Photo feature on Steam Locomotives ~ Dileep Prakash
Dear Mr. Nalavala:
These are the photos
selected by Nirad Grover. I am giving brief descriptions besides each of them.
The scans are not very good - they will only give you an idea of the content
and composition - not colour. If you wish to see them larger please click
on the photo to get a larger view.
I would appreciate if
the layout is emailed to me before finalising the pages so that I could see
the feature from a photographic point of view.
Best,
Dileep
Sorry
this photo got cut during scanning. The whole loco is visible on the right of
the picture.
This is a photo from the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR).
Here the loco is being prepared for the run.
The
DHR train runs thru the Kurseong market.
Quite amazing!!
This is the
Baby Sivok - a loco of 1911 vintage that was rebuilt by the DHR.
In the picture
the Loco Foreman attends to the engine at Tindharia yard.
This
DHR shot is one of my favourites because of the composition, colours and the
smoke.
The
train from Darjeeling approaches the Batasia Loop - one of the most enthalling
points on the DHR.
Most
of the track of the DHR runs along the Hill Cart road. Here the trains runs
thru a town.
The
full train shot at the Batasia loop which remains enveloped in fog most of the
time.
This
is the Fairy Queen (FQ) the oldest
working loco in the world!! Here it is seen at Alwar in Rajasthan.
The
FQ has goats for company at Alwar railway station!!
Here
the FQ chugs along on its way from Delhi to Alwar.
This
is the HGS class loco of 1922 vintage which was rebuilt by the Howrah
workshops.
A
gun toting policeman stands guard as the HGS is prepared for the run.
The Nilgiri
Mountain Railway (NMR) is the olnly rack
railway apart from the one in Switzerland.
Here the train
crosses one of the several viaducts in the Nilgiris in South India.
Locals
come to glean unburnt bits of coal that comes out of the engines - at Mettupalayam
in the NMR.
This is the
Coonoor station in the NMR - one of the most beautiful stations that I have
seen.
The photo is
of the little snack counter that has a round board with a painting of the
engine.
The
driver checks the track as the loco clambers up the Nilgiris.
This
is the Mettupalayam station and loco yard which is the starting point of the
NMR. The blue Nilgiris from a picturesque backdrop.
The
Nilgiri Railway is a beautiful journey. Tiny stations of British vintage and
styling, such as this one, are a part of the landscape.
There are a
few industrial steam locos in India.
This is a loco
at the Tipong collierey of the North Eastern Coal Fields in Upper Assam
- almost touching the Burma border.
I call this
bridge " Bridge over the river Kwai" due to the fantastic surroundings
and landscape. This is a very good photo - 100 times better than the scan.
The
same Tipong loco spews out thick smoke.
Wankaner
in west Gujarat was the last place in India to have steam run passenger trains.
Here two 'khalasis' pick coal slag as the YP Telco loco steams in the
background.
A
group of local women await the next train at Dahinsara - a station along the
Wankaner ~ Maliya Miyana line.
A
driver proudly poses for a snap from the footplate of his YG at Morbi.
A
Wankaner loco chugs out of the yard.
Railwaymen
take a breather at the Morbi railway station. Morbi was an erstwhile kingdom
in British times and the railway station is a beautiful building in local Gujarati
architecture.
A woman 'khalasi'
wends her way down to the yard to pick coal at Wankaner.
Wankaner too
was a kingdom. The raja still stays there in his beautiful palace and has
a large collection of vintage cars.
This
is the WP loco built in Poland in the 1960's. Here two men paint the
loco serial number before its run during the Dehradun Railway Centenary in May
2000.
Local
boys sit and watch the WP at Dehradun station
The
WP at the Delhi-Safdarjung station in winter 2000. We ran the WP on the Delhi
Ring Railway in Feb and it did extremely well.
