IRFCA Mailing List Archive


Messages 6841 - 6860

From: prakash <>

Subject: Re: EMU power

Date: 27 Jun 1999 16:13:43 -0500




Apurva,

Although I do not know of the HP of EMU motors today, let
me correct one things, each motorcoach has four motors. Thus
each 9 coach EMU in Mumbai has 12 motors driving 12 axles.
By design, they are quick in acceleration but not very good
in torque. Till early 70s, one rake (105-106, later
renamed as 505-506) had Aluminium Inductive shunt installed
and working. So two notches after parallel were functional.
Even then during peak periods, this did not help at all
in gaining improvement in acceleration over 75 kms. Only
during night, when voltage was good, load was light, it
could reach 105 kms.

WCAM1s on the other hand could easily touch 100 kms,
although Mumbai drivers operated them at 75 kms between
BCT - BVI section and Valsad drivers never exceeded 50 kms.
The best amongst Mumbai drivers were Kalicharan, Sudhakar R,
D'Mello (not Ignatius but the other one, can Viraf get his
first name?) and Bharucha (Viraf's relative).

Till mid-30s, EMU operated as a Race special on Saturday.
It used to be 12 coach rake but those 1928 make rakes had
vacuum brakes and same couplings as used in goods wagon
and could be connected to a banker.

When Jessop and ICF EMUs came to Mumbai, they had one switch
on the lower left panel, marked as "Increased Acceleration".
This feature was disabled on WR and worked only on harbor branch.
The label was deceptive though. It just ensured that motors run
in series only, never going to series-parallel or parallel mode.
It helped train start, even with load, on the curvy slope, on
either side of Sandhurst Road. I do not know if it still works on
CR but WR rakes plying on harbor do not have it. This feature
may make EMU capable of riding a ghat but not with great speed.

Prakash


Apurva Bahadur <iti@vsnl.email on 06/26/99 01:45:58 AM

To: Jayant S <sank@telco.email
cc: IR List <irfca@cs.email Prakash Tendulkar/Santa
Teresa/IBM@IBMUS
Subject: Re: EMU power







Jayant S wrote:

> Apurva Bahadur wrote:
>
> > ....The lightly built and just about adequately powered EMU may
accelerate
> > and brake impressively on level ground, but in the ghats the loco
hauled
train > wins hands down. I believe the EMU lacks the power to haul a
full load
up the > > ghats......
>
> Just wondering: what is the net horsepower rating
> developed by an EMU rake ? Also, are any traction
> motor components common with those on locomotives ?

AFAIK each motor is 250 HP, so each power coach which has two motors is
500 HP
and there is one power coach with two trailer coaches. I do not think
there is
anything common with a
loco, even the panto is different. Maybe Prakash has some figures ?

Apurva

From: Jayant S <>

Subject: Re: 250-300 kmph trains

Date: 27 Jun 1999 21:41:00 -0500


Shankar wrote:
> When will the real high speed era become a reality in India? 250-300
> might not even be suited to Indian conditions, but I think most
> expresses should be run between 120-140 kmph, with superfasts clocking
> 160-200.

With the kind of economic profile Indian rail
travellers have at present, it will be a long time yet
before even 200 km/h runs become common. In affluent countries
(except the USA, thanks to its peculiar railway realities)
trains were speeded up (successfully) to compete against
domestic air travel for distances in the 400-1000 km range,
considering their city center terminus advantage. In India,
high speed trains such as the Shatabdi and Rajdhani still
cater only to a very small percentage of the total passenger
load. Most passenger traffic is still highly subsidised
2nd class level, and a lot of unrenumerative routes have
to be run due to political and social pressure. IR is a
public undertaking with social obligations that simply
cannot disappear overnight.

Indian Airlines is also pressured by the need to
maintain unrenumerative routes, which is compensated
to some extent by retaining some of the highest domestic
air fares in the world. Airline privatisation has not really
thrown up a price war, as the few private airlines
which have survived are simply piggybacking on IA fares.
The Tata-SIA proposal was scuttled due to intense lobbying
by private airlines as it would have promised more affordable
air fares for domestic travellers

The point is that as long as there is a visible gap
between upper class rail fares and air fares, occupancy
of high speed trains is assured and there is no real cause
to increase speeds even up to 160-200 km/h. Also, higher speed
differentials would put busy rail corridors under more strain.
I also do not think that, considering the generally low
percentage of upper class passengers, IR can justify major
investment in dedicated corridors, rolling stock and signalling
equipment for 250-300 km/h running.


--
JS
--

From: Jayant S <>

Subject: Re: High-speed Trains

Date: 27 Jun 1999 23:15:59 -0500


Dheeraj Sanghi wrote:

> Yesterday's newspapers reported that Indian Airlines has reduced
> its metro-shuttle fare (Bombay-Delhi) to around 3900.
Interesting. Jet Airways also reduced to 4100 after discount
on this route until about Sep 30. They were already
running night flights with a 25% reduction, something
offered by Air India on domestic hops during international
flights.

> Rajdhani AC 1st class fare is 4160 or so.
Which, of course, offers no SPEED advantage over the 3-tier
AC fare on the same train, which is at 1400 or so. The only
advantage is more comfort.

> For speeds upwards of 200, there will have to be separate corridors.
Correct. The cost of building such permanent way alignments
would be an unrealistic burden at this time. Today's high-speed
trains achieve improved timings more because of reduced
stops and running priority than the +20km/h (or so) top
speed increase. This, against freight speeds of about
70km/h (?) is probably the highest speed difference that
can be economically handled with scheduled trains, I think ?

> The percentage is lower not because public does not have paying
> capacity, but IR wants to carry more passengers. Second class
> coach carry more passengers than an AC coach. At least from Kanpur,
> wherever I travel, geeting reservation in an AC coach is far more
> difficult than getting a berth in sleeper class, even in winter.
Much the same everywhere. It should also be noted that typical
long-distance train formations have one or two AC sleeper cars,
2nd AC and/or 3-tier AC, with non-AC sleeper class forming the
bulk of the rake. I suppose train formation is a reasonably
accurate picture of the economic cross-section of the passengers.

During Ram Vilas Pawsan's tenure as Rail Minister, along with
somewhat grandiose proposals for "Bullet trains", there was
one to link airports by rail. Sounded good, as it would
reduce a lot of road traffic. This is common in Europe,
where airports in cities such as Paris and Frankfurt
link to the local as well as long-distance rail systems.
Does anyone know what happened to this idea ?

Also, is the current rail budget online anywhere ?
--
JS
--

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: Check out this page....

Date: 27 Jun 1999 23:19:16 -0500


Of course I know that the pics enlarge (I spend a lot of time on the net
looking
at, er... 'pictures', but the size of the pictures is optimized for a 14
" monitor
running 640 X 480. Many of us use 15 " boxes with 800 X 600 or luckier
ones use
17", 19" mons running higher resolutions. At that sizes the picture
distorts and
grains start showing up.

Apurva

Shankar wrote:

> Hello Appu,
> I found that if you click on the pics, they do enlarge to a larger
size.
> Best regards.
> Shankar
>
> Apurva Bahadur wrote:
> >
> > What lovely pictures - they are thumbnails - expand to larger size
type.
> >
> > Thanks for news on the 1081 Dn.
> > Apurva
> >
> > Bharat Vohra wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Gang,
> > > Do check out my page on my recent trip south to Ooty, Coonoor and
Mangalore
> > > at the folowing URL and do get back to me with your feebback!
> > > <A HREF="http://members.tripod.com/~railinindia/south.html">http://members.tripod.com/~railinindia/south.html</A>
> > > Regards
> > > Bharat
> > >
> > > PS-Apurva, the CST-CAPE exp has recently been airbraked!
> > >
> > > ______________________________________________________
> > > Get Your Private, Free Email at <A HREF="http://www.hotmail.com">http://www.hotmail.com</A>

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: WG webpage

Date: 27 Jun 1999 23:57:04 -0500




Shankar wrote:

> Hi Appu,
> Terrific page. Brought back fond memories and all. In fact, it was the
> shed superintendent of Daund that branded me as a lunatic for wanting
to
> go over his shed and take pics! I got a few tame b/w ones in small
size.
>
> Fantastic. How did you manage to photograph in such detail? No wonder
> you were the first to object to all the posts on photographing trains
in
> India!!!

Thanks for the praise !
I never had a photographic permit until the trip to Wankaner recently.
A
sane, enthusiastic and friendly approach is always required for
photographing the IR. Even if one has the permit, a tough unfriendly
approach will antagonize the shed staff and they can refuse to
cooperate.
Make the shed staff feel like hosting you and showing you the
facilities,
then you can click all you want.
After all the shed is a facility to maintain powers in a busy schedule
not a
picnic spot, so the correct approach is absolutely essential. It is best
to
avoid a friendly approach just to get your work done. You are meeting
the
guardians of the things we love most, the priests of our temple, so a
little
genuine respect and warmth is what makes this work.


> One small point, hope you don't mind my mentioning it. All the close
ups
> are all very well, but one full view of the WG would have been most
> welcome.

These are all the pictures that I have, I guess we did not realize how
fast
these things would disappear. Even I realize that a full view with the
towering headlight would have been great. This was quite a busy day -
Hadapsar to Kedgaon hanging onto the long hood of the WDM 2, short
footplate
ride in the WDM 2 between Kedgaon - Patas, then the WP (in steam!) that
we
photographed. So the WG tended to get in the background a bit.

> I usually wallpaper admirable pics of trains: I've wallpapered
> your YDM at Mysore several times.A grand 45 degree view: same as your
> pic # 1, but showing the full engine, without cropping the headlight
and
> cowcatcher.
>
> And while on the subject, when posting the WP pics, may I request you
to
> post one full view of the WP as well? It happens to be my favorite
class
> of loco, and I would love to have it gracing my desktop, possibly
> permanently.Your earlier one from the calendar did not fit into my
> desktop: it was too large.

I deliberately scanned it to a higher DPI - the more the DPI, the larger
the
image. You can use the 'resize' image command (example from Paintshop
Pro 4
shareware, which I use) and the picture would fit to the size of your
desktop (640X480, 800 X 600 or 1024 X 768 are the most common). All
image
editing software would have a similar command. In Paint shop pro you can
specify one parameter say 800 and leave the other area blank, but check
the
'maintain aspect ratio' block.

I would again request a discussion on the scanner usage on the railway
pics.
I feel that 150 DPI gives optimum size for 800 X 600 size without
breaking
up the image.
For grand large size wallpaperable diesel images check out Chuck
Donaldson's
site:
<A HREF="http://www.teleport.com/~cdonald/">http://www.teleport.com/~cdonald/</A>
His typical image is size is between 100 Kb to 150 Kb, so that should be
some guidelines to us.

Apurva

From: hvc <>

Subject: Journey by MG.

Date: 28 Jun 1999 00:06:23 -0500


 
It was quite some time since I took my last overnight journey by MG so when I got an opportunity to visit Ajmer last week, I took this option. The original mainline route to Ahmedabad via Alwar, Bandikui, Jaipur, Ajmer etc. has been converted to BG for over 2 years. However the North-West link has survived  because of a branch line between Rewari and Reengus(Ringas now). The line is now one of the two main arteries between the NR-WR metre gauge system. The other is at Achnera-Agra Fort due to be converted shortly. I took the 9943 Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Ahmedabad MG mail. This train covers what is perhaps the longest journey on MG today taking well over 30 hours to Ahmedabad. The trains goes via Rewari, Reengus, Jaipur(reverses direction), Phulera, Ajmer, Chittorgarh, Udaipur and Himmatnagar.  The rake comprised of 10 coaches - 3 general, 5 sleepers, 1 Ist class/sleeper combined and one guard/general coach.
 
The train departed Delhi Sarai Rohilla at 2100 behind a Sabarmati YDM4 6301 and had a good run till Rewari which is 80 Km from here. I dozed off after that and got up at Reengus where the train arrived at 0230, 30 min before schedule. It gave me a good time to explore the station. Here I also witnessed two double headed goods trains carrying cement. Also saw the train to Loharu which was unusually crowded with many preferring to sit on the top. Reengus is an example of a small but beautiful MG station. It is not a big town in itself but an important Rly. Junction nevertheless. Like Bandikui, it was railways which brought it to the map.
The next stop was Jaipur and the train has to reverse from here to proceed to Ajmer. Jaipur to Ajmer via Phulera is still a very busy section. Earlier it was a double MG line but now one has been converted to BG.
 
The MG is quite dull now for loco spotting as the only locos that you see here are YDM4s from Phulera or Sabarmati. Earlier it used to have some great looking locos from Abu Road, Bikaner and a few examples from SCR as well. Nevertheless the section is very interesting with BG running parallel.
The train reached Ajmer at 0830 on time and it was time to get off.
 
I finished my work to return back in the afternoon and took the Shatabdi to Delhi.
It took me half the time(six hours less) but a very-very dull experience in comparison!
 

From: hvc <>

Subject: Re: 250-300 kmph trains

Date: 28 Jun 1999 00:16:20 -0500


Dear Shankar,
Amonst the dozen odd shatabdis, only Delhi -
Bhopal and recently Delhi- Lucknow ones regularly touch 140, that too in
very small sections.

Even so, they do not have an immpecable accident free record and some of
the
slowest shatabdis like Dehradun, Bokaro, Kalka examples have busted(for
whatever reasons.

Personally I think IR should not aim for over 150 kmph till they have
dedicated corridors for such trains and the lines shouls be completely
barricaded from wandering animals & people(?!?).

A far cry at present.

Harsh

From: hvc <>

Subject: Re: Check out this page....

Date: 28 Jun 1999 00:25:03 -0500


Not fair Apurva - that you should rate the equipment higher than the
person
behind it. In my personal opinion gear plays a limited role. To be at
the right place at the right time is what matters most. You go for
higher
equipment when you have that kind of money to indulge in. The camera is
only
as good as the dummy handling it.

The website has some great and unique pictures Bharat. Iam yet to go
into
the details but have downloaded the page for viewing pleasure at
leisure.
One
small point however(although it may be just my problem as I have a
pathetically slow I-net connection) is that I feel it is better to have
various small pages than a single large one. Even cross links are good.
It
took me a great deal of effort to down load the entire thing.

Keep up the good work.

Harsh

-----Original Message-----
From: Apurva Bahadur <iti@vsnl.email
To: Anne Ogborn <anniepoo@netmagic.email
Cc: Bharat Vohra <bvohra@hotmail.email irfca@cs.email
<irfca@cs.email
Date: Sunday, June 27, 1999 10:07 PM
Subject: Re: Check out this page....


>Dear Bharat,
>
>The YDM 4 picture (big15.jpg) is one of the best Indian Railway action
pictures I have
>seen.
>Absolutely world class stuff.
>Please tell us about the camera that you use. Please scan the images to
150
DPI, I
>have found that this size is adequate to 'wallpaper' the image at 800 X
600
on a 15"
>monitor without distortion.
>100 DPI seems enough for a 14" monitor though. I would invite scanning
tips
from other
>members.
>The 'no short hood' WDM 2 seems to be speciality of the Erode shed. I
am
told that the
>dynamic brake equipment is moved to long hood and the whole cab is
moved
forward. How
>does it look from the long hood side ?
>
>Apurva
>
>Anne Ogborn wrote:
>
>> Bharat Vohra wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi Gang,
>> > Do check out my page on my recent trip south to Ooty, Coonoor and
Mangalore
>> > at the folowing URL and do get back to me with your feebback!
>> > <A HREF="http://members.tripod.com/~railinindia/south.html">http://members.tripod.com/~railinindia/south.html</A>
>> > Regards
>> > Bharat
>> >
>>
>> Cool page. I'm printing it out to pass around at a
>> little get togather a modeller is doing next week.
>> He's going to demonstrate his techniques for making
>> tropical flora.
>>
>> --
>> Anniepoo
>> Need loco motors?
>> <A HREF="http://www.idiom.com/~anniepoo/depot/motors.html">http://www.idiom.com/~anniepoo/depot/motors.html</A>
>
>
>

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: EMU power

Date: 28 Jun 1999 00:35:58 -0500



Thanks to Prakash for his inputs,


> Thus
> each 9 coach EMU in Mumbai has 12 motors driving 12 axles.

12 X 250 = 3000 HP ? Is that not too much for a 9 coach rake ? This is
assuming
that each motor is 250 HP in the first place !

> By design, they are quick in acceleration but not very good
> in torque. Till early 70s, one rake (105-106, later
> renamed as 505-506) had Aluminium Inductive shunt installed
> and working. So two notches after parallel were functional.
> Even then during peak periods, this did not help at all
> in gaining improvement in acceleration over 75 kms. Only
> during night, when voltage was good, load was light, it
> could reach 105 kms.

Judging from the sound, the rapidly accelerating EMU's wheels seem to be
slipping.
The pitch of the motor rises all of a sudden for a short time.

> WCAM1s on the other hand could easily touch 100 kms,
> although Mumbai drivers operated them at 75 kms between
> BCT - BVI section and Valsad drivers never exceeded 50 kms.
> The best amongst Mumbai drivers were Kalicharan, Sudhakar R,
> D'Mello (not Ignatius but the other one, can Viraf get his
> first name?) and Bharucha (Viraf's relative).

It is one of my favourite sites on the IR, one EMU running parallel to a
loco
hauled train. It is then that you can see that the loco can easily haul
a heavy
rake at the top speed of the EMU and still accelerate further while the
EMU is at
the end of its stamina.

> Till mid-30s, EMU operated as a Race special on Saturday.
> It used to be 12 coach rake but those 1928 make rakes had
> vacuum brakes and same couplings as used in goods wagon
> and could be connected to a banker.

Yes, I have heard of this race special EMU. Even in the recent past IR
operates
rake special trains, although I have not heard about these in the last
two or
three years. The end coupling of the EMUs are the normal hook coupling,
but the
brake system is different, so is the EMU pushed around in the marshaling
yard
using ordinary locos as an unbraked load ?
IR also had an air-conditioned horse carrying coach. Even today the
eight wheeler
parcel van is referred to as 'horse box' by the marshaling and yard
staff.

> It helped train start, even with load, on the curvy slope, on
> either side of Sandhurst Road. I do not know if it still works on
> CR but WR rakes plying on harbor do not have it. This feature
> may make EMU capable of riding a ghat but not with great speed.

Prakash, have you seen an EMU being banked through the ghats ? Did the
PA - LNL
EMU start when you were at Neral ?

Apurva

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: Shanty, shanty, shanty

Date: 28 Jun 1999 00:49:06 -0500


Says a railway official, ``Slum dwellers throw their garbage into the drains running parallel to the tracks, leaving no outlet for the rain water. At places like Sion, Vidyavihar and Bhandup, the flooding on the tracks is so acute that trains are forced to halt because the water damages the undercarriage of the locomotives.''

More serious than garbage is stones which seem to be regularly be thrown at passengers causing head and eye injuries. It is one of the hazards of traveling on the IR specially in Mumbai suburban railways. It is almost if the slum dwellers have been instructed to pelt stones at the passing EMU. This is something I have seen increasing in the last two years.
The DC loco and the EMUs operating in Mumbai can wade into 12" of water, this has been one of the design conditions. However the water logging prevents the current returning to the substation and failure of signals.

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: Check out this page....

Date: 28 Jun 1999 00:56:40 -0500




hvc wrote:

> Not fair Apurva - that you should rate the equipment higher than the
person
> behind it. In my personal opinion gear plays a limited role. To be at
> the right place at the right time is what matters most. You go for
higher
> equipment when you have that kind of money to indulge in. The camera
is only
> as good as the dummy handling it.

I absolutely agree with you - I do not have a very expensive camera
(less than
Rs 1000) - it is the genius of Bharat that a YDM 4 pushing a MG rake
becomes a
masterpiece. Did I ever suggest that a good camera makes a good picture
in my
mails ?

Apurva

>
>
> The website has some great and unique pictures Bharat. Iam yet to go
into
> the details but have downloaded the page for viewing pleasure at
leisure.
> One
> small point however(although it may be just my problem as I have a
> pathetically slow I-net connection) is that I feel it is better to
have
> various small pages than a single large one. Even cross links are
good. It
> took me a great deal of effort to down load the entire thing.
>
> Keep up the good work.
>
> Harsh
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Apurva Bahadur <iti@vsnl.email
> To: Anne Ogborn <anniepoo@netmagic.email
> Cc: Bharat Vohra <bvohra@hotmail.email irfca@cs.email
<irfca@cs.email
> Date: Sunday, June 27, 1999 10:07 PM
> Subject: Re: Check out this page....
>
> >Dear Bharat,
> >
> >The YDM 4 picture (big15.jpg) is one of the best Indian Railway
action
> pictures I have
> >seen.
> >Absolutely world class stuff.
> >Please tell us about the camera that you use. Please scan the images
to 150
> DPI, I
> >have found that this size is adequate to 'wallpaper' the image at 800
X 600
> on a 15"
> >monitor without distortion.
> >100 DPI seems enough for a 14" monitor though. I would invite
scanning tips
> from other
> >members.
> >The 'no short hood' WDM 2 seems to be speciality of the Erode shed. I
am
> told that the
> >dynamic brake equipment is moved to long hood and the whole cab is
moved
> forward. How
> >does it look from the long hood side ?
> >
> >Apurva
> >
> >Anne Ogborn wrote:
> >
> >> Bharat Vohra wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Hi Gang,
> >> > Do check out my page on my recent trip south to Ooty, Coonoor and
> Mangalore
> >> > at the folowing URL and do get back to me with your feebback!
> >> > <A HREF="http://members.tripod.com/~railinindia/south.html">http://members.tripod.com/~railinindia/south.html</A>
> >> > Regards
> >> > Bharat
> >> >
> >>
> >> Cool page. I'm printing it out to pass around at a
> >> little get togather a modeller is doing next week.
> >> He's going to demonstrate his techniques for making
> >> tropical flora.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Anniepoo
> >> Need loco motors?
> >> <A HREF="http://www.idiom.com/~anniepoo/depot/motors.html">http://www.idiom.com/~anniepoo/depot/motors.html</A>
> >
> >
> >

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: Check out this page....

Date: 28 Jun 1999 01:22:36 -0500


Red air horn trumpets are visible in the pic 'big 24.jpg' (rack section
at
Hillgrove). What source powers these horns ?

hvc wrote:

> Not fair Apurva - that you should rate the equipment higher than the
person
> behind it. In my personal opinion gear plays a limited role. To be at
> the right place at the right time is what matters most. You go for
higher
> equipment when you have that kind of money to indulge in. The camera
is only
> as good as the dummy handling it.
>
> The website has some great and unique pictures Bharat. Iam yet to go
into
> the details but have downloaded the page for viewing pleasure at
leisure.
> One
> small point however(although it may be just my problem as I have a
> pathetically slow I-net connection) is that I feel it is better to
have
> various small pages than a single large one. Even cross links are
good. It
> took me a great deal of effort to down load the entire thing.
>
> Keep up the good work.
>
> Harsh
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Apurva Bahadur <iti@vsnl.email
> To: Anne Ogborn <anniepoo@netmagic.email
> Cc: Bharat Vohra <bvohra@hotmail.email irfca@cs.email
<irfca@cs.email
> Date: Sunday, June 27, 1999 10:07 PM
> Subject: Re: Check out this page....
>
> >Dear Bharat,
> >
> >The YDM 4 picture (big15.jpg) is one of the best Indian Railway
action
> pictures I have
> >seen.
> >Absolutely world class stuff.
> >Please tell us about the camera that you use. Please scan the images
to 150
> DPI, I
> >have found that this size is adequate to 'wallpaper' the image at 800
X 600
> on a 15"
> >monitor without distortion.
> >100 DPI seems enough for a 14" monitor though. I would invite
scanning tips
> from other
> >members.
> >The 'no short hood' WDM 2 seems to be speciality of the Erode shed. I
am
> told that the
> >dynamic brake equipment is moved to long hood and the whole cab is
moved
> forward. How
> >does it look from the long hood side ?
> >
> >Apurva
> >
> >Anne Ogborn wrote:
> >
> >> Bharat Vohra wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Hi Gang,
> >> > Do check out my page on my recent trip south to Ooty, Coonoor and
> Mangalore
> >> > at the folowing URL and do get back to me with your feebback!
> >> > <A HREF="http://members.tripod.com/~railinindia/south.html">http://members.tripod.com/~railinindia/south.html</A>
> >> > Regards
> >> > Bharat
> >> >
> >>
> >> Cool page. I'm printing it out to pass around at a
> >> little get togather a modeller is doing next week.
> >> He's going to demonstrate his techniques for making
> >> tropical flora.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Anniepoo
> >> Need loco motors?
> >> <A HREF="http://www.idiom.com/~anniepoo/depot/motors.html">http://www.idiom.com/~anniepoo/depot/motors.html</A>
> >
> >
> >

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: Check out this page....

Date: 28 Jun 1999 01:29:59 -0500


> Actually, what you term as 'ugliest loco in all India' isn't that ugly
> after all.The WDM/2 has been modified to a YDM/3 profile, thats all.
> One thing I must add however is that if all the short hood
paraphernalia
> has been pushed behind, and the cab brought forward, the view from the
> short hood must be even worse, thanks to the lengthening of the long
> hood by that much.

I second that - the modified WDM 2 has a striking resemblece to YDM 3.
Actually
the 'ugliest loco in India' IMHO is right on the page, the Pune WDG 2 #
14556 at
Ratnagiri.

From: Jayant S <>

Subject: Re: Check out this page....

Date: 28 Jun 1999 01:58:54 -0500


Apurva Bahadur wrote:

> .....Many of us use 15 " boxes with 800 X 600 or luckier ones use
> 17", 19" mons running higher resolutions.

I guess I am one of these: 17" monitor at home and
24" widescreen monitors at work.

However, I would like to say that I really appreciate
the work of all the fans on this list who have shared
their photos dealing with IR, as regardless of image
quality or photographic composition, the work
documents a labour of love first and foremost.
Keep up the great work :

--
Jayant S
--

From: John Lacey <>

Subject: Re: information

Date: 28 Jun 1999 02:00:27 -0500


Perhaps not at Delhi Jn or New Delhi stations, but I've certainly seen
roof riders around Delhi, including scores alighting from a train at
Delhi Cantt just before 10am.
In March 1987 I left Delhi for Jaipur on the Chetak Exp. Hundreds went
on to the roof at the first stop, Delhi Serai Rohilla, and I counted the
shadows of 50+ on the roof of my ( the leading) coach alone. Such was
the extra time at stations, the extra load and the efforts of the chain
pullers that the YP was close to running out of water, a diesel came on
to assist to the next water column,and Jaipur was reached 5 hours late.
I've even seen the shadows of a few roof riders on an electrified line.
There were many too in 1980 on the MG main line between Barauni and
Sonepur. I was later told that the roof riders there were seasonal
workers, but the migrations were moving both east-west and west-east.
The most crowded ( on the roof) train I saw in this area was the diesel
hauled 16 Lucknow-Gauhati Express.

John Lacey

From: C.L.Zeni <>

Subject: Re: WG webpage

Date: 28 Jun 1999 02:31:13 -0500


Apurva Bahadur wrote:
> I deliberately scanned it to a higher DPI - the more the DPI, the
larger the
> image. You can use the 'resize' image command (example from Paintshop
Pro 4
> shareware, which I use) and the picture would fit to the size of your
> desktop (640X480, 800 X 600 or 1024 X 768 are the most common). All
image
> editing software would have a similar command. In Paint shop pro you
can
> specify one parameter say 800 and leave the other area blank, but
check the
> 'maintain aspect ratio' block.

Wallpaper sizes: For 1024 x 768 resolution, I resample (makes for a
better image than resizing in Paint Shop Pro) my scans to 950 wide x
whatever it takes to maintain aspect ratio. My personal habit is to
place my program icons around the border of the screen and this
resolution keeps them mostly off the wallpaper. Concerning file size,
there is another shareware program called JPEG Optimizer
(<A HREF="http://www.xat.com)">http://www.xat.com)</A> that allows one to adjust the jpg compression ratio
to reduce file size without visibly affecting the image. I use this on
images that I upload to alt.binaries.pictures.rail, and on the images on
my web page. It reduces file sizes considerably. However, I do keep
the original scan in full sized form. And just as important, I back my
scans up to other storage media regularly.

> I would again request a discussion on the scanner usage on the railway
pics.
> I feel that 150 DPI gives optimum size for 800 X 600 size without
breaking
> up the image.

Scanning: I use the Hewlett Packard Photosmart scanner for my
transparencies and to scan my print negatives. Set at "photographic"
resolution (which has an undefined resolution), it does a nice job.
Using a couple of shareware programs, it does 2400 DPI, at which
resolution a .tif file comes up in the 25 (twenty five) MB range. I
also have a flatbed scanner that I now seldom use. My personal
philosophy is to scan at the highest possible resolution, then adjust
the image for a specific purpose using the methods above.

> For grand large size wallpaperable diesel images check out Chuck
Donaldson's
> site:
> <A HREF="http://www.teleport.com/~cdonald/">http://www.teleport.com/~cdonald/</A>
> His typical image is size is between 100 Kb to 150 Kb, so that should
be
> some guidelines to us.

He does have some spectacular images there, doesn't he?

I'll be putting up some of my photos on a new section of my page in the
near future, and will keep all posted.
--
Craig Zeni - REPLY TO -->> clzeni at mindspring dot com
<A HREF="http://www.mindspring.com/~clzeni/index.html">http://www.mindspring.com/~clzeni/index.html</A>

From the Old North State...Where the weak grow strong
And the strong grow great.

From: Jayant S <>

Subject: Re: Roof riders

Date: 28 Jun 1999 04:14:00 -0500


J Lacey wrote:
> There were many too in 1980 on the MG main line between Barauni and
> Sonepur.

MG roof riding would be more dangerous than BG electrified
lines. The MG structure gauge is small enough to allow
cross-members on some bridges to sweep seated riders
off the roof. Happens once in a while. BG structure
gauge, on the other hand, allows you to sit through
tunnels, though you do run the risk of being hit
by low-hanging tree branches (this happened to me).

I will still parrot my general disclaimer: riding
on train roofs can be lethal.

--
Jayant S
--

From: hvc <>

Subject: Re: Opinion poll

Date: 28 Jun 1999 05:12:23 -0500


>Probably the first subject to run in an opinion poll would be which are
>the most interesting discussion topics to most subscribers.


Well, why don't you say what is it for you? For me it is the
memorabilia-description of the journeys from the past. Old is gold and
nothing comes even closer to it.

Harsh


>
>Regards from Ray.
>VIRAF P.. MULLA wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 25 Jun 1999 Vdate@aol.email wrote:
>>
>> > How about making it an annual event with publication of the list
>> (and posting
>> > it ofcourse). That way we can share the expertise of the members
>> with the
>> > general public and at the same time make the general public more
>> interested
>> > in what we do? Other topics might be the best running train meals,
>> courteous
>> > running staff.
>> >
>>
>> A very good idea. Perhaps we should mail some copies or delivery it
>> personaly to the General Managers, CPROs & other Top Brass of IR.
>>
>> Regarding BEST RUNNING TRAIN MEALS - We always used to eat in the
>> DINNING
>> CAR whenever travelling to Nagpur & back. Our train used be 1Dn.
>> Calcutta
>> Mail via Nagpur.
>>
>> After Dadar the dinning car attendant used to inquire if we would
like
>> to
>> have our dinner in the Diner. At Igatpuri the dinner would be served.
>> A
>> four course meal I remember - Starting with Soup & finishing with Ice
>> cream & Coffee. We as kids used be thrilled eating in the Dinning
Car.
>> I
>> remember once Mr. Pradeep Kumar (Film Star of the yester years)
shared
>> our
>> table. The food was always SUPERB.
>>
>> These days the only train to carry a dinning car is Bombay - Surat
>> Flying
>> Ranne (I presume). The car is always crowded not with diners but with
>> ticketless commuters who bribe the Dinning Car manager & travel.
>>
>> My daddy talks very highly of the BRANDON CATERING during his times
>> when
>> eating out at the railway stations was as fashionable as eating in a
>> Five
>> Star restaurant these days.
>>
>> Regards
>> Viraf
>>
>> ==========================
>> Viraf Mulla
>> C-20/14, Jeevan Bima Nagar,
>> Borivali (West)
>> Mumbai 400103
>> Tel: +91-22-8954510
>> E-mail: sncf@godrej.email
>> ==========================
>
>
>
>

From: ranand <>

Subject: My web page

Date: 28 Jun 1999 05:52:05 -0500


I have put up some pictures of the MRTS in Chennai. I will be putting up
some
more photos soon.

<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Bay/1523/">http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Bay/1523/</A>

Anand

Internet: anand@watson.email
External tel: (914) 784 7054
Notes: Rangachari Anand/Watson/IBM@IBMUS
Tie-line: 863 7054

From: Apurva Bahadur <>

Subject: Re: Opinion poll

Date: 28 Jun 1999 09:45:00 -0500


My votes:

Best diesel: YDM 4
Best diesel sound: YDM 4
Most proportionate diesel: YDM 4 !!
Best horns: WCM 1
Best steam whistle: the 'rounded' whistle found on some WP and YPs
Most proportionate steam: YG
Most muscular: WG
Loveliest nose: WDS6/ 'Jumbo' WDM 2.
Best rides: Maharashtra express in the early morning out of Pune over
the ghat section
and viaducts towards Satara
Another one: Down the Bhore ghats in chill and absolute fog.
Good place to sight diesels in action: Kolhapur end of Miraj Jn. where a
KOP train
emerges a Km away from the station with full throttle. (unfortunately
only 12 pairs of
trains per day in that section)
Warm event: Celebrating flag hoisting on 15th August at a tiny station
Adarki with the
station master and the four staff members along with the Goa express
drivers, which
waited for crossing on a single line section.
Memorable event: Heavy rain from the WDM 2 footplate.
Best meals: 8002 Up, Chicken Curry and rice, 3003 Up Vegetarian Thali,
Fried fish with
chips on the older Deccan Queen.
Best station meals: CSTM in the past - Mutton cutlet

Most abused: WDS4
Noisiest: WCG2
Ugliest: WDG2

Apurva