 |
selected seconds |
a selection of my sidetracked or rejected IR pictures from 1980 to 2000
by: S.SHANKAR
|
|
|
16 Apr. 1853 - 16 Apr. 2002 |
| <<< Home | Page-2 | Page-3 >>> |
| Click on each thumbnail to enlarge image. Thereafter hit 'Back' on your browser to return to this page. |
| Alternatively, right-click on each thumbnail and select 'Open in New Window' to continue viewing this page uninterrupted. |
|
21.One of my earlier attempts at pirating pictures!! I'd shot this picture off a book using my Olympus compact, allowing for parallax error. To that extent, this is a successful shot. I'd not put this up earlier as I felt I had no right to put it up anyway. Picture shows WCAM/1 bi current electrics at the Mahalaxmi shed in Bombay: the one nearest camera is in the WR's favorite Rajdhani livery with digital lettering. The one in the background is in the earlier cactus green livery with yellow trim. Period? Around 1984. |
|
22.A WCM/5 runs past the Range Hills area in Pune (Poona) with the 1510 departure Deccan Express to Bombay. The idea of this shot was to give an idea of distance, of disappearing into the horizon. |
|
23.Conned by an enterprising studio chap in Madras into my allowing him to try his hand at manual processing of my color film (in 1986,when the minilabs had gained a firm foothold), I later tore my hair in despair at the shoddy workmanship. Here is a view of Egmore yard in Madras in 1986. Note the YAM/1 electrics in the shed in the foreground, witha couple of YG steamers shunting in the background.This is a picture from that unfortunate lot: I was using a primitive Palmat camera with a lousy lens to boot. I dumped the camera unceremoniously later on. |
|
24.A lone YG steam engine shunting at Madurai in 1992 takes a break in the shade. I'd photographed this engine inside out, using my zoom-less Olympus AF 10, now sadly defunct and thrown away. What adds interest to this picture that it was shot on 16 Apr. 1992, exactly 139 years after India's first train ran on 16 Apr. 1853. I'd rejected this picture as it was totally underexposed. I've brightened it now using MGI Photosuite. |
| 25.My brother's idea of a honeymoon was to hang precariously out of his ac sleeper car and shoot the LHF running WDM/2 for me. This was in 1994, and is on board the Goa Express on the Miraj - Pune (Poona) line. The train in general, and this car in particular, is in desperate need of a good hosing down. And yes, I admonished him on his foolhardy deed, that too on his honeymoon! |
|
| 26. If there is one sin I'll never forgive myself for, it is my missing out taking a shot of the Mysore shed, full of steam locomotives. I'd seen an identical scene in 1988 as the one in this picture, enjoyed it, but was not fast enought to pull my camera out and shoot. I was not sitting at the window anyway, plus I was carrying a bulky Yashica Electro 35 rangefinder with manual focus. If I had made the shot, it would have been identical to this one, which is kind courtesy of Apurva Bahadur. Thanks Apurva, I feel better now. (Picture courtesy: Apurva Bahadur). |
|
| 27.Another magnificent view of Mysore steam shed, a scene I missed photographing. Credit for these pictures should actually go to Apurva's wife Shyama, who'd shot them. Mysore was once a bastion of steam, and the Mysore workshops are legendary. (Picture courtesy: Apurva Bahadur). |
|
| 28.A WCG/1 Crocodile at Bombay VT. She has just brought in the rake of the Deccan Queen and will stay trapped here till the Queen pulls out. I'd not used this picture before as I'd put up two more pictures of the same engine on two different sites, not to mention the distracting boundary wall. This picture was made in 1992 with my now defunct Olympus AF 10. |
|
 |
29.A trio of pint sized 4-wheeler mg inspection cars at Mysore in 1988. Note that Mysore station is virtually empty then. After conversion to bg, the station is pretty busy for a major portion of the day, and total chaos reigns at departure times. |
 |
30.A lone YG steam engine shunts at Guntakal in 1987. I'd not used this picture before as it did not seem much of a photograph. Its value for me increased manifold with the total demise of steam, and mg at Guntakal. |
|
31.A juvenile looking mg e.m.u. at Trisulam station opposite the Madras airport. I'd rejected this picture earlier due to inadequate color rendition and blurring due to the 110 film format. This picture was made in 1986. |
|
32.A dimunitive WDS/4 shunter makes a hefty effort out of Trombay station in Bombay, gliding along rooftops towards the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers plant in Chembur. The multistoreyed building in the horizon is the corporate headquarters building of the RCF. I'd not used this picture earlier as the train was barely discernible. This shot was made in 1987. |
| 33. The Pay Van at the National Rail Museum, New Delhi. I'd shot this picture in 1981. Used on the Nizam's State Railway, this car was used to disburse pay to railroad staff working on the lineside. Later, this exhibit mysteriously disappeared, and could not be seen during my subsequent visits to the NRM in 1983, 1985 and 1986. It was only in 1998 that I learnt that this car had tragically been completely gutted in a fire accident at the NRM in 1982. A couple of museum employees were consequently given the boot for negligence. Shot with a plastic lens Bunny 120 film camera. |
|
| 34.The last steam locomotive I footplated: this WG was shot at Daund in 1981 using a plastic lens toy Bunny 120 film camera. My brother was with me, and we did some audio recording as well. We had a good ride all around Daund yard. The friendly driver and fireman made excess steam for us, blew the whistle, and were hospitality personified. I'd not used this picture before due to the poor picture quality. |
|
| 35. A view from the fireman's seat of the WG above. Note the lone freight car up front. I'd not used this picture before due to blurring at the horizon, due to a dirty windshield plus poor lens quality. We'd shot several more pictures, unfortunately, they got stolen with my valuable scrapbook in 1996. |
|
| 36. 'Under lease to CR from BHEL' plate under the cabside window of a new WCAM/3 unit at Pune (Poona). These beasts had just started coming in, in 1997. If its the plate I was shooting, woe betide, the shot is a total disaster, which is why I haven't posted it before. As a pic, well, OK. SLR style background blurring, achieved with my Konica Big Mini compact. I'm not sure whether I'd used portrait mode however. |
|
 |
37.A MLR steam locomotive preserved outside Bombay VT station. The engine was removed for construction of canopies outside the station on the occasion of the centennary celebrations in 1988, and was never seen afterwards.This picture was shot with an Agfa Isoly II 120 film camera in 1987. |
 |
38.The Indian company Photophone was the first to introduce 35mm fully mechanical cameras in India in 1982, with the then famous 'HotShot' brand. The company revolutionized photography in India by introducing a barrage of 110 film cameras first. I'd presented my brother with one of the 35mm beasts on his birthday in 1988. As a thank you gift, he presented me with this color shot of the same engine, just before she was moved out in 1988. |
|
39.A lone YG steamer shunts at Guntakal in 1988.I've posted other shots from Guntakal before, but had rejected this shot earlier as the freight car in the foreground is an ugly distraction. Anyway, this shot gives an idea of a typical Indian junction: empty freight cars, a shunting locomotive, concrete fencing with main line trains running the other side, and mess created by leaking water pipes. |
|
40.Pint sized mg freight cars flank a mighty ocean liner at Marmugao Port in Goa in 1984. The port is a busy centre for iron ore traffic. However, these box cars might have brought in some other commodity, as ore traffic and box cars don't exactly match. Although I had used a Yashica Electro 35 and Konica film, the lab goofed and produced this lousy color rendition, which is why I'd rejected this picture earlier. Mg is completely gone from Goa now. |
| 41.A large-ish 'C' class 2'0" gauge 4-6-2 from the long Kishanganj branch (now closed) of the Darjeeling Himalayan line seen here preserved at the Nehru Science Centre in Bombay.Note the dc electric WCP/2 on the other side of the platform. Although I'd posted shots of the electric before, I'd missed this one out completely. This pic was shot in 1992 with my Olympus AF10. And for those who are wondering at my courage, I was able to shoot right into the face of the security guard because this is a museum, where photography is unrestricted! |
|
| 42.A YCG/1 dc electric in the process of being restored and placed on a pedestal outside the Tambaram electric m.u. shed in 1992. Prior to this, the entrance had the face portions (ends) of a 1931 rigid e.m.u. and a more recent recent e.m.u. embedded side by side into the wall: these were removed at the time of remodelling of the shed circa 1988, and were never put back. |
|
| 43.Some of my prized posessions were pictures of the NRM exhibits, shot one year after the museum was opened in 1977. These had been cut out from an issue of the 'Illustrated Weekly of India' who'd published an article on the National Rail Museum in 1978 titled 'But They Too Have a Romance of Their Own'. All those pics were stolen along with my scrapbook. This is an identical pic, also from a Times of India publication, which appeared in the mid 1980s, and shows a B class steam loco from the Darjeeling Line (B-777) preserved at the NRM Delhi. |
|
Comments? Questions? E-mail the webmaster: frontier_mail@yahoo.com
| <<< Home | Page-2 | Page-3 >>> |
