riding the Iron Rooster" which is an account of a year that
he
spent in China riding various trains (about 40 in all). One interesting
fact that comes out from the book is that the Datong Locomotive Works
(at
Datong) is the only factory still turning out steam locomotives!
Theroux's journey was undertaken around 1986-1987, so I wonder if the
factory is still active? The book also mentions that some countries -
notably Thailand and Pakistan - rely almost exclusively on the Datong
Locomotives for their traction.
Another book of Theroux's which features some interesting rail journeys
is
"The Pillars of Hercules" which is an account of his journey around the
Mediterranean coast. I suppose that his "The Old Patogonian Express" is
about rail travel as well, but I don't know for sure.
Incidentally, does anyone have a list of books featuring travels by
rail?
I would be particularly interested in books/articles published in Indian
languages.
Lastly, I have a query relating to movies. Sometime back, there was a
stream of articles relating to movies which featured trains. Around
1973
or thereabouts, there was a Hindi movie called "27 Down" made by someone
called Avtar Kaul, who I think died soon after the making of the movie.
The movie I guess was labelled an "art movie" and in spite of getting a
national award never achieved any commercial success. (I am not even
sure
it was released commercially.) Has anyone seen this movie? And what
train does the "27 Down" refer to?
Suresh
From: Suresh Mutuswami <>
Subject: Accident
Date: 04 May 1999 05:17:36 -0500
News Update as at 16.00 hrs (IST) on May 4, 1999
Wagon derailment disrupts Chennai-Gudur traffic
Chennai, May 4 (UNI): Through rail traffic in the Chennai
Central-Gudur sector was disrupted from early today, following
derailment of nine wagons of a goods train near TADA on the
Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border. The goods train was carrying
grains from Vijayawada to the city when the derailment occurred.
Railway personnel from the city reached the spot to remove the
derailed bogies and restore the tracks. According to Southern
Railway sources here, trains coming from the northern States to
the city were diverted at Gudur via Renigunta and Arakkonam. The
trains, including Howrah Mail and Tamil Nadu Express, were
delayed by around four hours. All the north-bound trains from the
city were also taking the Arakkonam-Renigunta route, the sources
added.
Copyrights 1999, The Hindu; Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc.
Copyright 1999, Tribeca Internet Initiatives Inc. All rights
reserved worldwide. Indiaserver is a trademark of Tribeca Internet
Initiatives Inc.
From: prem srivastava <>
Subject: Re:Fw: Pray
Date: 04 May 1999 05:18:02 -0500
Best Wishes for the Cricket World Cup Matches
>From: HICJHH@aol.email
>To: jbs@vsnl.email sansaheb@hotmail.email
NAIDU.A.P@ipcl.email avikadam@hotmail.email
janjira@juno.email Nivedita.Kari@ap.email prachika@hotmail.email
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s1804@hotmail.email irfca@cs.email imexpath@nagpur.email
watts@giasbm01.email Prashant_Pande@email.email
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Sunil.Bandal@krg1.email tpl.hyd@tpl.email
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>CC: indiawill@flashmail.email
>Subject: Re: Fw: Pray
>Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 16:14:00 EDT
>
>Good Luck in the matches.
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From: prem srivastava <>
Subject: Re:Fw: Pray
Date: 04 May 1999 05:28:46 -0500
>From: "Milind Thekedar" <jbs@vsnl.email
>To: "SAHEBRAO PATIL" <sansaheb@hotmail.email "A P Naidu"
<NAIDU.A.P@IPCL.email "Avinash Kadam"
<avikadam@hotmail.email "Mukund Wankhade" <janjira@juno.email
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"Subhash Kari" <karisubh@egr.email "Swati Mukund Wankhade"
<swatiwa@hotmail.email "Yogendra Kumar" <yogi_111@hotmail.email
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<vsudhakar@ub.email "Srinivas Kanury"
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>CC: <indiawill@flashmail.email
>Subject: Fw: Pray
>Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 19:07:34 +0530
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: S G <list002@usa.email
>To: list002@usa.email <list002@usa.email
>Date: Sunday, May 02, 1999 6:10 PM
>Subject: Pray
>
>
> >Dear Friend,
> >
> >JOIN US TO PRAY FOR
> >
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> >
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From: S Pai <>
Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article
Date: 04 May 1999 06:02:02 -0500
Suresh Mutuswami wrote:
> I suppose that his "The Old Patogonian Express" is about rail travel
> as well, but I don't know for sure.
It is a rail travelogue. He travels from Boston southwards through
Central America and until the Patagonian plateau in Argentina.
Two other books that have interesting rail journey descriptions are:
1. "Great Railway Journeys" by Clive Anderson and many others, from the
BBC Press. Mark Tully, the well-known former BBC correspondent in
India, takes the Khyber Mail from Karachi to the Khyber Pass; the
other
journeys are are Hong Kong - Mongolia, St Petersburg - Tashkent,
Brazil - Bolivia, through Ireland, and in South Africa, by different
writers. 1994 (BBC Press), and 1995 (Penguin).
2. "Great Railway Journeys of the World", by K Westcott Jones, probably
out
of print now. Published in 1964 by Alvin Redman & Co. of London.
This has
eighteen different rail travelogues all over the world, including one
entitled "Madras to the Blue Mountains".
Suresh, I don't have any suggestions for travelogues in Indian
languages. But if you get any, could you please forward them (as well
as any English ones) to me for inclusion in the FAQ for this list?
Thanks.
Regards,
--Satish
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: National Geographic I.R. article
Date: 04 May 1999 07:13:21 -0500
> This observation
> captures the romance of rail travel nicely and shows that rail travel
is
> not at all about going by "fast" trains a la the Japanese Shinkansen
or
> the French TGV. I remember a newspaper article (by Bill Aitken?)
> mentioning that a friend of his having travelled by the TGV just
couldn't
> wait to get back to the Indian Railways!
Great thought, the words 'sleek' and 'fast' (also like of TGV and ICE
and the Bullet
Train) have no meaning in my life. Give me a YG hauled freight train or
a WDM 2
(preferably double or even triple headed) hauling a coal or cement
special any day. I
do like trains at speed but at Indian speed.
>
> Paul Theroux has other books which also features travels by train.
One is
> of course, "Riding the Iron Rooster" which is an account of a year
that he
> spent in China riding various trains (about 40 in all). One
interesting
> fact that comes out from the book is that the Datong Locomotive Works
(at
> Datong) is the only factory still turning out steam locomotives!
I think Datong stopped manufacturing steam in 1997. The Datong locos I
believe are
quite advanced in features.
I think what goes against the steam locos ultimately is the poor
availability.
How many steam locos were required in the past days to haul say a train
like 11 Down
Dadar - Madras Express ?
My guess:
Pune Daund (WP on short haul - returning to home shed at Daund after
long haul from
Solapur)
Daund Solapur
Solapur Raichur
Raichur Guntakal or Gooty
Gooty Renigunta
Is this list correct ?
> Incidentally, does anyone have a list of books featuring travels by
rail?
> I would be particularly interested in books/articles published in
Indian
> languages.
The IRFCA FAQ which is being composed right now will carry all these
lists.
> Lastly, I have a query relating to movies. Sometime back, there was a
> stream of articles relating to movies which featured trains. Around
1973
> or thereabouts, there was a Hindi movie called "27 Down" made by
someone
> called Avtar Kaul, who I think died soon after the making of the
movie.
> The movie I guess was labelled an "art movie" and in spite of getting
a
> national award never achieved any commercial success. (I am not even
sure
> it was released commercially.) Has anyone seen this movie? And what
> train does the "27 Down" refer to?
I have seen this film many many years ago, much before I began seeing
movies with one
special purpose in mind (to watch train, what else ?) but I remember
that most of the
shots were inside a 2nd class sleeper although there could have been a
few lineside
shots as well. On the whole this is not a voyeur's film, the real
railway content may
not be even 5 minutes lined end to end.
27 down is today's 1027 Dn. Dadar - Gorakhpur Express. In the past this
train was
Dadar - Varanasi Kashi Express. I think this is the most 'populated'
train out of
Mumbai.
I saw a song on the telly yesterday with Poonam Dhillon and Sunny Deol
(I think - I
was watching the background) called 'Saveri wali Gadi' - there were some
beautiful YP/
YG shots and a few of a single WDM 2 hauled train over the Naigaon
bridge. There were
some shots over an unelectrified open (non girdered) bridge from the
buffer beam of a
loco at slow speed.
There is a shot of the actor writing his message of love on the end of a
MG carriage
which carried the home code as MYSL - (Quite sure that it was not MYS =
Mysore) - Any
guesses about the location of the homing shed ?
Apurva
From: Vijay Balasubramanian <>
Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article
Date: 04 May 1999 07:31:01 -0500
At the risk of sounding critical, it seemed to me that "The Great
Railway Bazaar" reeks of
Paul Theroux's patronizing attitude. It's been a while since I read this
book but he really didn't have anything
good to talk about IR. In contrast, other books/articles/videos by
O.S.Nock, Bill Aitken, Brian Thompson, Micheal
Satow.... are so refreshing - it was evident that they have spent time
researching about IR and really did enjoy their tryst with IR.
Vijay
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Suresh Mutuswami [SMTP:suresh@math.email
>Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 1999 6:48 AM
>To: irfca@cs.email
>Subject: Re: National Geographic I.R. article
>
>On Tue, 4 May 1999, VIRAF P. MULLA wrote:
>
>>
>> Paul Theroux has written another book THE GREAT RAILWAY BAZAAR
(Penguin
>> Books). It is a very nice book where the author travels from London
to
>> Tokyo (via Asia) and back via Trans-Siberian.
>
>> A great book for lovers of train travel.
>>
>> Are there any magazines / publications pertaining to Train Travels
>> around the world?
>
>One of my favourite parts in "The Great Railway Bazaar" is when the
>author having covered most of Asia is going through Japan en route to
>catching the Trans Siberian Express back to Europe. Theroux is
impressed
>by the speed and efficiency of the Japanese Railways but still finds
his
>mind wandering "...to the sprawl of the Indian Railways...and to trains
>that move to the rhythm of Chattanooga-choo-choo." This observation
>captures the romance of rail travel nicely and shows that rail travel
is
>not at all about going by "fast" trains a la the Japanese Shinkansen or
>the French TGV. I remember a newspaper article (by Bill Aitken?)
>mentioning that a friend of his having travelled by the TGV just
couldn't
>wait to get back to the Indian Railways! This is probably my prejudice
>but I can't help feeling happy that the Shatabdi set of trains - which
I
>think is a step in the wrong direction - are making losses.
>
>Paul Theroux has other books which also features travels by train. One
is
>of course, "Riding the Iron Rooster" which is an account of a year that
he
>spent in China riding various trains (about 40 in all). One
interesting
>fact that comes out from the book is that the Datong Locomotive Works
(at
>Datong) is the only factory still turning out steam locomotives!
>Theroux's journey was undertaken around 1986-1987, so I wonder if the
>factory is still active? The book also mentions that some countries -
>notably Thailand and Pakistan - rely almost exclusively on the Datong
>Locomotives for their traction.
>
>Another book of Theroux's which features some interesting rail journeys
is
>"The Pillars of Hercules" which is an account of his journey around the
>Mediterranean coast. I suppose that his "The Old Patogonian Express"
is
>about rail travel as well, but I don't know for sure.
>
>Incidentally, does anyone have a list of books featuring travels by
rail?
>I would be particularly interested in books/articles published in
Indian
>languages.
>
>Lastly, I have a query relating to movies. Sometime back, there was a
>stream of articles relating to movies which featured trains. Around
1973
>or thereabouts, there was a Hindi movie called "27 Down" made by
someone
>called Avtar Kaul, who I think died soon after the making of the movie.
>The movie I guess was labelled an "art movie" and in spite of getting a
>national award never achieved any commercial success. (I am not even
sure
>it was released commercially.) Has anyone seen this movie? And what
>train does the "27 Down" refer to?
>
>Suresh
>