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Some photographs from our journey on the Kalka-Shimla Heritage Railway.

Link to information about Kalka-Shimla Railway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalka%...Shimla_Railway (Source: Wikipedia)

The ZDM-3 Loco ready to haul the Himalayan Queen Express (Train No. 52455) at Kalka Railway Station.


Views of Kalka Railway Station.



Approaching the Kalka Diesel Loco Shed.


Barog Tunnel (Length 1,143.61 meters), the longest tunnel on the Kalka-Shimla Railway.



Views of Barog Railway Station.






Link to information about Barog Railway Station: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barog (Source: Wikipedia)

At Shimla Railway Station.







At quick halt at Jutogh Railway Station on way back to Kalka.

WDG-3A

A grunge cross-processed desaturated look.

WDG-3A is supposed to be a goods loco, right. Any particular reason why it is used passenger operations ?

No idea as such. Is it because with advent of newer locos, they are just using what comes in hand? (Just guessing!)

The only difference between a comparable G & P is the gearing, thus making G's top speed less that of P (Thus, G is more suited to haul greater loads than P). The G's are used for passenger hauling duty where speed is not a requirement (Is within the G's limit). It also depends on the availability of the locos.

It is to do more with lack of WDM's. Most of the WDM's are rebuilt and do duty on express and super-fast's.
WDP's are normally used on express and mail's and few on short distance passengers.

If the breakup of IR's loco list is looked at, freight loco's outnumber passenger and mixed class loco's by a huge margin and with new trains introduced often, freight loco's are used now on all types of trains.

I remember Shatabdi running with a WAG5 loco years ago.

You are right about the gearing, however in this case it is not do with the speed requirement.
Either class of loco's can run only on the MPS(max speed) of the line they are running on which they can easily touch and that most of the time need not require full throttle.

The gearing comes into picture when a freight loco is used for a passenger train which has halts at every station on the route. In those cases, it leads to faster pick up after each stop.

Here is a compilation of Nilgiri Mountain Railway videos which I had shot in 2014. It has videos taken on board the train from Mettupalayam to Ooty. In addition, we hired a car and spent a day chasing the trains by road. Clips from that day too are included in the video. I hope you will like it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhHEntZkuOU

The WDG3/4 are being used with passenger trains for quite some time now at least in the SWR. I had a chance to discuss this with one of the loco pilots. The freight locos have far more load pulling capability thanks to the gearing. The 18-20 coach rake is not much load at all for the freight locos. It can accelerate pretty fast and get the section clearance faster. You can see these engines on the trains with many stops (passenger/fast passenger/some express trains with many stops too)

I had a chance to travel in a passenger train between Murudeshwar to Udupi. This one had a WDG3A loco from Erode shed. This one used to accelerate furiously between the stations which were only a few kms apart. It was accelerating pretty hard even on gradients which were a little steep.

The rated speeds of the 3A's are as below.
WDG-3A - 100km/h
WDM-3A - 120km/h
WDP-3A - 160km/h
There are sections in IR which are rated above the 100km/h, which the WDG-3A is capable of (Info). I agree that in 99% of the cases, the speed is limited by the track & rake. But there are physical performance limitations for each loco. A WDG-3A cannot be used to haul a train set, which is approved for more than 100km/h. The G's can be used if the speed requirement is within the capability of the loco. This is what I meant. I completely agree with the acceleration part, as the gearing is short, the G's can accelerate a passenger rake much faster to its maximum speed.

My wife and I spent three weeks in Spain and Italy in June 16 where we travelled extensively by metro, bus and train. Surprised to see only one person at the ticket window in the metro stations and only from 9 to 5. What was amazing fro me (not have had opportunity to travel on europe's trains before) was the speed of the trains, 300 kmph on the Madrid Valencia route and 160 kmph on a local train on the Rome to Orvieto route. The sound of two trains passing each other at speed was scary at first. Some pictures..
The AVE train was doing 300 kmph for most part of the 2 hour journey

The AVE and Altaria trains at Madrid's Atocha station

Local Airport train at Roma Tiburtina

Another train at Tiburtina.

It can actually.

The speed rating you mentioned stands. The way freight loco's are used on passenger and can still do the same speeds is by coasting which is important also for fuel saving.

Almost all coaches and most of the mainlines on IR are certified for 110kmh or above and these guys hit 100+ most of the times.

An example of freight loco's used on an express is the Kacheguda express from Bangalore . It used to run with a WDP4 until they increased the number of coaches on it and removed the WDP4 and now the link is dual WDG3a's . The reason is for better hauling power and to maintain speeds on gradients . Essentially it is 4500hp,6 axle drive to 6200hp , 12 axle drive increase .

Also what I have heard about the WDP4 is its capability with gradients. WDP4B are doing duty on the routes where there are ghats or steep gradients. EMDs need the dual cab for safety and the WDG4D should do well.

Here is a link with a bit of info on the diesel locos - http://24coaches.com/wdp-wdg-alco-emd-descriptions/

On a loco, coasting is done by not sending power to the traction motors. In your example, I can understand the increase in TE. But other than in a downward gradient, I still cannot understand the gain in speed (other than a marginal increase).

The loco is not restricted to 100 due to the gearing,if that's what you meant.
It is the rated max speed with a freight load. Coasting aside, the WDG3a can do well over 100 without anything breaking, on its own power. 10 over its max rated speed with freight is very easy for a behemoth 16 cylinder, on a passenger, keeping in mind the 110 limit of the coaches.

If you see the rated speed of a Wdp4 class loco and the recent speed record it broke with the Talgo coaches, it was well over its rated speed and from what I heard, they are looking at breaking the 200 Kmh mark with the same class loco.

The Golden Chariot at the Ashokapuram station, Mysore.