[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by shifu

I am hoping that by the time he is ready to be a loco pilot, the bullet trains are running full steam (no pun intended) in India

Completely forgot about this. Might be worth pursuing what the requirements are for a Bullet train driver. JR or Japan Railway is supposed to operate the trains. This will be of a very high standard and should ideally be on par with how the Japanese operate their trains. We are supposed to see them whizz past in less than 5 years from now.

To be honest, I still prefer our slow trains versus the Bullet train :-).

[unk9ja]

Originally Posted by shifu

Wow. This is just brilliant. I can just imagine him getting super duper excited about this. Do they also sell the miniature stuff?

Yes, they have some model trains on sale in the museum but it was expensive. There is a shop called Decibel models on FB. This is in Delhi and sells pre owned and new ones. Very quick to respond to queries and helpful.

This is the website for the above

https://www.decibelscalemodels.com

[strawhat]

Originally Posted by shifu

I have an off topic query. It’s about my son who is 6 years old. He is absolutely crazy about trains. Since he was 2 years old, he has been watching videos on YouTube about trains. When children of his age were watching cartoons, this guy used to see videos of trains (and sometimes car reviews). I have spent countless hours standing at a railway crossing close to my house to wait for that one train he wants to see. Sometimes it’s the “blue passenger express” and sometimes it’s the “red express”. I thought it is an infatuation that will fade away with time, but he is 6 and still going strong. His fav toy (no marks for guessing) is Thomas and Friends. He has about 52 pieces of these engines, and he keeps making stories of these engines.

Hey shifu,

After reading this para I could vividly recollect my younger days. The hours I patiently waited for a glimpse of my favourite train that whizzed past me gave me some of the biggest thrills of my life. Even today when I visit my grand parents place in Vizag, a stones throw away from Simhachalam railway station, I cannot resist the urge to go to the station and spend a couple of hours watching numerous passengers and freights. The tracks are visible from the house's terrace too but I was not content with that after I got a bit older to venture out alone.

All the railfanning started at the age of 7. I remain a huge railfan. I am only an occasional trainspotter these days though due to time and work constraints.

I can totally relate to your kid. There are many railfans out there like me. So he is not alone and of course not "mad". When you have the chance why don't you catch a Falaknuma-Lingampalli MMTS and take your son with you. You can show him Hussain Sagar triangle(intersection point of Hyderabad line, Secunderabad line and Begumpet line), Sanatnagar goods yard(lots of freights and locos) and Lingampalli station. See if he is interested. You can also take him to the nearest suburban station in the evenings and watch several express departures. A lot of this stuff is for recreational reasons.

Originally Posted by shifu

At first I was a bit worried about this madness. But he is otherwise ok, and looking at the passion you folks have on this thread, I am not really worried. However, I would really like to help him pursue this passion. I have started reading about the various locomotives there are in the Indian Railways, and try to explain him. But he is only interested in the colour of the train/type of train etc as of now.

Like I said railfanning is a recreational activity at this age.

After Bachelors, I had thoughts of pursuing a serious career in railways but that was not to be. Railway jobs are not yet that high fetching as say IT industry. Thankfully over the last few years there have been a lot of changes, for the better, in the organisation. The employment conditions have improved a lot. I talked to several staff including loco pilots, guards, station masters etc., they said the situation is becoming better. The pay has increased, work hours are being streamlined and provided better facilities. But there is a lot more to do to make it an efficient organisation.

Your son still has a couple of decades to make that decision. By then, who knows, railway jobs can become sought after.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

https://www.irfca.org/

This train craze was with me from the day I could recognize a train. Years went by under the feeling, am I the only crazy chap out there who likes trains? Then I stumbled upon Irfca back in 2002-2003. I also discovered that my child hood pal, who is also on tbhp, FM tharian, is another train crack. This was discovered way back and when we were just 8 or 10 years old. A gold mine of information related to the operations of Indian Railways is available on Irfca. The group used to have an active Photo sharing library. I believe this has stopped. However; the collection in there is huge. The Irfca forums is another useful place together information. A few passionate folks are also IR employees. The group has yearly meets too which is very well organized. I have attended one of them a decade ago.

Do allow your son to follow his passion and interest. I did not, could not and regret it in a lot of ways.

Irfca forum is a great place just like TBHP to discuss and know anything about railways. The forum has photos, videos, discussion threads, updates etc. that focus on railways. As a longtime member, I am part of SC, SBC and VSKP railfan gang. We also meet sometimes at railway stations.

[strawhat]

Just came across this article interviewing two loco pilots about the dark experiences they have had throughout their career.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/articl...rack-81443?amp

I am sure every senior LP will have such stories to look back on.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by strawhat

Just came across this article interviewing two loco pilots about the dark experiences they have had throughout their career.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/articl...rack-81443?amp

I am sure every senior LP will have such stories to look back on.

The sad part of the job.

I can understand how stressful it would be for the LP to witness someone getting run over.
When the Level crossing was active near my house before a flyover came up, there used to be many run overs, both accidental and suicides and I have seen the bodies from far and it used to freak me out for few days.

At present , especially in city limits in Bangalore, the lines have been cordoned off with walls which prevents entry to some extent. This was more to stop animals entering the lines too.

[Flyer]

I saw this video in YouTube today which shows the Indian Railways constructing a subway in a record breaking time of under 5 hours! Sharing the video here.

Indian Railway

Edit:

Adding a news link of the same here

Indian Railways constructed a subway crossing in just four-and-a-half-hour between Pendurthi and Kottavalasa line in Andhra Pradesh.

The Railways authorities used 16 heavy duty excavators, three heavy duty cranes, five tippers (truck), 1,000 sandbags, four hydra machines, heavyweight jacks, and a workforce of as many as 300 people to complete the task.

[unk9ja]

Shared by a good friend of mine. Pic credit to Ramanand. Shot somewhere in Western Ghats where he had been vacationing earlier this month.

[condor]

From Swarajyamag.com:


Indian Railways Shows ‘Steam Spirit’; Attempts Trial Of Iconic Beyer Garratt Locomotive For Commercial Runs

[sandeepmohan]

^^Very nice. These iconic locomotives could be put into mainline use for excursions. In many countries, rail enthusiasts are putting together effort to restore many of these old steam and diesel-electric locomotives.

Here is a picture I took of a rebuilt, New Zealand (Originally British) built JA class #1271 steam locomotive. It was running an excursion trip. The locomotive has clocked only 10lac kilometers and post rebuilding, could push out 1200 horse power. An achievement for a design from 1956.

[MadiMaama]

A pic from a recent trip to Panval Viaduct. This the Marusagar Express to Ajmer on the viaduct

[SJM1214]

A train stuck in traffic Jam.
How is this remotely possible? I received this photo as WhatsApp forward claiming that this happened in Gwalior.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by shifu

Oh, and what does he want to do after he grows up? Again, no marks for guessing, “Train Driver”

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an engineer.

Only because I thought an engineer was thw one who drove the railway engines.

Nothing wrong with his passion, however it's still many years before he actually makes a firm decision. By then his interests might have changed!

Do ask him to start getting into the science and math of it. I guess that will also help if he wants to seriously pursue a career with the railways.

[Who_are_you]

Here is my video driving parallel to train in Gujrat while coming back from Koteshwar.

https://youtu.be/UvbwwoRPonI

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by SJM1214

A train stuck in traffic Jam.
How is this remotely possible? I received this photo as WhatsApp forward claiming that this happened in Gwalior.

Attachment 1816970

It is very much possible. This is the Narrow gauge track which goes from Gwalior to Sheopur Kalan and was part of the Gwalior light Railway system.
It is narrower than the usual Narrow gauge tracks and it crosses the road at some places.

[ampere]

Dylan says it right! Times.. they are a changin

Here is a story of resurrection of the Yelahanka railway station.

Here are some old snaps of the station that I had post 2-3 years back.
(Cross Linking from this same thread)













And then, the work started to make this one a nodal station to take off the load from Bangalore City. And not to mention the electrification of Bangalore-Hindupur line.

The road to transformation

How it looked then:


Work in Progress




Broken Pieces






The Elements of Past









Welcome to the Future!











Yes people still come early morning to take a walk and enjoy the whistle of a railway train. However, you do feel that lump in your throat and a pain in your heart to realize that the old world you used to know is gone and that it has been replaced.

But then that is the irreversible process; called life