The IRFCA Community
IRFCA started as a mailing list but today, not only is it a lively and active electronic discussion forum, but the railfans associated with IRFCA form a vibrant community and do more than just exchange messages or e-mail. Members of the IRFCA community in a particular region may also meet in person to go railfanning at local train stations or on longer trips (by train, hiking, etc.), or sometimes just to chat about trains or watch videos, etc. Members also gather yearly for conventions! Some members are involved in restoration efforts and heritage preservation activities with Indian Railways.
Members' Pages
Many members of the community maintain their own websites or post material on various social media and sharing platforms. Typically these contain trip reports, photos, videos etc; A search on these platforms will yield rich results.
In the past when the community was small, several members hosted their websites on the IRFCA server itself. A partial directory of such sites is below.
Please note that these sites were designed in the late 1990s and early 2000s and as such feature designs not comptabile with mobile phones and tablets. Images in these sites may be very small in size. Also note that many outward links from these sites may not be functional.
- Apurva Bahadur's Indian Railways Website
- The Indian Train Gallery by Sundar Krishnamurthy
- India by Rail! by Sridhar Shankar
- Stormcatcher's Railnet by Shashanka Nanda
- Samit's Trains by Samit Roychoudhury
- Indian Railway Images by Zubin Dotivala
- Rail India by Mrinal Das
- New CLW Locos and other pictures by Sujeet Mishra
- Images of Indian Railways by Mani Vijay
Annual Conventions
IRFCA members also meet once a year for the “IRFCA Convention”. These conventions are a good way to meet new members, participate in discussions, give presentations and exchange notes about IR.
In addition to the web sites set up for the conventions (shown in the list below), photographs from the convention are available in the IRFCA gallery.
- Seventeenth Convention: Bezawada (Vijaywada) (27-28 January 2023)
- Sixteenth convention: Siliguri (30 April & 1 May 2022)
- Fifteenth convention: Chennai (31 January & 1 February 2020)
- Fourteenth convention: Hubballi (15-16 February 2019)
- Thirteenth convention: Vadodara (9-10 February 2018), held at the National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR), formerly Railway Staff College
- Twelfth convention: Bhilai (27-28 January 2017) (Website defunct)
- Eleventh convention: Bikaner (23-24 February 2016) (Website defunct)
- Tenth convention: Hyderabad (14-15 February 2015)
- Ninth convention: Ooty (Udhagamandalam) (2-3 February 2014) (Website defunct)
- Eighth convention: Mughalsarai, at the Backley Institute (Suruchi Sansthan) (9-10 February 2013) Discussion on the forum
- Seventh convention: Kolkata, at the Rotary Sadan auditorium (28-29 January 2012). Discussion on the forum
- Sixth convention: Bhusaval, at the Zonal Railway Training Centre (5-6 February, 2011).
- Fifth convention: New Delhi, at the National Railway Museum (6-7 February, 2010).
- Fourth convention: Bangalore (24-25 January 2009).
- Third convention: Kanpur (2008).
- Second convention: Chennai (2007).
- The first convention was held in Pune in February 2006.