IRFCA Mailing List Archive
Messages 6181 - 6200
From: Shanku Niyogi <>
Subject: Re: Train to Europe!!
Date: 12 May 1999 08:35:06 -0500
The main reason for use of the Talgo trainsets in the Northwest corridor
is
to improve speed around curves - the use of these trainsets cuts down
traveling time.
-----Original Message-----
From: Anne Ogborn [mailto:anniepoo@netmagic.email
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 1999 8:14 PM
To: VIRAF P.. MULLA
Cc: Shanku Niyogi; 'Jishnu Mukerji'; shankie@emirates.email SHRINIVAS
V. JOSHI; irfca@cs.email
Subject: Re: Train to Europe!!
VIRAF P.. MULLA wrote:
>
> >
> > Interestingly, the Talgo sets are also in operation here in the US
> > Northwest, running between Portland and Vancouver, BC. I'm going to
have
to
> > check them out sometime soon!
> >
> Is there a change in gauge? My sister lives in Vancouver and is of no
help
> in railway matters.
>
> Viraf
No gauge change. Canada is std gage.
From: Don Mills <>
Subject: Fw: [Fwd: Fwd:School Project]
Date: 12 May 1999 10:37:46 -0500
-
Subject: Fw: [Fwd: Fwd:School Project]
>Here is a unique chance to help future leaders with their geography.
dlm
>- >Hello!
>>
>>We are in Grade 5 at Mill Cove District School,
>>which is about 1/2
>>hours west of Halifax, Nova Scotia. We have 7
>>girls and 10 boys in
>>our class.
>>
>>We have decided to map an email project. We are
>>curious to see
>>where in the world our email will travel by
>>Internet, between the
>>period of April 8 -June 7, 1999. We would like
>>your help. If you
>>receive this message, we ask that you:
>>
>>1) email back and tell us your location so we can
>>plot it
>>on our world map
>>
>>AND
>>
>>2) send our class letter on to more people.
>>
>>Thank you for any help you can give. Our email
>>address is
>>millcove@glinx.email
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
From: Ed Von Nordeck <>
Subject: Re: {A-A} Fw: [Fwd: Fwd:School Project]
Date: 12 May 1999 11:44:25 -0500
Ed Von Nordeck wrote:
Just tried to send a message and it came back "Due to an overwhelming
response, Millcove has asked us to block their e-mail".
Guess that good.
Don Mills wrote:
>
> -
> Subject: Fw: [Fwd: Fwd:School Project]
>
> >Here is a unique chance to help future leaders with their geography.
dlm
> >- >Hello!
> >>
> >>We are in Grade 5 at Mill Cove District School,
> >>which is about 1/2
> >>hours west of Halifax, Nova Scotia. We have 7
> >>girls and 10 boys in
> >>our class.
> >>
> >>We have decided to map an email project. We are
> >>curious to see
> >>where in the world our email will travel by
> >>Internet, between the
> >>period of April 8 -June 7, 1999. We would like
> >>your help. If you
> >>receive this message, we ask that you:
> >>
> >>1) email back and tell us your location so we can
> >>plot it
> >>on our world map
> >>
> >>AND
> >>
> >>2) send our class letter on to more people.
> >>
> >>Thank you for any help you can give. Our email
> >>address is
> >>millcove@glinx.email
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
>
> *^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > Send mail for positing to the list: all-aboard@railspot.email
> > To unsubscribe, use: <A HREF="http://www.railspot.com/gif/railspot/list.html">http://www.railspot.com/gif/railspot/list.html</A>
> > OR, mail: majordomo@railspot.email message: unsubscribe all-aboard
> > eMail Web-archived: www.railspot.com/gif/railspot/archive10.html
> *^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
From: Shankar <>
Subject: station and shed codes on the ir--PART-1
Date: 12 May 1999 12:22:16 -0500
Hello,
I'm a bit new at this game, and realize that I have already made two
unsuccessful attempts to mail the scanned image of the station codes
sheet to the gang.(I'd persuaded my office IT Dept to scan it and e-mail
it to my home address.)
I realize also that in case the combined file had gone through, it might
have occupied too much of your disk space. I'm extremely sorry about
that.
Nonetheless, I'm not sure the combined file has reached you after all,so
I'm attempting to send it in parts.
Here is the first one.
Best regards.
Shankar
From: Shankar <>
Subject: station and shed codes:part-2
Date: 12 May 1999 12:24:47 -0500
Hello,
This is the concluding part of the codes draft.
Best regards.
Shankar
From: Shankar <>
Subject: Abbreviations
Date: 12 May 1999 12:27:57 -0500
Hello,
Here is another interesting list: That of the Greek and Latin
abbreviations.
This is the last and final document.
Thanks for bearing with me, and once again, I beg your forgiveness if
the earlier post has reached after all, and that your mailbox is full.
I'll learn the roots yet.
Cheers.
Shankar
From: Anurag Acharya <>
Subject: [IRFCA
Date: 12 May 1999 13:16:03 -0500
Folks: please do not send image files on the irfca mailing list. They
fill up mail boxes, take forever to download over modem connections
and cause a lot of (large) bounces for me. As an alternative, I
suggest putting the images on a web site and sending the URL to the
mailing list.
cheers,
anurag
From: Shankar <>
Subject: [Fwd: Re: Oddities
Date: 12 May 1999 13:40:46 -0500
From: Shankar <>
Subject: Re: IR IDIOSYNCRACIES
Date: 12 May 1999 13:40:53 -0500
Harsh Vardhan wrote:
>
> >There would, perhaps, be no clear yardstick by which to judge the
> >reasonableness or the need to extend such facilities. Any suggestions
or
> >comments?
> >
>
> One unique thing which I have noticed(although admittedly I have not
been to
> the Railway booking office in Bombay since May '92) is that although
the
> trains in Bombay have ladies coaches but at the reservation counters
they
> have to stand in a common queue which is not so from other parts of
the
> country. Even on WR I have seen that some real wayside stations like
Bilkha,
> Waghai, Ajnod, Lunidhar etc. have instructions for separate queues
painted
> on the booking counters. It is a different matter that it might be
just a
> few days in a year that it needs to be practised because of the light
> patronage.
>
> Railway also has funny rules for concessions for physically
handicapped.
> There is actually a chart which states that what percentage of
handicap(or
> vision defect) is entitled for what concession and the paperwork
requirement
> for it(of course).
>
> I think we can very easily start a line for idiosyncrasies on IR. That
Iam
> sure will be truly unique in the world. Shankar, Dr. Walker ?
>
> Harsh
INDEED. I'M GAME.
ONLY,I'VE BEEN OUT OF INDIA FOR A WHILE NOW,GOING HOME ONLY ON SHORT
VISITS,HENCE MY KNOWLEDGE OF ABSURD PRACTICES AND IDIOSYNCRACIES IS A
TAD RUSTY.
NONTHELESS, I'M WILLING TO GIVE IT A SHOT. WHAT SAY, GANG?
I SAY GO FOR IT!
HARSH, I THINK YOU OUGHT TO MAKE THE FIRST MOVE.
BEST REGARDS.
SHANKAR
From: Shankar <>
Subject: Re: WP and WG locos
Date: 12 May 1999 13:41:16 -0500
Hello,
Tough or nothing, I think it has more to do with the overpowering
charisma of steam.
Steam, with its agricultural simplicity and matter of factness with no
hidden features created such a bond between man and machine that no
dedicated scientific research of findings can explain or recreate
it.Steam was something to be felt, experienced or heard.
TO cut a long story short, it probably also had to do with the mode of
operation.
With modern diesels, the drivers take over at the station (shunting
masters do the dirty work of coupling the engine etc) and leaves it and
walks away when the destination is reached. The driver/assistant might
come to Poona driving WCG/2 20128, and return to Bombay driving WCM/2
20179 on the return journey, only to return later in th eday with WCM/5
20098. There is no sense of belonging.
With steam on the other hand, the driver had an engine assigned to him
for life. He bestowed all his care and attention upon it, sometimes
painting those tiny motifs and embellishments.It was not rare to see
drivers of yesteryear lovingly caressing the mechanism and oiling the
cranks at several wayside halts.
Each engine had its own personality: the color of the smokebox, tone of
the whistle,the way it behaved.
Indeed. WHile with mass production, WDM/2s (say) look alike and sound
alike and perform alike be it in Jammu Tawi or Kanyakumari or Ahmedabad
or Dehradun, each steam engine had its own personality, and performed
differently.
The output of a steamer depended largely on the driver himself: a bad
and incompetent driver could get disastrous results even from a pristine
and well maintained steamer, while, conversely, a competent driver could
really thrash (and my were the steamers thrashed at times!) even the
most rickety old battleaxe, and still manage to make up lost time.
The driver was the key. He loved his engine, he understood her moods,
idiosyncracies, her ups and downs.He knew how to make her purr, and what
he should do to make her roll along on her bearings.
Not like the modern electrics and diesels: its an assembly line
operation: see one and you have seen them all.
NO wonder steam drivers are still so sad and disheartened to see their
beauties go!
Best regards. Sorry, I got a little carried away.
Best regards.
Shankar
Sunil Bajpai wrote:
>
>
> > I wonder if you have met any of the old time steam loco shed
foremen. Tough
> and powerful guys, most of them. It was a little strange to see them
so
> emotional.
>
> Sunil
>
>
From: Shankar <>
Subject: Re: Specials freights and oddities on IR.
Date: 12 May 1999 13:41:22 -0500
Hello,
My uncle once had his battered Standard Herald car moved from Delhi to
Madras in one of those motor vans.
Actually, these are nowadays called 'Motor and Parcel van': the van an
conventional brake(IR parlance) or parcel van, and is usually used for
general parcels, but it also has provision to carry one or at the most
two motor cars parked lengthwise.
By provision, I mean fittings to keep the cars from moving inside the
van.The fitting usually consisted of a tube with flattened ends with
holes on them. After the car had been positioned, one tube used to go
under the car ahead of the front wheel (beradthwise) and another tube at
the rear behind the rear wheel. The flattened ends used to rest on
little stumps and a long screw or tool used to be put through the hole
and into a hole into the stump. This locked the car securely inplace.
It was an old concept, when cars were not so efficient and highway
driving over a long distance was still undeveloped.
Nowadays, who wants to send his car by train when one can drive from A
to B in almost the same time, and enjoy the added advantage of stopping
off ad libtum en route taking in the local sights?
Operationally too, its a white elephant for the railways. They can't
charge unrealistically high rates. But if an entire railway car is used
to carry only two motor cars, its a criminal wastage of carriage space.
Hence all sorts of other general cargo was dumped in, which enraged the
car owners, who found their cars hopelessly scratched and dented at the
end of the journey.
Lack of maintenance also meant that the fittings sometimes came loose,
and the cars moved about inside the van,suffering more damage.
Not to mention all the paper work involved. Much easier and fun to
simply drive down to wherever you wnat: modern cars are quite reliable
anyway.
Motor and parcel van in todays context simply means that the van has
provision (the fittings) to carry motor cars, but will be otherwise used
to carry general merchandize.The car carrying facility is rarely used,
for reasons explained above.
Best regards.
Shankar
Vdate@aol.email wrote:
>
> Has anybody seen a motor car in a motor and parcel van? I have not,
although
> I have seen other vehicles, mostly bicycles, motor cycles and
scooters. Why
> is called a motor and parcel van? Did it ever have it own motive
power or
> did it have generators of some sort in olden days?
From: sarat krishnan <>
Subject: unsubscribe
Date: 12 May 1999 13:46:45 -0500
unsubscribe
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Get Your Private, Free Email at <A HREF="http://www.hotmail.com">http://www.hotmail.com</A>
From: Anil Balchandani <>
Subject: Re: [IRFCA] please avoid image files
Date: 12 May 1999 15:56:50 -0500
will you implement the subject prefix, [IRFCA], as a permanent fixture
please.
Anil Balchandani
anil.balchandani@fnc.email
(pls note the new email format)
From: Sridhar Shankarnarayan <>
Subject: Re: draft of IRFCA FAQ
Date: 12 May 1999 16:47:22 -0500
Satish,
Great effort! A very comphrehensive FAQ indeed.
>Nilgiri Hill Railway (Ooty) steamers will be phased out by 2000, as
there
seems to be no easy way to get >replacements for the
>X-class locos dating back to the 1940s (the youngest is from 1956).
>The Coonoor steam shed is still working -- perhaps.
The above should go into the MG section and not NG.
Also, reading the January issue of the Indian Railways magazine I came
acorss this on an article abot the Vadodara electric loco shed which
talks
about the WAM4-6P locos.
"The shed has converted 33 WAM4 locos from 2S-3P combination to 6P
combination". I am assumimg that they are talking about a
series-parallel
to an all parallel combination (or am I totally off on this?). And what
is
the advantage of such a setup?
_Sridhar
At 10:07 PM 5/12/99 -0400, S Pai wrote:
>
>Hi, folks,
>
>I have put up a draft version of the FAQ that I have been working on
>for this list, at <A HREF="http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716">http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716</A>. Check
>it out, and feel free to send me feedback on it. Corrections to
inaccurate
>information in the FAQ is especially appreciated, as also additions to
>flesh out the (many) incomplete sections. Also welcome are comments
>on the format and layout, although please bear in mind that when the
>FAQ is hosted in final form on the real IRFCA website that Shanku is
>working on putting up, it will probably be reorganized quite a bit.
>
>The site with the draft FAQ is a free webserver, and "you get what you
>pay for" with a free site, and I have found it sometimes goes down
>unexpectedly. But unlike some other websites, it doesn't have too much
>advertising on it. There is a contact address on the FAQ pages, but
>I would prefer it if you replied with your comments directly to me
>at this address that I am mailing from: s_pai@bigfoot.email.
>
>Reminder -- this is a *draft*, a work in progress. Go easy on the
>flames. :-) This really should have been out much earlier, but
>various other commitments kept me from getting this out sooner. But
>better late than never.
>
>Thanks.
>
>--Satish
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sridhar Shankar
GSB MBA'99
The University of Chicago
1616 E. 50th Place, Apt. 13A
Chicago, IL 60615
(773) 752 1131
From: S Pai <>
Subject: draft of IRFCA FAQ
Date: 12 May 1999 19:07:30 -0500
Hi, folks,
I have put up a draft version of the FAQ that I have been working on
for this list, at <A HREF="http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716">http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/syria/716</A>. Check
it out, and feel free to send me feedback on it. Corrections to
inaccurate
information in the FAQ is especially appreciated, as also additions to
flesh out the (many) incomplete sections. Also welcome are comments
on the format and layout, although please bear in mind that when the
FAQ is hosted in final form on the real IRFCA website that Shanku is
working on putting up, it will probably be reorganized quite a bit.
The site with the draft FAQ is a free webserver, and "you get what you
pay for" with a free site, and I have found it sometimes goes down
unexpectedly. But unlike some other websites, it doesn't have too much
advertising on it. There is a contact address on the FAQ pages, but
I would prefer it if you replied with your comments directly to me
at this address that I am mailing from: s_pai@bigfoot.email.
Reminder -- this is a *draft*, a work in progress. Go easy on the
flames. :-) This really should have been out much earlier, but
various other commitments kept me from getting this out sooner. But
better late than never.
Thanks.
--Satish
From: Anne Ogborn <>
Subject: Re: draft of IRFCA FAQ
Date: 12 May 1999 19:17:45 -0500
Thanks to Satish and all who have worked on the FAQ
From: Anne Ogborn <>
Subject: sprags
Date: 12 May 1999 19:21:53 -0500
this from the new FAQ:
Vaccum recreated on ghat section, remove sprags
what's a sprag?
From: Dheeraj Sanghi <>
Subject: Re: Specials freights and oddities on IR.
Date: 12 May 1999 20:34:35 -0500
Vdate@aol.email wrote:
>
> Has anybody seen a motor car in a motor and parcel van? I have not,
although
> I have seen other vehicles, mostly bicycles, motor cycles and
scooters. Why
> is called a motor and parcel van? Did it ever have it own motive
power or
> did it have generators of some sort in olden days?
I have seen a motor car in a motor and parcel van.
When my father-in-law retired from Railways, he used one of these to
transport all his household goods, including a car.
-dheeraj
--------------
Dr. Dheeraj Sanghi (0512) 59-7077/7638
(Off)
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering (0512) 59-8627 (Res)
Indian Institute of Technology (0512) 59-0725/0413
(Fax)
Kanpur - 208 016 (UP), INDIA. dheeraj@iitk.email
Home Page: <A HREF="http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/dheeraj">http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/dheeraj</A>
From: Apurva Bahadur <>
Subject: Image files on the IRFCA
Date: 12 May 1999 22:06:53 -0500
Dear Shankar and all,
Let me rephrase Anurag's earlier request. 'Please DO NOT post any image
files on the
IRFCA' . There is no question of 'avoid'. This is just not done. It has
taken me 45
minutes to download the morning mails ! We have tiny mailboxes and
limited bandwidth,
so DO NOT post any pictures (TIFF files are also pictures) by email.
Everyone is
forced to receive these large files.
I can see that the intentions were good but when you hand over a paper
to someone else
in the organization to scan and upload, they do not have an idea of what
the
consequences can be. In case of the large mails from Godrej earlier we
had a set of
BMP files and now TIFF files from Shankar. The same scanner could have
produced a neat
OCR output in HTML or TXT which would have been much appreciated.
However to undo this
damage I would try and OCR the TIFF files and post the results on my
website.
Apurva
From: Tony Bailey <>
Subject: Re: sprags
Date: 13 May 1999 00:00:20 -0500
From: Anne Ogborn
>this from the new FAQ:
>
> Vaccum recreated on ghat section, remove sprags
>
> what's a sprag?
>
A piece of metal shoved through a spoked wheel on an unbraked wagon or a
vacuum braked wagon to stop it moving (or being moved) when it is
stored
somewhere without a locomotive or brake van.
You need to have had a railway system with, until relatively recently,
unbraked or vacuum braked trains to know about that!
Tony Bailey