India's Frontier Railways - BBC

Gosh that was a tough one to watch last night for the NG enthusiast on so many levels. It was about a 2'6" railway between India and Nepal that was barely hanging on by its finger nails. For example a derailment was re-railed by the passengers, trains often not running for weeks at a time and no money for parts, diesel or to pay the staff. The shed full of retired Beyer Peacock & Hunslet steam locos was really sad to see, although most were in a pretty poor state. In the UK some might have been found homes.

Its more about the people rather than the railway and exactly the sort of programme that the BBC does well. It was well worth a look if you didn't see it

Its on the BBC iPlayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05mp8mt/indias-frontier-railways-2-the-last-train-in-nepal

 

Second of a three part series, fascinating glimpse of Indian life and railways.

 

Have finally managed to watch this - very sad viewing indeed. Anyone up for trying to repatriate at least one of those steam engines? I can't imagine that they will have much of a future if they stay where they are...

 

There are British built steam locomotives quietly rusting away all over the world. If more are repatriated all that changes is the location where they rust.

 

An example is the Neral- Matheran no. 740, which has been in this country many years and allowed to get into a state where several years work will be required to get her going again. At least she now has a future on the South Tynedale Railway, but I do wonder how well we look after locos that heave been repatriated; maybe gauge is an issue.

John

 

.... and the ex Tasmanian RSH sadly rusting away at Tanfield the last time I visited. Unfortunately 'odd' gauges and the antipathy, held by many enthusiasts, towards 'foreign engines' weighs heavily against repatriating locos from overseas even though they are often historically significant. Ray.

 

This despite the fact that many such engines are very traditionally British in appearance. The lovely collection of standard gauge Victorian machines rotting away in Paraguay spring to mind.

 

Personally i love "foriegn" locos, some of them are quite nice!

 

When UKIP gets in, Nige will have them all sent back.

 

You still won't persuade me to vote Labour!

John

 

Quite. There are enough Ex-Barry locos awaiting restoration which are at least popular with Joe public who pays most of the bills without the repatriation of locos that often won't run on standard gauge track in this country and do not in general appeal to Joe Public.

 

It was a really enjoyable programme. I visited the railway in 2004 but sadly time precluded a trip on the train to the works at Kajuri as I concentrated on taking some photos of trains departing /arriving at Janakpur. At least 2 diesels were operating trains then although the line west of Janakpur had already closed. I am sure that I read subsequently that enquiries had been made about repatriating some of the steamers dumped at the works but the Nepali government prevented purchase by claiming them as 'national historic items'. Who knows what the future holds for them now - just have to hope it isn't a Chinese steel mill.

 

The people who pay the bills couldn't care less where the engine pulling their train came from so long as it's steam powered and so long as the seats and windows and toilets in the carriages are clean, there's a decent cup of tea to be had, and the views are reasonably pretty.

 

Exactly! As enthusiasts we get so wound up with foreign or domestic locos that we ultimately lose sight of the fact that punters really don't care! As long as it chuffs they're happy, and sometimes the "odder" looking the better!

 

If I were to go to Nepal and stick "60008" and "60010" numberplates onto these engines, do think I'd then get more support for my repatriation idea?

 

As far as British narrow gauge (2ft and up) steam locations with public access go, more railways seem to have imports than don't, and those that don't mainly don't for historic reasons of where their initial fleet came from. I did a quick count and came up with ten having only British locos, and 21 having a mix of British and imports. So as far as narrow gauge is concerned I don't think there is any significant resistance to imports.

 

Yes, with narrow gauge we are less insular. I'm a bit of a Darjeeling Himalayan Rly no. 19 groupie, and it's a crowd puller wherever it goes on tour. Perhaps, being smaller they are less expensive to repatriate.

John

 

In fairness, loading gauge would probably be an issue for many SG machines. But as others have said, I think the narrow gauge community is generally more of a broad church. Many standard-gauge preservationists are driven by nostalgia for the main line railways they remember from their childhood (which in the pioneering days of preservation meant pre-grouping, but now means BR). But there are not many people still around who can remember railways like the FfR or L&B in pre-preservation days! Besides, many NG lines have been built on greenfield sites or ex-SG trackbeds, so authenticity is not a consideration; and even the old-established lines have had no choice but to bring in more stock, as they simply couldn't cater for modern traffic with what they inherited (although the VoR springs to mind as one exception). So there is a mix of factors at work.

As you may have guessed, I personally love the cosmopolitan nature of the narrow-gauge scene, and I'm afraid sometimes struggle to contain my frustration with those who only seem to be interested in ex-BR standard gauge, to the exclusion of everything else! But there it is - one has to try to live and let live