• Foreword by Chief Patron
• Editorial
• Message from the President, FNRM
• Message from the Director, NRM
• Preserving the Rail Road by Joydeep Dutta
• Nilgiri Mountain Railway by Dr GVJA Harshavardhan
• Why I am a steam fan by R C Dubey
• Indian Railway Panorama by I S Anand
• Steam Update
• Travel Notes by Bill Aitken

I am extremely happy to learn that the newly formed society �Friends of the National Rail Museum�, is bringing out the 1st issue of its Newsletter. This Newsletter, which would ultimately take the shape of a Journal, would be of wide and varied interest, not only to Railwaymen. but also to others, who are either connected with the railway system or have an interest in the heritage of the railways.

The Indian Railways has a very rich heritage spanning over 140 years of its existence in the country. In a limited way, only the National Rail Museum as of today is engaged in preserving this glorious heritage. The need to have a more broad based support is being filled in by this newly formed society.

I wish the society all success in their endeavour.

At the outset, I would like to thank everyone involved in initiating the FNRM movement and for their unrelenting encouragement and support in bringing out the inaugural �FNRM Newsletter�.

1997 ended on a resounding note for the FNRM with the arrival of L-2 2-8-4T locomotive at the National Rail Museum, New Delhi from Hindalco Industries on 14.12.97. More important was the fact that it entered the museum on its own steam and was received by the Chairman, Railway Board and other dignitaries. This may help cast off notions anyone might have about the seriousness of railways for preservation of its heritage. While the railways have their infrastructure and resources to deploy, the real effort has to come from the railwaymen, the public and the traveller who has an eye and an inherent instict for noticing the relics. FNRM requests all members and readers to provide detailed information on the railway heritage which they come across and find worthy of preservation.

Apart from the museums at Delhi and Mysore there are plans for opening three more museums at Mumbai, Chennai and Varanasi. This will help in allocating the new entrants to be placed appropriately and also provide vistas to the enthusiasts who are away from Delhi but near these places.

Let us work together for the success of preservation of Railway Heritage.

When the Rail Museum was founded twenty years ago it seemed sad that the only thing running was the toy diesel for kids. But what about the pride of those Railway persons who had kept Fairy Queen and the Patiala Monorail alive but in mothballs? It has been a dream come true to see these beautiful vintage engines returned to steam. Suddenly the stuffed mood of past museum practice has been transformed into a working collection of transport jewels. Both locomotives and staff wear the badge of pride today.

Another dream realised is the founding of Friends of the National Rail Museum. The recognition for the past and present performance of Indian Railways� vast network (not forgetting the little industrial lines outside the official system) can now be channelised through an organisation that collects and shares information and experiences of rail enthusiasts. Luckily, we have come together almost at the midnight hour for steam traction which means that its last moments can be accorded full affection if not ceremonial farewell. Who knows where YG 3573 is? This Telco loco was the last steam engine built in India. We may not know but we care, especially in the 50th year of Independence because these quality works comprise our transport history. Let us do what we can to honour the people who built and ran them. The best way to do that is to keep these old numbers running -- and make India�s National Rail Museum the envy of the world.

It is my privilege to be associated with the �Friends of the National Rail Museum� right from its inception stage. As its name suggests, this society should provide impetus and also support to the National Rail Museum in its quest to preserve the glorious heritage of the Indian Railway System. Preserving the heritage is not the responsibility of one individual or one organisation alone. It is the collective responsibility of the society and therefore, it is a good sign that even persons from non-railway sector are taking a keen interest in the railway�s heritage. The objectives of the society are also extremely laudable and I am sure that in the years to come this society would grow into an All-India movement and would continuously be engaged in preserving Railways� heritage.

It is also noteworthy that the society is bringing out the first issue of its Newletter. This newletter which I am sure would grow into a popular journal at a later stage would be of great value to railway enthusiasts in general and steam locomotive lovers in particular. I am confident that besides enlightening us about the past, this newsletter would also carry items of current interest for its readers. I wish the venture all success.

The railway authorities in India have decided to axe the remaining steam locomotives by 1998, except the mountain lines of Darjeeling and Ooty. It appears that with this, regular working steam locomotives may become a closed chapter throughout the world except in China. Despite this fact. the phenomenal rise of steam tourist trains across the world proves that the fascination with steam continues.

Railways are usually considered as commercial organisations whose sole job is to provide economic and efficient transportation of passengers and merchandise. But the other side of Railways, namely the appeal to emotions of rain, steam and speed which has attracted artists and the common man. For this reason, the disappearance of steam from the railways would have meant a great emotional loss which no museum exhibit could replace. Fortunately, the railway preservation movement has maintained the steam locomotive as a working machine.

Railways are Britain�s gift to the world and hence it was natural that Britain led the world in preservation. In Britain, there are enthusiasts� organisations which have devoted themselves to the restoration of lines which were abandoned by main line railways and to their operation with restored steam locomotives. The movement for preservation gained momentum after the Beeching era during which thousands of kilometers of branch lines passing through English countryside were closed down.

The first preserved route anywhere was the narrow gauge Talyllynn Railway in Wales. This line had survived decades of dwindling traffic. By 1948, it had nearly become bankrupt and the British Railway did not absorb it during its nationalisation. Its owner was determined to keep this line in operating condition after his death. So, an enthusiast society took over the line and after toiling hard, was able to open it to tourist traffic in 1950. Another famous narrow gauge preserved route in Wales is the Festiniog Railway over which the famous double boiler Fairlie locomotive works. The narrow gauge lines in Wales along with the Festiniog are now called �Great little trains of Wales�.

In the U.S.A. also, preserved railways are very popular and the �Silverton and Durango� is the most popular among them. Apart from preserved lines, main line steam tours are a frequent event in Britain, South Africa and many-many other countries. In Britain, they arc being led by the flagship �Shakespeare Express� and South Africa even uses �Garratts� on the mainline. Although preserved lines generate more interest by recreating the old world atmosphere, one must remember that railway preservation really began with the display of static exhibits.

The first major attempt at Railway preservation in India was initiated with he opening of the �Rail Transport Museum� at Delhi in 1977 under the aegis of Mike Satow. The museum has a lot of interesting displays including the �Fairy Queen� (h 1855) which is the oldest working locomotive in the world! Ramgotty, the prototype WP, the DC electrics, the N-class Garratt, the fireless locomotive, the monorail and WL 15005 �Sher-e-Punjab� (the last broad gauge steam locomotive on Indian rails) make the museum a fascinating place. The running of �Fairy Queen� for tourists has been one of the major achievement of the museum.

In India, Nilgiri Mountain Railway is the only mountain rail line of metre gauge system that is fitted with the unique rack and pinion arrangement for the train to negotiate an average gradient of I in 12.28 of Coonoor ghat section. Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) of the Southern Railway connects Mettupalayam of Coimbatore plains with Ootacamund that crowns the mountains of the Nilgiris. Steam locomotives of 1920 and 1952 vintage chug along the spectacular landscape. Due to the ageing of the locos, it is becoming increasingly difficult to complete the journey on time.

The longing of the officials of British Raj to savour and enjoy the cool climes of Ootacamund and the necessity to quickly transport tea produce to the sea ports of the Western coast, made it possible for the construction of a 27.03 km rail line between Mettupalyam and Coonoor by 1897. It was operated and managed by Nilgiri Railway Company. Four Beyer-Peacock steam locomotives of 2-4-OT type were brought in 1897 and the line was opened in August 1898. The heavy downpour of rains caused extensive damage to the rail line and after repairs and restoration, the line was reopenend in June 1899. From Coonoor an extension of 18.85 km was made to connect the rail line to Ootacamund by 1908.

Niklaus Riggenbach of Switzerland and J L L Morant of Royal Engineers were the pioneers who conceived the original idea for this mountain railway. It was Michael�s (1889) alternate biting teeth (ABT) system that gave the much needed adhesion to the steep rail gradient. The 45.88 km line must have challenged the guts, ingenuity and engineering skills of the expatriate surveyors and engineers and the migrant labourers who hacked dense jungles, blasted rocks and laid the line at enormous physical strain and risk. We must recognise and remember those successful adventurers who gave us the magnificient Nilgiri Mountain Railway that weaves its way through 16 tunnels and 218 curves and breathtaking vistas of verdant mountains.

Stepping out ot the warm embrace of home and into a residential school at the age of 10, yet an impressionable child, I found myself going to and from school twice every year in a dedicated train that chugged out of Old Delhi station and Ajmer respectively at the end and beginning of vacations and did not reach its destination till 18 hours later. It averaged less than 20 kilometers an hour over dusty meter gauge trackage behind a heaving, snorting beast of a fire breathing engine. It was a potent moment of pre-teen male freedom, a train full of �Lords of the Flies� up to unremitting mischief till the dictatorial adult world closed in again at the end of either journey. The Mayo special was a time for ceaseless fun, but it was ultimately our window into the world of adults, of control and freedom, of that unrestrained spirit of adventure that has since time immemorial taken man to the ends of the world and the limit of knowledge. The engines came in to symbolize this eternal quest, and I saw in steam a mirror of my own restless quest for the unknown and unknowable. Ferro-equinologist thus I became.

And as my years as an adult flew by and the limits to freedom experienced as a child gave way to another kind of bondage, of the weight of responsibility and the unforgiving neurosis of insecurity, I clung to nostalgia as we do to hope, epitomized again in that masterly beast -- powerful, autonomous, free...

But intellectual rationalization must capture what childlike sentimentality renders untenable in the world of the adult and so tenuous causal connections to a fragile personal philosophy became inevitable. This game, as personal philosophies often are, found basis for this unremitting fascination and so historical, psychological and aesthetic symbolism sought to explain what requires no explanation.

The steam engine is important because it made rapid mass transportation and communication possible as had never been possible before. It permitted then a radical expansion of commerce and a change in the way the world of men looked at themselves and their possibilities. The steam engine is the architectural equivalent of the Taj Mahal, important because, for better or for worse, in a world where no one has the last word, it is a kind of full stop and civilization would have a different quality but for it. For those who think that �History� means more than Michael Jackson�s double album offering, steam is of enormous significance.

There is also the purely psychological issue of personality which modern man seeks in excess but succeeds only in cloning the zeitgeist. In a world of mass production and conformism, the steam engine as a form of traction is unique. Each engine has its own unquestionable personality, its own unique quirks, its own defined ability, and achieving validation in the very existence of itself as undeniable fact.

Finally, there remains the aesthetic to consider. Transcending platitudes about where beauty lies in relation to beholder, it is a fact that to a large number of people, a Mach 2 jet fighter, an immaculate exponent of the martial arts like Bruce Lee in combat, or an Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Conan the Barbarian represents a kind of beauty. And so it is with steam fans -- the rhythmic beats of the chimney exhaust, the clang of the valves slamming into the cylinder bearings, the poetry of the turning wheels dancing in rhythm with the rods, are all as beautiful as the controlled aggression of a gymnast on Roman Rings.

Indian Railways, by its sheer magnitude and diversity of stock and operations, throw open an arena for rail enthusiasts to indulge in, and are an eye-opener for the general public that our railways are not just for transportation of men and material. In Niligiri Railways, we have Asia�s only steam worked section with rack and pinion system of operation and that too in metre-gauge. We also have our delightful Darjeeling Railways, the scenic Kalka-Simla Railways and the compact Neral-Matheran Railways. To top it all, we have the latest technology oriented Konkan Railways with its numerous tunnels, bridges and viaducts. That we do not lag behind in modern rail comfort travel, is borne out by our Palace on Wheels, the Rajdhanis and the Shatabdis. The Fairy Queen�s travel package shows how rail enthusiasm can be suitably blended with culture and nature, and not to speak of the Royal hospitality included. We also have the unique position of being the world�s only operator of advanced medical facilities on rail with our Life-Line Express providing relief and succour to those in inaccessible areas.

While it is highly unfortunate though inevitable to lose Steam, the contributions to Indian Railways (especially in the post-independence period) by Electric and Diesel traction cannot be overlooked. This is more than amply brought out by the yeoman services rendered and still being rendered by the Mumbai Division�s DC Electrics which date to 1954/55 onwards. It will be also a very sad day when the last of them run and are retired, ultimately to be scrapped. Their sturdiness and reliability with their unique bonnet shape shall forever be etched in memory, especially for those of us fortunate to have lived / be living with them. The era of DC electrics ought not to go unrecognized and unsung.

And as with Electrics, can Diesel also be far behind. Can any one of us in any part of India not be associated with the greatest of Indian Railways workhorse -- the indomitable WDM2s, criss-crossing the entire nation and in all forms of operation, from the humblest passenger service to the mighty Rajdhani/Shatabdi combinations to the heaviest freight.

RanaPratap Nagar shed has been closed completely w.e.f. 26.08.97. After the closure of passenger services on steam in Dec. �96 the shed was providing shunting locomotives at Udaipur City and Chittorgarh.

Sabarmati Shed is closed at present because of shortage of water hut it houses 5 locos in running condition. Steam powered services of 919 Up / 920 Dn on the Vijapur-Ambliyasan loop are unlikely to be restored.

WP 7161 and 7015 of erstwhile Moradabad loco shed which were last seen at Haridwar station on 3 1.03.97 in a dilapidated condition have been sent to Charbagh, Lucknow workshop for overhaul.

Wankaner shed (26.10.97 upto 20.12.97) is fully operational and this is the only remaining steam exclusive section on the IR apart from the mountain railways. This shed has an allocation of 9 working steam locos (seven YGs and two YPs) which carry all the passenger and freight traffic on the Wankaner-Morbi-Maliya Miyana- Navlakhi metre gauge network.

Jetalsar & Junagarh sheds (27.10.97) have 3 YP�s left among them after YP 2813 & 2683 were transfered to Wankaner. Dhola station has an interesting architecture and also has a turntable which is used regularly. Rajkot Division control office informed that these sheds would be closed by March �98.

4th Feb 1997 found me alighting from the Ranikhet Express at Kathgodam where I took a taxi to Almora. At Bhim Tal, I did a double-take to see standing by the roadside a narrow gauge steam locomotive apparently sold to a hotelier. It was a number from the Katwa stable.

19th March 1997 proved that you can do the Neral - Matheran narrow gauge mountain line from Mumbai-and-back in one day. I caught the morning Deccan Express from C.S.T., managed to land the last seat available on the Matheran Train, was able to spend two hours enjoying the views at Matheran then took a horse for 4 km to the taxi stand. From the taxi, I photographcd the descending train. Back at Neral I made sure to catch a non-stop suburban EMU that got me hack to CST in time to witness the Deccan Queen pulling out on her return to Pune.