• Editorial
• Letters
• News from the NRM
• The Journey South by Reginald Sowler
• Are the Railways likely to roll back into the Steam Age ever in the Future? by S Kashyap

In July, Dileep Prakash displayed his pictures in the India International Centre (IIC) art gallery. Dileep’s photography is a true work of art and talks about his passion for steam. The exhibition was inaugurated and opened for public by Union Minister for Tourism Hon. Shri Ananth Kumar who talked about his passion for railways being from a railway family himself. Throughout the week that the exhibition was on, it attracted rave reviews and was covered by the local and national press. At the same time the ISRS organised a Press Meet at the IC. To address the press about the avowed aims and objectives of ISRS, several stalwarts of the railway preservation movement were present. Mr Bisht, GM NEFR, Mr R C Sethi, President ISRS, Mr R R Bhandari, CPO SER, Mr A. Lohani, and Mr R. Agrawal addressed the press and answered their queries.

Also, Mr Dasarathy, GM NR, Mr Mark Tully, and Harsh Vardhan presented talks on steam and golden days of rail travel during the week at IIC.

There seems to be no major development so far on the tenders floated by the railway board for the purchase of new steam locomotives for Nilgiri and Darjeeling Himalayan Railways. The main concern appears to be the price quoted by the bidders apart from apprehensions of applying a new technology given that only one class of locomotives have been really successful respectively on each of these railways. The proposal of refurbishing the present fleet of locomotives instead of going for completely new ones altogethsr also seems to be gathering steam. There are two major players who could refurbish a 'B’ class in the UK that have evinced interest and have hinted at the ballpark figure of about £300,000. Certainly cheaper than a new one.

KC 520 is a 2-6-2 Tank locomotive of the Kalka - Simla Railway built by North British Locomotive in England in 1905. It was the last steam locomotive to work on this line till the late eighties after which it was proudly displayed at the Divisional Manager’s office grounds at Ambala. Recently this locomotive has been refurbished by the Northern Railway locomotive workshop at Amritsar. The inaugural run by the locomotive in the 21^st century took place on 26^th September between Simla and Kanoh. The locomotive is planned to be kept in active service for special runs though commercial details are yet to be worked out. Another tender locomotive from the Dabhoi stable is also planned to be tested on this section shortly.

Harsh Vardhan, September 2001

Yesterday, I attended the conference, Slow Train Coming in York. The aim of the conference was to look at the future of preserved railways. I had intended being there anyway, but at the last minute (well, a few days ago) Dr. Joydeep Dutta of Indian Steam Railway Society (ISRS) asked, as he was unable to attend in person, if I would present his paper.

Therefore it was all the more important for me to make it there and I felt privileged to represent the Indian viewpoint. I hope that you will approve of my involvement on your behalf. I tried to do it justice.

I read out Joydeep’s presentation - which was very well received. I then had the opportunity to give my own (albeit limited perspective) based on my two visits, one in 1999, the second earlier this year. I emphasised how I thought great progress had been made in this little time in India with regard to railway heritage preservation. That here in Europe and the USA we have had 50 plus years of railway heritage and preservation while India is a relatively new starter in this area, yet the importance has been realised in little time.

Although India might be considered a late starter she was now very active in this field. I talked with enthusiasm of what I had seen, whom I had met, and the considerable changes witnessed in two short years. I admit much of my experience is confined to the DHR, but I was able to talk about other elements either seen or read about.

Afterwards I was able to answer questions (as best I could) and was gratified by the audience’s reaction. I was surrounded by people who were really keen to find out more about the preservation movement in India. There was a great deal of interest. Several people approached me afterwards who wished to quiz me. I was also able to meet with Dr Robert Lee, William Withuhn of the Smithsonian Institution, and others - all good friends to the Indian railway preservation movement.

I was also able to mention a newspaper clipping that demonstrated that IR are quicker and more punctual than railways here in the UK. Oh, and for what it’s worth it took me 6 hours to drive from London to York (220 miles) on our wonderfully clogged motorways!

All best wishes,

David Barrie
Chairman, DHRS UK

Fairy Queen is a 2-2-2 Well Tank engine of 1855 vintage built by Kitson, Hewitson and Thomson of Leeds, England. It was restored to regular main line service in 1997. It operates two day excursions from New Delhi from October to March each year, running down the main line to Alwar on Saturdays; the passengers then stay overnight in the former Maharajah of Alwar’s Palace in a tiger sanctuary, and spend early Sunday morning tiger-spotting before catching the Fairy Queen back to Delhi Cantt. The locomotive carries two coaches. One is a Power/ Buffet Car with a diesel generator to supply power for the air brakes as well as lighting. The passenger car has a large glass window at the end that overlooks the coal bunker straight into the cab. Fairy Queen has undergone a major overhaul at the Locomotive Works, Perambur this year and bears a completely new look thanks to the efficient and dedicated efforts put in by workmen of SER and SR. The locomotive has had the driving wheels re-axled, and the majority of its brass tubes have been replaced. The locomotive was fitted with two baby compressors last year to make it an independent working air-braked unit. However, the two compressors have been fitted on the sides of the locomotive which make them look ugly and out of place. They should be concealed. Fairy Queen, Guinness certified as the world’s oldest working locomotive on the mainline, is set once again this year to rekindle the romance transporting fifty guests in an exclusive journey of a lifetime. The fare is Rs 10,000/- all-inclusive (except liquor). For more details and bookings contact:

Rajesh Agrawal, Director
National Rail Museum
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021, INDIA
Tel: +91 11.6880804, +91 11.3304137
Fax: +91 11.6880804
Email: rajesh_agrawal@vsnl.com

The National Rail Museum along with Lions Club Delhi Metropolitan, Northern Railway, Bharat Scouts & Guides and Rashtriya Bal Vikas organised a grand Van Mahotsav celebration, also marking the Janmashtmi festival. Tree plantation, cultural activities for school children and disabled persons, and surprise gifts for children made this a big success as a community program. Shri Ashok Kumar, Chairman, Railway Board, was the chief guest and expressed his happiness at the success of community program at the National Rail Museum. Members of the Railway Board, Secretary, Railway Board, District Officials of Lions Club Delhi Metropolitan and many senior persons graced the occasion and participated in the tree plantation program. More than 2000 plants of over 40 varieties were planted during the drive and thousands of children and visitors made this a festive occasion and a big success.

[Second in a series; see Newsletter No. 006 for the first part.]

The state of affairs at Mhow had to end sometime and on the morning of Wednesday 19^th April 1944, I was told to report to the company office. I arrived there with some trepidation but I was told to collect together all my gear and rifle, no ammunition of course, and I was given the movement order to take me to Kandy in Ceylon. Information after that was rather sketchy, I would be taken down to Mhow station to catch the 8.20pm passenger from there to Khandwa. After that I was given three train times, 1.14am from Khandwa, 8.52am from Itarsi and 8.10pm from Madras Egmore, so I was duly taken down to Mhow station to depart on my journey of over 1,700 miles.

It is possibly difficult to imagine the situation fifty years ago. I was 20 years of age and had never been more than a couple of hundred miles from home, let alone in a large strange country where I could only speak a few words of Urdu. Few people had watches or cameras, including myself, and anyway photographing railways in wartime was forbidden. It was before the age of air travel and even the biro pen was in the future. Information of locomotives was very limited and it was some years before I was able to obtain any details of the engines I had seen. Against all this was the thought of traveling over 1,700 miles on the railway, all of it steam hauled!

At Mhow Class D 4-6-4 tank 326 was the station pilot and at 7.10pm Class YF 2-6-2 486 arrived on a Khandwa - Mhow mixed train. It was 8.50pm before Class YF 2-6-2 488 arrived on the 820 PM stopping passenger to Khandwa. This time I was traveling second class. There was a 12mph speed limit down the 1 in 40 grade at Patalpani - Kalakund Ghat section near Mhow and then later a 5mph speed limit over the Narbada [Narmada] River Bridge, apart from that just the blackness of the Indian night.

Coming into Khandwa 73 miles from Mhow I could see the lights of another train arriving at the station and at 11.15pm we arrived at the metre gauge platform, 8 minutes late. The other train was standing at the 5'6" gauge platform and I could find no one to ask if it was the train to Itarsi. As there was very little time before departure I decided to get on the train. Putting all my gear aboard I was just in time before the train pulled out, I found myself in a compartment with an Indian couple who assured me that it was the right train. I think it was the Punjab Mail.

The train arrived at Itarsi, 111 miles from Khandwa, at 4.32am on Thursday, 20^th April 1944. I found a hut with an empty charpoy [Indian rope woven bed] in it next to the railway and I managed to get a rest until it was daylight. The station restaurant provided a good breakfast and I was ready for the next part of the journey. Whilst in Itarsi, I saw a number of engines, including the following: Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR) Class J 0-6-0s Nos. 7, 10, 294, and 304, a variety of Class H 2-8-0s Nos. 788, 973, H4 Class No. l339 and No. 2020 and also North Western Railway SGS 0-6-0 No. 4077, presumably a rebuild of 1077.

At 9.10am, the Grand Trunk Express to Madras Central scheduled at 8.52am arrived hauled by GIPR Class D3 4-6-0 No. 525 and I climbed on. Madras was 868 miles and about 34 hours away. Nagpur is 186 miles from Itarsi and we passed several GIPR 2-8-0s on goods trains including Nos. 891, 892, 978, 1321, and 2004, and at Betul, No. 1326 Jhansi and No. 996 were seen on a double header goods train going towards Itarsi. At Amla, a North Western Railway Class SGS 0-6-0 No. 103 was noted.

Nagpur was reached about 4.30pm and produced a variety of locos: from the GIPR Class Y3 0-8-4 tank No. 35, Class D2 4-6-0 No. 217, Class D3 4-6-0 No. 399 and a rare looking Class XP 4-6-2 No. 3101; from the East Indian Railway Class DT 912 which I believe to be an 0-6-0 [Editor's note: DT 912 was a 0-6-2T]; and from the Bengal and Nagpur Railway Class FT 2-6-4 Tank No. 307. After leaving Nagpur nothing more was noticed until we reached Wardha where the train reversed. Here GIPR Class X1 0-6-2 Tank No. 94, Class D4 4-6-0 No. 430 and Class H2 2-8-0 No. 821 were seen before it became too dark to see any more.

Passing through the Nizam's State Railway (NSR) territory next morning, Friday 21^st April 1944, several NSR locos were seen before arriving at Bezwada [Vijayawada]. They were Class B 2-8-0s Nos. 4, 7, and 8, Class A 4-6-0s Nos. 56 and 64, and Class D 4-6-0 No. 96. At Bezwada I became acquainted with Madras and South Mahratta Railway (MSMR) locos for the first time. Noted were Class D 0-6-2 Tanks Nos. 41 and 47, Class F 2-6-4 Tank No. 100, Class SGS 0-6-0s Nos. 351 and 363, Class V 4-6-0 No. 698, and Class W 4-6-0 No.786.

>From Bezwada to Madras was a pleasant run and many engines were seen including Class F 2-6-4 Tanks Nos. 119 and 121, Class XB 4-6-2s Nos. 209 and 213, Class M 2-8-0s Nos. 452 and 465, Class N 0-6-0s Nos. 529 and 536, Class U 4-4-0 No. 675, Class V 4-4-0s Nos. 693, 694, 695, 699, 700, and 701, Class W 4-6-0 No. 784, and Class XD 2-8-2s Nos. 852, 856, 857, 860, 861, 869, 872, 874, and 877. There were quite a variety of classes but the class XD 2-8-2 certainly dominated them. Arrival at Madras Central behind Class W3 4-6-0 No. 780 was on time at 7.30pm on 21^st April 1944. Still more locos were to be seen here, MSM Railway Class F 2-6-4 Tanks Nos. 104, 107, and 115, Class L 0-6-0s Nos. 350 and 356, and Class W 4-6-0s Nos. 772 and 782.

Now here my problems began. I should have gone to the Railway Transport Officer, but no one had told me that. How does one get from Madras Central to Madras Egmore in time for the train at 8.10pm, and how far was it? A very willing and knowledgeable rickshaw man who took me through the darkness to Egmore Station solved the problem. There was only about ten minutes before the train departed and no one to ask about it. Again I should have looked for the RTO’s Office at the station, as I found out later. There seemed to be only one train it could be, but then came the next problem, all the carriage doors seemed to be locked. Time for departure was close and I solved my problem when I found a door with an open window. In went all my kit and I followed it into the carriage.

I then found myself in a compartment with half a dozen airmen. They said I should have gone to the RTO and I would have been reserved on the train, but it might take up to three weeks. It now did not matter as the train was now on the move so I was made as comfortable as possible for a sleep on the floor. This was yet another new railway to travel upon, the metre gauge South Indian Railway.

There was nothing to be seen outside in the darkness but I was told to be sure that I was awake when we reached Trichinopoly next morning, Saturday 22^nd April 1944. Apparently there you were given bread and jam. This was just one of those things that you learned the hard way, you were never given any information about it, getting anything to eat was to say the least difficult. Since having breakfast at Itarsi on Thursday morning I had only eaten fruit and numerous cups of tea bought at the carriage window. The tea always had a marvelous taste.

The loco at the head of our train at Trichinopoly was a Class M 4-6-0 No. 43; also seen was Class MT 4-6-4 Tank No. 1. It was here that I first came across the South Indian Railway numbering, a different letter for each class and each class with its own set of numbers. Something to cause me problems in the future. It was then on from Trichinopoly to Dhanushkodi 671 miles from Madras. A few engines were seen, a Class M 4-6-0 No. 20 at Karraikudi, Class E 4-4-4 Tank No. 5, and Class F 0-6-0 No. 11 at Mandapam, and finally 4-6-0s Class B Nos. 43 and 126 and Class M No. 25 at Dhanushkodi which was reached some time after 4.00pm in the afternoon.

Here I boarded the ferry Irwin for the crossing to Talaimannar. We sailed at 6.30pm and arrival in Ceylon was about 9.00pm. The train departed from Talaimannar at 10.50pm behind Class B2 4-6-0 No. 28 of the Ceylon Government Railway (CGR) with a good load of seventeen coaches. This loco took the train to Anuradhapura, 82 miles where there was a large engine shed. Unfortunately, on the two times I passed it, it was always at night.

The next stop was Polgahawela, 136 miles, where I changed trains, but first I had a good breakfast in the station restaurant. A few CGR locos were seen Class B1 4-6-0s Nos. 255 and 261, and Class Fl 4-4-0s Nos. 148 and 5. Departure from Polgahawela on Sunday 23^rd April 1944 was behind Class B2 No. 212 on a mixed train to Kandy, and by now the rain was pouring down. At Rambukkana Class A1 4-8-0 No. 18 was attached as a banker up the heavily graded line with its many tunnels to Peradeniya Junction. Other 4-8-Os were seen at Kadugannawa, Nos. 17, 19, and 42, and finally Kandy was reached.

On reporting to the Army in Kandy everyone seemed very surprised that I had made the journey in such a short time. If I had not been ignorant of Army time travel I could have taken much longer. However I had traveled on six railways, the BB&CIR, GIPR, NSR, M&SMR, SIR, and CGR, as well as seeing engines of eight different railways.

It would be November 1944 before I returned to India and I would not be alone this time.

The Railways could have given the lead in meeting the energy crisis in India by giving greater emphasis to coal as a source of energy rather than oil. Unfortunately, there seems no hope of reverting to steam locomotives for traction. It is indeed a shame that Indian Railways neglected advances in steam traction after it was decided to introduce diesel traction on a large scale in the 1960s. At least there is now the hope of some main line preserved steam operations.

Indian Railways rolled out their last steam locomotive in 1972 and nearly gave up on steam traction. Just thirteen years later in 1985 a policy decision was taken to phase out steam traction by year 2000. On the other hand a country like Zimbabwe showed what could be done with older steam power when it rehabilitated 87 Garratt type mainline locomotives in the early 1980s. This gave them another 15 years of productive life, and the decision was taken purely on economic grounds.

The General Manager, Zimbabwean Railway, explained the economics of steam through a set of figures comparing capital and running costs of steam and diesel locomotives. The cost of diesel traction is now just over £2 compared with £1.30 for a steam engine. But even so the Zimbabwean Railways were phasing out steam locomotives from mainline work a decade ago.

Coming back to the Indian Railways, the following set of figures compare the capital and running costs of steam, diesel and electric locomotives. I might add here that electrification on Indian Railways will not be truly economic unless the traffic density on the section concerned is beyond 60 million GTKM per route km. Dieselisation of railways can be economic on density of traffic below the level of 60 million GTKM per route km. However, if you consider the overall infrastructure cost then steam still holds sway. These conclusions drawn are of considerable importance lest any faulty decision be taken. But the political lobby for personal gains and rational decision-making are two completely different things. The above results emerge from a study undertaken by the National Council of Applied Economic Research for the alternative for rail traction. The study also revealed that there are very few sections of Indian Railways that have a density of more than 25 million GTKM per route km in India.

Studies regarding average cost of fuel on IR have shown that hauling a goods train of 1600 tonne for 1km works out to Rs. 3.75 to 5.50 by steam traction, Rs. 5 to 6 by diesel traction and Rs. 2 to 2.60 by electric traction on a gradient section. For local sections it is Rs. 3.40 to 4.90 by steam traction; Rs. 5 to 5.80 by diesel traction and Rs. 1.70 to 2 by electric traction. These figures are nearly a decade old, perhaps at the time of the Fourth Planning Commission report. At that time the haulage cost of passenger train per Km for steam was Rs. 1.64 on BG, Rs. 1.86 on MG and Rs. 3.57 on NG Lines. However, noteworthy is the fact that capital cost in case of using steam traction is far lower than other modes.

The cost of a steam locomotive (WG class) in 1952-53 was Rs. 9.22 lakhs, which was lowered to Rs. 4.07 lakhs by 1956-57, and the cost was still only Rs. 4.31 lakhs in 1966 despite a steep hike in the dearness allowance of the Employees. In 1966 Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) was building steam locomotives at the rate of 10 per month and by 1970-71 in the final phases of steam locomotive building this had dropped to 4 locomotives in the same period.

Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) commenced production of steam locomotive on January 2^nd 1950 and the first WG class steam locomotive was turned out in November that year. When the manufacture of broad gauge steam locomotives ceased in 1970, a total of 2560 locomotives of the class WG had been turned out, the highest number for a single class of steam locomotives in any commonwealth country. The last broad gauge steam locomotive that rolled out from CLW in June 1970 was named Antim Sitara ("The Last Star") and the last MG locomotive was turned out by CLW in March 1972 with a total production of 2351 steam locomotives. The population of steam locomotives on Indian Railways reached its zenith in 1965-66 with around 10,700 locomotives in operation at that time. Thereafter it went into a sharp decline and regular working steam finished in early 2000. Is it not strange that we decimated our entire fleet without having second thoughts at giving them a new lease of life by way of possible restoration?

The generation of steam on a moving vehicle such as a steam locomotive for the purpose of traction may not be the best solution keeping the efficient utilisation of energy in mind. After World War II, with the energy crisis looming large alternates to the conventional steam locomotives were sought. As an alternate, coal gas could be produced in a stationary plant and packed into cylinders to be transported to locomotives as a source of power. Such experiments have been tried in the west for opening possibilities of the use of coal for both mainline and marshalling yard duties. ACE (American Coal Enterprises) planned a design for steam locomotive known as the ACE 3000 which would burn coal by using two stage combustion technique. In the first stage coal is gasified and in the second stage it is completely burnt, thereby controlling nitrogen oxides. By using low-sulphur coal the atmospheric pollution by sulphur dioxide was to be controlled and also static precipitators were to be employed to minimise the release of particulate matter and smoke into atmosphere.

This locomotive was to consist of two parts -- a power unit (containing the combustion and transmission system) and a support unit called the tender which housing 33 tons of coal in three structured packs along with a water recycling system holding 10,000 gallons of water.

This locomotive’s working range was expected to be more than 800km between fuel points and 1600km between water columns. Noteworthy is the system through which the steam that would otherwise escape into atmosphere was to be reserved for driving the auxiliary pumps and fans, and then be condensed back into water and cooled in the support unit (tender) and recycled.

Coal was to be loaded into packs at the mine then moved by flat cars to rail service points, where these packs would be loaded on these locomotives by the lift and shift crane. The ash from the furnace was to be collected in a removable ash pan that could be replaced when the locomotives was to be refueled. Even though the ACE 3000 project seemed to have made a promising start it died down due to lack of required infrastructure and support. However, in recent times there has been a talk of reviving the ACE 3000 project based on the original model.

Even with conventional steam locomotives, a high level of performance has been achieved in some countries due to Dr. Giesl and his oblong ejector, which has improved performance. Locos with such improvements were found to be two to six times as cost effective as a typical electric engine. The cost effectiveness of the ACE 3000 is likely to be higher; moreover it will be a silent locomotive.

One more experiment was "Return of the coal burning engine", from Union Pacific Age Rail News of September 15, 1984 from which I noticed that West Norfolk Southern are interested in developing a coal-burning steam locomotive again. Chief executive officer Robert B Taylor told the members of the National Railway Historical Society in USA, "The approach was not just to recall the past, but to make use of the most abundant energy resource and in the effort, increase operating efficiency." It is interesting to note that success in burning coal in an internal combustion engine would also perhaps fulfill the dream of its inventor Dr Rudolph Diesel. In 1892 Dr Diesel obtained a patent for the first internal combustion engine wherein he used crude oil, as refined forms of petroleum were expensive then to compare favourably against coal-fired steam engines.

Now a lot of work is being done regarding steam locomotives but I feel that the main difficulty in switching from oil to coal is the harmonisation of conflicting interests. First there is the interest of the oil-producing countries and the worldwide lobby of oil-burning equipment manufacturers. Second, there is the reluctance on the part of railway operating men to give up the ease and advantages offered by diesel and electric traction by way of trouble-free smooth operation.Third, there are strong vested interests of road haulers, who wield a lot of influence in the corridors of power. And the various Government heads are loath to curb this. But sooner or later the necessary harmonisation must be brought about if the developing countries have to survive the energy crisis.