nomisd

I love the smell of acetone in the mornings. Everything disassembled and stripped. No massive problems or scares. A good clean up is now in order. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to get something (a jewel?) to put in the lamps on the RH to make them look like lamps?

I am not what you would call a serious modeller. I mean when I am modelling, I am serious about it. But there are long stretches of time when I go off in a different direction and lose that mojo. Obvious the railways never go away but the urge to model them does. Then out of the blue, it'll come back as quick as it left. I t has been bubbling under for a while, I have been itching to get back but was waiting for the thing that was going to re-ignite the fire. It came on Friday when out of nowhere I happened to go to the Narrow Planet web site because someone sent me a link about something and whilst I was there I happened to to look at their KB Scale stock. I have thought for a long time if I were ever to model anything narrow gauge it would be in O14 scale. The perfect storm happened and they happened to have the starter track kit and a Ruston LBT in stock. So I ordered them both and await their arrival with bated breath. But I hear you cry, this is the standard gauge industrial forum, your LBT whilst nice has no place here. No but its order has also re-started another long on the back burner project. About 15 years ago a member of the MRC I was a member of was selling off some his kit built O scale locos which is how I became the owner of these I used them for a couple of years on the clubs O scale layout but as you can see from the photo they have sat around for a while and are in some dire need of some TLC. I have never really liked the colour of them and don't particularly like the names, not so much the names more the name plates. One of the things that a member of the MRC did for me was to fit them both with Delrin chains My first intention is to clean them and strip the paint off them and see where we go from there. What I do with them all eventually is open to conjecture. I would like to build a small layout incorporating SG and 2ft 0in. A layout that I have always had a soft spot for is The End of the Line and the idea of a tipping transfer between the two is a possibility and based on something as simple as Thomas Grey at Burton Latimer, at least its obtainable and animatable. However thats someway off yet....

Wrote perhaps but "did" was Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Whilst not really helping with the question in hand (the locos to use), I thought that subscribers to this thread may be interested in these films. They were taken by PSA Berridge (the author of Couplings to the Khyber) during his time working for NWR, from the mid 1930s to the late 1940s. They are also a bit outside the timescale but there are some fine things over the six films, that you don't get to see everyday.

According to the IRS Baguley book, Risha has 4in by 8in cylinders which, along with the loco built before it, had the smallest cylinders they put on a steam loco (not that they built many steam locos).

I have a rail chair from Dinorwic that I liberated from a part of the quarry which was on its way back to being part of the mountain. It too went in my rucksack. By the time I got back to London on the train three days later I wondered if it was really worth it - its astounding how heavy an insignificant looking think like a rail chair can get, in hindsight it was.

A handy Hindi/Punjabi-English phrase guide Main apane jarman kaar kho diya hai/Mainu mere da jaramana kara khatama ho gi'a hai - I have lost my German car Yahaan ke paas ek naav yaard hai/Ithe de neje ika kisati viheje hai- Is there a boat yard near here? Main apane kot mil jaega/Mainu mere kota prapata karoge - I'll get my coat

For Emma, Forever Ago is a stunning debut album, one of the best that I can think of. I was so disappointed when I went to see him/them as they were a bit rubbish live.

Volume 4 of Indian Engineering has a very interesting description of a group of Engineers on a tour up to the new railway in the Chapper (or Chupper as it is spelt in the report - the spelling of place names, the bane of researching British India) Rift. The remnant of the Conference had a fairly good time on the Brake trials. The meals in the mess carriage were for the most part pleasant re-unions, and the ice only failed once.Down-country Delegates didn't seem quite satisfied that several hundreds of miles of howling wastes are flanked by rich tracts of irrigated land, and more than one energetic Engineer seemed to itch for the chance of combining Railway works with irrigation schemes that should make the desert smile. The new Chenab Bridge, of which Mr. F. J E. Spring, a well-known Calcutta Engineer, is in Executive charge, was reported to have made a very good start, but the site was not visited by the Conference train, as it was timed both ways to pass Mooltan in the dark. At Sukker a happy day was spent visiting Mr.Diernecki's workshops, and the magnificent Sukker cantilever bridge. This work is making rapid strides under the skilful care of Mr. Robertson and his able assistant Mr Hecquet, and if all goes well, by next year's high floods the very ingenious ferry arrangements for taking carriages and wagons across the Indus will be a thing of the past. When the river channels shift about, such ferries have their dark days, but that they can be made wonderfully efficient in favorable cases is shewn by the fact stated that a few days ago 397 vehicles crossed the Indus during the then 15 hours of daylight. Electric light arrangements are fitted up, but at the rate of progress quoted, they could never be required for ordinary traffic. There is a beautiful view from the top of the bridge towers, some 200 feet above water-level, and doubly interesting to Engineers who then, saw the details of Mr. Robertson's ingenious and effective hoisting machinery. Later in the day the Delegates viewed from the deck of a steamer kindly placed at their disposal, the operation of hoisting a girder web some 80 odd feet tons, weighing fifteen tons. In the course of an hour this huge mass was hoisted, hauled over and landed in its final position where it slopes downwards from a height of 200 feet to perhaps one of 150, with the most exact precision, apparently under the guidance of a few hand signals given from his boat by Mr. Hecquet and with far less noise than it takes to manoeuvre a penny steam boat. Those who visited the Loco Shops, saw and heard a good deal in connection with the long run system, by which mail engines run through between Sukker and Kurrachee, some 320 miles, changing drivers, of course, along the route. Next day, the ascent of the Harnai Ghat, General Browne's Chef d’ouvre was performed by most of the party in an open truck fitted with garden seats like the new-fashionad London 'busses and propelled in advance of the leading engine. The train of 17 vehicles had also a push engine behind. This delightfully novel way of travelling afforded a perfect view all round, free from dust and smuts, and indeed of every discomfort except the heat, which, however, was by no means overpowering. The view, though fine, was terribly dead and sterile and thoroughly justified Lord Lytton's witty epithet of a camel-colored (yes thats the spelling - maybe the 'Muricans aren't so wrong?) country. Above Harnai the grades get steeper and the curves sharper, and the combination of 1 in 43 with curves of, it is said, some 450 feet radius might well make the powerful engines pant stertorously (reading Victorian literature can sometimes be like a game of Call My Bluff). One very quaint effect is produced by each bridge having one or more large central spans, while the end spans are small. The large spans have broad iron floors that only require paving to fit them for the use of road vehicles, artillery, &c, while the small spans have no floor at all and are no wider than the rails and sleepers. The appearance of a fine broad bridge thus cut off entirely from the land is exceedingly peculiar and unsatisfying. Above Sharigh, while we came upon an engine changing station in the wilderness, the hills on the left hand contain a seam of coal tilted up at an angle of some 40 degrees. The fuel is clean to the touch, but when burnt has an abominably foul odor, and the lot of any passengers stuck in a tunnel behind any engine that burns the Khosht coal is not likely to be a happy one. Clinging to the left side of the valley, we pass three mighty rifts that intersect an otherwise smoothly rounded hill, the Chupper Mountain on our right. So clinging and even clinging we ascend close to the head of the valley and then double hack in a still climbing horse-shoe curve, and instead of skirting the rounded hill in an open cutting, we run into a tunnel so thickly roofed with rock on our right side, that at each of the numerous oblique oeil de boeuf one is thankful that the vigorous blast from the engine's funnel doesn't blow the tunnel's flimsy roof up to fall again upon the train. Emerging from this Karez tunnel, which the punster of the party insists on calling Karezy, we find our course still returning on, and climbing the far side of the valley, till it crosses the first rift on the Louise Margaret Bridge, a work of no great height as to the piers, for these stand on rocks far, far above the bed of the narrow gap under one of the spans. Like Columbus's egg trick (no, I didn't know what this referred to), it is rather a disappointing performance, after it is done, but you may be sure the erection was no easy matter in such a place and such a climate before the Railway got there. Beyond the Bridge another Karez tunnel set deeper in the solid rock turns us round at right angles and brings us into daylight on the right scarf of the great rift, and certainly a more uncanny place to take either road or Railway through cannot well be imagined. On your right, terrific Cliffs jut out half over the line in places, while the slope of debris on your left run down to incredible depths. Here and there odd stones, up to a ton or two in weight, lie on the side of the formation and seem to indicate the sort of hail-storm to which the locality is liable ; and further on the vertical wall of rock takes one horizontal step forward and entirely bars the further open air path. To make an effective model of this interesting place, take the slab of paving stone in front of your door, and with it your nice white stone door step, and turn both these objects as they stand up on edge, so that the pavement stands on your right and the rise of the step in front of you. Pile a mound of sand half way up against the paving stone and form a line of Railway along its summit that enters the rise of the step by a tunnel. Let the half of the door step and of the paving slab that stands above the Railway be, say, 400 feet high, and the width, i.e., the rise of the step be, say, 30 or 40 feet. On this scale the outer wall of this tunnel, the piece of rock that is between the Railway and Eternity, doesn't look at all too strong for its work, especially when you espy far overhead a crevice running down between the door step and the pavement for, say, 200 feet or so from the top. Viewed from the open car, these imposing cliffs and jumbles of mountains, cracked and tossed about, are liable to make the conceit, if there be any, out of Engineers at large. The Harnai Railway, and indeed all the Railway works inIndia, are but very temporary scratches after all. There is, however, some balm in the Indian Gilead, for those of the party who have lately explored America via Japan, and took various routes across the great Western Continent, were of the unanimous opinion that there is never a canon in all the Rockies that can hold a candle to the terrific grandeur of the great Chupper Rift. After the Chupper the glories of Mudgorge and its embankment, a good 100 feet high, that looks as if a shower of rain might sweep it all away, fall on yon, and soon after that, you cross the summit, the two engines get both in front, the gondola car goes behind and the drivers alone have the pleasure of noting the dangerous entrance to Fuller's Camp Station, which they have happily nick-named Fool's Camp. Man, it has been observed, is prone at times to play fantastic tricks; and the Engineer of the comparatively easy descent upon Bostan, seems at a first glance to have been at that game when he made his corkscrew spiral. One naturally supposes such a thing devised to circumvent, and at the same time climb a more or less circular hill; but making a mile of line to avoid embanking .across a hollow, may be the right way to treat the case, but it has a very disappointing effect on the spectators. Other than this, the volume is full of articles and letters decrying or not the achievements of the Sind Pishin line. One interesting thing is a copy, in two editions in August, of the opening inspection report for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway - for those interested in such things, various types of electronic versions of the journal can be found here. And finally, the "people write novels about this sort of thing" entry (I would love to know the story behind this) - Mr. A. W. Crawford, Supervisor, P. W. D. — Sometime ago this man was imprisoned on an alleged offence of getting up a conspiracy to murder his Executive Engineer at Shwebo in Upper Burma. We are glad to learn that Mr. Crawford has been exonerated by being reinstated in his appointment.

Following on from the topic of Terriers in Argentina, this is a list of the Terriers that were sold into industrial use. It is taken from various publications. The locos are listed by name. Additions and corrections welcome. BRAMLEY Sold to George Pauling & Co, 9/1902. For use on GW/GC Joint line construction, Northolt Junction to High Wycombe section. Scrapped, 10/1909. DENMARK Sold to George Pauling & Co, 7/1902. For use on GW/GC Joint line construction, Northolt Junction to High Wycombe section. Scrapped, 10/1909. FENCHURCH Sold to Newhaven Harbour, 6/1898. To Southern Railway, 1926. SOUTHDOWN Sold to The Admiralty, Rosyth Dockyard, 2/1918. To Mine Depot Grangemouth, No 5, 6/1920. Sold for scrap 8/1921. MILWALL Sold to The Admiralty, Invergordon, 2/1918. Sold to Shropshire & Montgomery Railway, 8 DIDO , 11/1923. BISHOPGATE Sold to George Pauling & Co, 6/1902. For use on GW/GC Joint line construction, Northolt Junction to High Wycombe section. See this message for potential fate. SURREY Sold to George Pauling & Co, 9/1902. For use on GW/GC Joint line construction, Northolt Junction to High Wycombe section. See this message for potential fate. THAMES Sold to George Pauling & Co, 5/1902. For use on GW/GC Joint line construction, Northolt Junction to High Wycombe section. See this message for potential fate. BRIXTON Sold via Ryland Smith to Grassmoor Colliery, Derbyshire, 4/1920, renamed ASHGATE. Sold or scrapped, c1934 DEPTFORD Sold to Edge Hill Light Railway, 4/1919, No 1. Scrapped 4/1946 SHADWELL Sold to Edge Hill Light Railway, 7/1920, No 2. Scrapped 5/1946 MINORIES Sold to The Admiralty, Invergordon?, 1/1918 To Chatham Dockyard, CHATHAM No 4, ?/?. Sold 10/1933 BEULAH Sold to The Admiralty, Invergordon, 1/1918. Sold to Shropshire & Montgomery Railway, 7 HECATE, 8/1921. EARLSWOOD Sold to The Admiralty, Invergordon, 1/1918. Sold to Shropshire & Montgomery Railway, 9 DAPHNE, 11/1923.

Yes fair point! The GW/GC contract

OK, my interest has been piqued! The following is a compilation of information from three sources - the aforementioned Mainline to Industry, The Industrial Locomotives of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire (Industrial Railway Society) and Contractors Locomotives (Industrial Locomotive Society). In 1902, George Pauling & Co acquired the five Terriers from LBSCR. They were used on the contract to build the GW/GC Joint line between Northolt Junction and High Wycombe. This was carried out between 1902 and 1905. The details are as follows. MTI, IRS or ILS denotes where the disposal info comes from (also see the footnote from MLI in post #2). 88/36 Bramley - Acquired 9/1902. Sold 1909 (ILS) Scrapped 10/1909 (IRS) Disposed 1909 (MLI) 87/39 Denmark - Acquired 7/1902. Sold 1909 (ILS) Scrapped 10/19009 Disposed 1909 (MLI) 79/649 Bishopsgate- Acquired 6/1902. To Argentina 1909 (ILS) Scrapped 10/1909 (IRS) La Plata Tramways (MLI) 90/652 Surrey - Acquired 9/1902. Sold 1909 (ILS) Reputedly to FC La Plata, Argentina (IRS) Sold/Scrapped (MLI) 64/657 Thames - Acquired 5/1902. To Argentina? 1909 (ILS) Reputedly to FC La Plata, Argentina (IRS) La Plata Tramways (MLI) Given that the RCTS book notes an unidentified Terrier in 1920, personally I would say that Thames definitely went to Argentina. I would be dubious that more than one loco went. Incidentally there is a very nice photo of Surrey working on the contract in Mainline to Industry.

According to the Lightmoor Press book Mainline to Industry (which lists sales from mainline companies to industrial owners) the two Terriers sold to Pauling in May 1902 for use in Argentina were 649 (79) Bishopsgate and 657 (64) Thames. However there is a footnote that states "It is not known for sure whether it was 649 or 657 that went to La Plata Tramways. Whichever locomotive it was that went , the one that was left behind was scrapped in 1909".

Tiny Tears - Tindersticks

That would be a pretty good summation of India. Add in more car horns than you can imagine and food sellers on every corner and your are just about there. Having said that, I went back for a week a few years ago after spending six months there in the early 1990s. Mrs nomisd and I were taken to a shopping mall by our hosts. I stood agog with my mouth doing the flappy amazed looked. We were essentially in a western shopping mall with Gap and Benetton and M&S. Mrs nomisd looked at me and said "you are having a bit of a culture shock aren't you?".

You have not lived until you have witnessed the sight of a railway line being used as a latrine by a good number of the inhabitants on Bombay having your morning constitutional cigarette by the open door of the carriage on your approach to the city......

They were still there working in the early 1990s but haven't been reported since. . They are Robert Stephenson, Hawthorns built in 1943 for the Steel Corporation of Bengal. They are seen in these photos at Kulti Pipe Works of the Indian Iron & Steel Co in West Bengal.

The other thing that was on teh table in the first half of 1888 was the opening of lines, mainly the Sind-Pisin line. The following are all pretty detailed descriptions, if sometimes written in a late Victorian melodramatic style. If the commas in the numbers over 100,000 look like they are in the wrong place, they are not - it was the Indian way of writing them down, weird I know. THE KANDAHAR EXTENSION OF THE NORTH-WESTERN STATE RAILWAY. As there seems to be a good deal of ignorance about the nature of the country into which the extension of the Sind-Pishin line is to be carried during the present year, perhaps a few words of description will not be unwelcome to our readers. This ignorance is not dispelled by the few statements which have been published from time to time by the newspapers. The Pioneer (which should know better) talks for instance of the range of hills through which the tunnel is to be driven as the Khojak Amrdn instead of the Kwaja-Amran, as it should be called, and its description of the approaches to the tunnel are also inaccurate. The St James Gazette describes these hills as " razor- backed ; " one epithet is perhaps as good as another if you are addressing an ignorant public, but if we had wished to describe exactly what the Kwaja-Amran range was not we should have used this expression. The range of hills where the line is to cross is about 2,500 feet above the Pishin Valley on the east, and 3,500 feet above the Reghistan desert on the west. The line as now laid out has a ruling gradient of 1 in 40, and rises to a summit height in the main tunnel of 6,400 feet — Killa Abdiilla, the present terminus of the Sind-Pishin Railway, being at an elevation of 5,100 feet above sea- level. The first five miles of the new line from Killa Abdulla are of an easy character, and only two of the remaining five before the tunnel mouth is reached can be described as at all heavy. The tunnel entrance is nearly a mile below the zig-zag road referred to by the Pioneer, and the exit at the western end is also some distance from the foot of the zig-zag on that side. The tunnel itself will be about two and one-third miles in length, the eastern half being nearly level, and the western on a falling gradient of 1 in 40. While the piercing of the mountain will be facilitated by two shafts being sunk at a distance of about 1| miles apart, the ruling gradient is nearly continuous from the tunnel mouth to the temporary terminus, a little below Chaman, a distance of 13 miles. On this section also very little heavy work is necessary, two small tunnels, about 200 yards long each, being the only works on it requiring other than coolie labour — the extent of the earthworks being light, except in the first three miles from the tunnel mouth. Work is at present entirely suspended owing to the heaviest fall of snow ever recorded in those regions. The season has up to date been remarkable for a complete absence of the terrible north-west wind so well-known, and so dreaded. The snow, however, has the advantage of ensuring a good supply of water during the summer months, so that it has some compensating advantages. To facilitate the transport of materials while the tunnel is being driven , a temporary line is to be constructed over the top of the pass. This line will have gradients of 1 in 15 up to the foot of the road zig-zags mentioned by our contemporary, for which special locomotives are being sent out from England. The remainder of the ascent on the east side, and descent on the west, will be overcome by means of stationary engines and inclines worked by wire ropes. These inclines are expected to be in working order during the present year, and we hope to describe them in more detail later on. There is an extensive history of these incline in teh Industrial Railway Society's Rope and Chain Haulage book. Here is photo of one in action. THE SIND-SAGUR STATE RAILWAY. The Bhukkiir-Malickwal Section of the Sind-Sagur State Railway was opened for every description of traffic on the 1st August 1887 ; thus completing one of the frontier protective Railways, as the section from the Chenab River near Sher Shah to Bhukkur was opened for traffic on the 1st January 1887. This line leaves the North-Westem Railway System at Mooltan, crossing the River Chenab by a steam ferry near Mozuffergurh, some 12 miles to the west. From here it runs parallel to the River Indus in a northerly direction east Leiah, Bhukkur and Kodmdian, from which station it takes an easterly course along the foot of the Salt Range past Khushab, then follows the northern banks of the River Jhelum past Piud Dadan Khan until it reaches Haranpur, near which point the line is carried over the river by the recently completed Victoria Bridge, and is continued due east until it joins the North- Western Railway at Lala Musi, a station between Jhelum and Wazirabad. The "Eastern Section" from Lala Musa to Malickwal, is 43 miles long, and was recently converted from the metre to the broad gauge ; the "Western Section" the last length of which has just been opened, is 295 miles long, or, including all its branches, 136 miles. There are four branches, viz. : from Haranpur to the Mayo Salt Mines at Khewra ; from Koondian to Mianwali ; from Bhukkur to the bank of the River Indus, opposite Dera Ismail Khan; and from Mahniood Kote to the bank of the River Indus, opposite Dera Ghazi Khan, all of which are also now open for traffic. The works are generally rather light, but the first 60 or 80 miles at each end of the Western Section are some- what heavy, with a considerable number of bridges over hill streams and inundation canals ; the centre part from Khushab to Bhukkur being mostly through a sandy desert. The line is on the broad gauge, and laid throughout with permanent-way of flat footed steel rails weighing 75lbs. to the yard mostly on steel transverse sleepers ; some short lengths where the salt in the soil is excessive have transverse wood sleepers instead of steel. The first surveys were taken in hand in November 1884, the earthwork was commenced in 1885, and the line was opened in August 1887, that is, in about 2½ years from the first orders for the survey, or in rather less than 2 years after the first sod was turned. The Victoria Bridge over the River Jhelum is a little more than half a mile long, being of 17 spans of 150 feet girders, spaced 160 feet from centre to centre of the piers The foundations are on single wells, 25 feet in diameter, built on wrought-iron curbs 26 feet in diameter, and sunk 120 feet below the rail level, or 82 feet below low water level. The brick stiening is 5½ feet thick, and all the wells are hearted with semi-hydraulic lime concrete. The wells from low water level are carried up to girder bed level in solid brick work as circular piers 25 feet in diameter finished off with plain massive cap projections, the bottom of the girders being 10 feet above high flood level. The girders are of steel and iron 160 feet long. They are of the ordinary triangulated type with the roadway on the bottom flange, and the cross girders have been lengthened out on both sides to carry a footway 5 feet wide outside each main girder. Each span complete weighs 175 tons. The sinking of the well piers was commenced in September 1885, and was finished in December 1886. The first delivery of girder work at Bridge site was in November 1886, and the last girders were erected under considerable difficulties, owing to floods, on the 29th April 1887, the bridge being opened for traffic on the morning of the 16th May 1887, the whole structure having been completed in 20 months from start to finish. The estimate for this bridge, and the somewhat extensive protective banks formed of large boulders up-stream to steady the river through the bridge, as well as the buildings and offices connected with it, amounted to Rs. 25,70,000, but the actual cost is Rs. 19,00,000. The total cost of the Western Section including this bridge was estimated at Rs. 2,37,32,186, or at the rate of Rs. 70,632 per mile complete in all respects, including rolling stock and steamers for the steam ferries. The actual cost of the line complete is about Rs. 2,27,32,000, which at the present rate of exchange amounts to £1,610,196 sterling, giving a rate for 336 miles of Rs. 67,768 and £4,792 per mile. The Inspecting Engineers expressed themselves very highly satisfied with the substantial manner in which the whole of the works on this Railway have been executed, and the neat and the pleasing style in which the stations, engine sheds and houses for the accommodation of the staff have been finished. The Government of India have thanked Mr. James Ramsay, M. Inst. C.E., the Engineer in Chief, and his Engineering staff, for the satisfactory and economical manner in which the whole of this Railway has been completed. By the opening of this Railway and its branches, the Viceroy was lately able to visit with ease and comfort two of the important frontier military stations west of the Indus, Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan, where durbars for native chiefs were held, and he saw representatives of some of the wild tribes on the frontier. He also visited the Mayo Salt Mines, and was much interested with all he saw there. THE SIND-PISHIN RAILWAY The recent issues of Engineering give some very interesting (interested?) articles on the Sind-Peshin Railway, pointing out the difficulties encountered during the construction. Condensed, it states that in the summer the thermometer registered 124 degrees Fahr. in the shade, and in the winter fell to 18 degrees below zero. The cholera raged, carrying off thousands of victims. Food there was none on the spot, water was often absent for miles, and timber and fuel were unknown. Added to this the few inhabitants the region possessed were cut-throats by profession, and amid such surround-ings a line 223 miles long ascending in 80 miles to an elevation overtopping Mont Cenis and St. Gothard, and then crossing a summit of 6,600 feet was constructed. The work was pushed on with feverish haste to satisfy the wishes of a Viceroy who had a Pendjeh incident unsettled on his hand, and found himself with a broken link in his chain of attack within possible distance of the greatest struggle England ever had entered into since the Napoleonic wars. The articles are a tissue of eulogy and appear to us to be drawn up in a "defensive" strain. And the "absolutely nothing to do with our subject" entry comes in the form of the following A Remarkable Hand at Whist. — An extraordinary incident in a game at whist, the only bona fide one of the kind recorded, occurred at the United Service Club, Calcutta, a few days ago. The players were Mr. Justice Norris, Dr. Harvey, Dr. Sanders and Dr. Reeves. Two new packs were opened and were trayed and shuffled in the usual way. Dr. Sanders had one of the packs cut to him and proceeded to deal. He turned up the knave of clubs and on sorting his hand found that he had the other twelve trumps.

Volume 3 (January to June 1888) of Indian Engineering was concerned wit two things from the area. The first were the two broad gauge Abt rack locos that had been acquired to test their capabilities on the heavily graded lines north of Quetta. An edition in February had an extended description of them Two "Abt Engines" are in course of erection at Sukkur, one of them being nearly ready for the road. The principal features of the engine are four cylinders, two for the main engine placed outside the frame, and two cylinders between the frame to drive the rack gear; the main cylinders are 19, and the rack cylinders 1.3 inches diameter. The engine is six- wheel, coupled with a pair of small trailing wheels on radial axle boxes. The rack gear is carried on frames hanging from the driving and leading axle boxes — the latter being joined to each other by an iron box over each axle — giving it the appearance, when looked at from above, of a solid axle box from one side to the other There are two sets of spurs, each of three steel wheels, arranged so that one tooth is in gear, one tooth just entering, and one tooth leaving the rack, they are lubricated with oil from a feeder-box on the foot plate. The rack engine is worked by separate starting gear, and is entirely independent of the main engine, having its own link motion and so forth. The boilers are huge and have immense fire-boxes, giving one the idea that they are only fed once each trip; these huge fire-boxes are no doubt very necessary. The capacity of the engines is stated to be 200 tons over a grade of one in six. They are fitted with water tanks and coal bunkers. The water capacity is limited to a run of four miles. It is stated that the makers here preferred to build larger water tanks, but the India Office authorities intervened. Water taps and pipes are connected to the steam chest, so that a flow of water is permitted to play on the valve faces when coming down hill, the water is run off by two extra cocks on the bottom of the cylinders at command of the driver on the foot plate. The water gauge glasses are fixed on the side of the boiler just behind the dome and are worked off the foot plate by a system of levers. The driving and trailing coupled wheels are fitted with hand brake gear and wooden brake-blocks, but by a system of levers the top of the exhaust pipe can be closed and a valve opens the bottom, thus permitting the pistons to take in air through the exhaust ports, which, acting on the reserve side of the pistons, form a formidable brake. This system of brake power was extensively used on Continental railways sometime ago. There is a combination of lines and handles about the footplate, which are viewed with disfavour by the engine-drivers who have been deputed to see the engines erected, and afterwards run them. They are considered to be well finished and were built at Esslingen. By April word had reached Calcutta that all was not well with the experiments The Abt Railway System. — A Quetta telegram says: — During the past week there has been a trial of the Abt system on the two miles of line which have been completed. The system did not stand the tests satisfactorily; and it is not unlikely that the idea of having the Abt system from Mach to the Katal will be entirely given up. The Abt system does not work well on curves, and the engines can only climb hills provided that their heads are kept straight. Perhaps the engines and materials collected at Hirok will be utilized at the Kojak. By the end of May, it had all ended in ignominy The Abt System for the Bolan. — We glean that the experiments recently made on the Bolan Ghat with the Abt system proving it to be practically a failure cannot be considered as conclusive. For purpose of experiment a length of 7 miles of Abt rack road and two Abt engines were got out from Germany at a cost of over four lakhs of rupees (a lakh is a unit equal to 100,000; the customary exchange rate in the late 19th century was 15 rupees to the pound); the late Member for Public Works being determined to thoroughly test the system. This road was to have been laid on a gradient of 1 in 25 and would have more than sufficed for the length of the Bolan Ghat above Hirok, now being converted from metre to broad gauge. Sir Theodore Hope having left India, other counsels seem to have prevailed, and but one mile of Abt rack rail was laid down to experiment on. This is considered an inadequate length for trial of a locomotive engine. It is no test of steaming capabilities: and as the Abt engine boiler has to supply two pairs of cylinders, such a test is absolutely necessary. We hear rumours that Mr. Graff, the Austrian Engineer engaged by Colonel Wallace to lay this experimental line, has resigned, the management of these experiments having been so unpractical. They were converted to conventional locos and ended up as shunters. A photo of one can be seen here

This offering is from the July to December 1887 volume of Indian Engineering. The first gives some idea to the reason why these railway lines were being built The North-West Frontier Railways — The Lahore paper observes that last March saw the remaining length of rails linked through from Sibi to Quetta, and between Bostan and Gulistaa on the one side, and Killa Abdula on the other, or up to the Kojak and the Gwaja Passes respectively. So that we have now uninterrupted railway communication between our principal military base in the Punjab, our seaboard at Karachi, and the Khwaja Amran Range. The line over the range itself is being surveyed, and, in the hands of Mr. O'Callaghan, its completion is not likely to be long delayed. The remaining 80 or 90 miles of railway required to carry us into Kandahar itself, if not to be laid down as yet, is practically already on the Pishin plateau and could be finished almost as rapidly as our troops could march. Although there is a good deal still remaining to be done in connection with the Bolan, either by applying the Abt system to the small section of narrow gauge, or by adopting an improved alignment, which recent surveys have shewn to be perfectly feasible for a standard-gauge line throughout; the completion of these two lines, connecting Sibi and Pishin, have alone changed the whole aspect of affairs. We can now not only place an army on the Helmand (plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose) at short notice, but rail its supplies and supports direct from the depots in India. The next two show what a grim environment it was to be working in. I think that at such a distance of time, we have no real concept of the privations the engineers who built these railway lines in such inhospitable areas really went through. The second, I think, really brings it home. Every week IE had an obituary section and most of the time the engineers were in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Mr Fitzhugh Cox however got a whole column rather than a couple of lines, you can see why - he really had achieved an immense amount. The Khojak Survey — A telegram to the Bombay Gazette says that Mr. O'Callaghan and staff, having completed the Railway survey over the Khojak Pass, break up their large camp at Shellabagh and return to Quetta. Mr. Wood, with a small survey party, will remain at Chaman for the present. Rumour says that the Engineers will return in September, when the actual work of construction will be commenced. Captain Duperier, R.E., and Captain Harvey, R.E., are surveying for a new road with gradients of 1 in 25, as the old military road is considered too steep, although it has been repaired and widened. The correspondent adds that the weather is very hot, the thermometer standing at 103° in the tents. We regret having to record the death of Mr. Fitzhugh Cox, who died from cholera at Sheikhidin a few hours after arriving there from Bannu, where he was in charge of the Bridge Division on the Frontier Road. Mr. Cox was a "Stanley" Engineer appointed to the Department as a third grade Assistant in 1867. His first important charge was the Umballa Division, including Viceregal and all Government Buildings in Simla with the Simla-Umballa Cart-road and the Grand Trunk- road from Peepli to Loodhiana. He went on Furlough in the autumn of 1880, and on his return was posted to the Amritsar Division where he designed and carried out the Amritsar Drainage Scheme. He was recently transferred to the Bannu Bridge Division, from whence his name has not been unfamiliar to our readers. Mr. Cox was a warm supporter of this Journal. He had also been a contributor to the Roorkee "Professional Papers." The whole tenure of Mr. Cox's service was in the Punjab, and that Province loses by his death one of its most energetic and capable Engineers who combined attainments of a rare and high order. Mr. Cox was a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. His age was 40 years. And as some light relief and nothing to do with our subject....The Nalhati State Railway was a odd railway. Built as 4ft 0in gauge it opened in 1863 and was the precursor to the MG system. The Nalhati State Railway — We are told in the last official Report on Railways that this line was maintained up to the standard necessary to permit of a speed for trains of— ten miles an hour. Also, that " nothing of any importance occurred during the year." Why not make next year important and memorable by converting this slow rolling stock into wheelbarrows and perambulators and employing ayahs( Hindi for nanny) to propel them? There are general store dealers in Indian Bazars who would buy up the engines now in use as old metal. And only think what an appeasing sacrifice that would be to the dominant genius of economy! ​It ended up being re-gauged to BG in 1892. However, Doyle was somewhat wide of the mark on the six locos. Most were converted to MG and went to the East India Railways collieries. The other two were converted to BG and found use in EIR and Eastern Bengal State Railway's workshops. One of these ended up working for the Calcutta Corporation, long enough for it to to find a home in the Railway Museum in Delhi (fourth photo down in this link) http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Delhi/delhi3.htm

It is indeed a First/Second composite. Interestingly, most of the photos that I have ever seen of Indian carriages have had the class indicated by lettering in some form. Usually this takes the form of Roman numerals, presumably as these would be easier to understand than actual numbers? However I have never really taken any notice of the dates so couldn't really say what the trend was. I agree that the train on the Attock bridge would seem to have coaches of at least two colours, suggesting that NWR used white for First class and another darker colour for lower classes. I have found some more passages of passing interest in Indian Engineering. The following is all taken from the January to June 1887 volume. It mostly concerns the Bolan Pass line as this was being built at the time and so was news. The first extract is an excellent description of the way they moved BG stock over a MG line. Receiving a few days leave for Christmas, I determined to spend it out of Quetta, and my way led me over the metre gauge line down the Bolan Pass. Perhaps a short account regarding this line may be of interest to your readers. The length of the line is nearly 10 miles, and the sharp curves with heavy grades form one of its main features. Curves of 200 feet radius on a grade of 1 in 23 occur in several places, and the whole line is one series of sharp curves. The turn is not out of one before it is on another, and its progress through the gorge has been compared not inaptly to a skater cutting figures on the ice, as he leans over first to one side and than the other. The only engines and waggons that can be used are on bogies. The Fairlie engines are run without their tenders to save weight, and as a consequence watering stations are placed very close together. The load for one of these engines is 2½ waggons each, having a carrying capacity of 1.5 tons each, and a train generally consists of two or three engines with their loads. The engines and waggons are provided with Westinghouse brakes, thus ensuring the safety of the train. Another novel feature is the arrangement for the conveyance of 5' 6" gauge rolling-stock over the line. The idea is that of a young Cooper's Hill Engineer (Cooper's Hill was the Royal Indian Engineering College near Egham in Surrey which operated from 1870 to 1906 when it moved to India), and is effectd by special bogies contrived to receive the axles of the BG vehicles and lift them off their. wheels in the following manner : — The bogies are first run into a pit, something like an ordinary ashpit, but with a ramp on one side to lead to the floor along which the metre gauge line runs, while the broad gauge runs on the top. The bogies being ready, a BG vehicle is drawn over them and its axles clamped on to the V which is fixed on top of the frame. One bogie is required for each axle. When ready, the bogies are drawn up the ramp and the waggon is lifted off its wheels on the MG bogie. In this manner a number of locomotive waggons and carriages have been transported to the broad gauge line beyond. Admirable as the arrangement is for the transport of empty vehicles, however, the extra dead load and its top-heaviness make it objectionable for the conveyance of loaded ones, and the break of gauge has been found so troublesome, and the carrying capacity of the metre gauge so insufficient, that a survey for a broad gauge line to be constructed on the Abt System has been ordered. I have included the next extract to show the perils of working a heavily graded line The Bolan Railway has been opened for goods traffic to Quetta, but the opening for passengers has been delayed owing to insufficient passenger rolling-stock on the metre gauge section. It is also intended to fix vacuum brakes on all passenger vehicles. This is a most necessary precaution. An accident took place on the 29th March last that would never have happened had these brakes been in use. Two trucks were cut off a ballast train in a station, through siding on the metre gauge line which is on a grade of 1 in 30, while the engine was required to water. The "sprags" to fasten the wheels were either not used on this occasion or slipped out and the wagons got away. The engine was in the way and the driver seeing the wagons coming at him ran away from them, hoping to gradually stop them by coupling on while in motion and using the engine brakes. A very high speed, however, was got up before this could be done and a derailment occurred near a catch siding, resulting in rather a bad accident. It is needless to state that had either the Westinghouse or vacuum brake been in use this would not have occurred. The train which took up the Duke and Duchess of Connaught was provided with the latter, and previous to taking them up was tried with the utmost success. Perhaps they will be speedily adopted now for ordinary use. The next extract is included as it has an interesting snippet about the goods traffic carried in the frontier areas Our Correspondent writes: General Browne has started for Simla preparatory to proceeding on furlough, and Mr. O'Callaghan has taken over the Sind-Pishin Railway. General Browne, starting from Quetta, accomplished the journey to Sibi via Bostan and Sharig in less than ten hours, though he was delayed over two hours on the road, which speaks very well for the state of the line. The whole of the line from Quetta to Sharig vid Bostan and the Bostau-Gulistan section is shortly to be opened for goods traffic, and has been inspected by the new Superintendent of Works, Sind Section, and the District Traffic Superintendent. There is a considerable passenger and goods traffic over the Bolan to Quetta, and even the local goods traffic between Sibi and Sharig is much larger than was expected, consisting principally of goats' skins. One more district is to be added to the number on the NWR, as it is found that some of them are too long to be under proper supervision. I include the last extract as Patrick Doyle, the editor and proprietor of Indian Engineering was, from reading the journal, a very opinionated man who liked to prick what he perceived as the pompous and incorrect. The journal is full of the most splendid put downs, most of which are only slightly veiled! I have no idea what Doyle did before he started the journal but he was obviously an Engineer of some description. He didn't hold back from the the beginning as the journal was less than five months old when he published this. The Great Railway Engineering Feat — Some of our readers, who read the remarks of the Pioneer (a long established daily English language newspaper, of which Rudyard Kipling was the editor for two years just after this and which may be mentioned in the film of the The Man Who Would Be King? Indeed, there is a splendid piece he wrote for the paper on a visit to an East India Railway colliery where he describes in great detail the internal railway system of the colliery but I digress!) on the bridge which has lately been opened at Chupper on the Sind-Pishin Railway, will be surprised to learn that the bridge consists merely of one span of 150 feet and seven spans of 40 feet girders, and is thus under 500 feet in length. The foundations were dry and exceptionally easy, as rock is found directly on the surface. As to the height, we believe one of the piers is somewhat more than sixty feet high, but the other piers and both abutments are very much less in height. Some difficulty would no doubt be experienced in lifting the 150 feet girders, as the nullah (a nullah is a dry river valley that becomes a river during either the thaw or the rainy season) in the centre of the large span is at a great depth, some 250 feet below girder bed level. The launching of a girder of this size, however, though no doubt requiring much care and forethought, can hardly be considered an operation of great magnitude. We do not wish to underrate the bridge. The work is no doubt one of considerable importance, but the phrases "skilful piece of engineering" and "greatest railway engineering feat" which meet one's eye in the Pioneer's article are quite out of place and applicable neither to the bridge nor to the Sind-Pishin Railway. The truth is that there are no great engineering feats on the Sind-Pishin Railway. The work is very heavy throughout, but there is no really long tunnel or even one of those large bridges (of half a mile in length and upwards) which are found on nearly every Indian railway.

I'm now going to throw a spanner in my own works. I have just been reading a 1904 copy of the august journal Indian Engineering (no home should be without a set) and it has this picture in it of what is described as a new type of four wheeled, side door composite carriage for the North Western Railway. Its livery is described as "cream white with chocolate and gold lining". So much for Midland red carriages.......

Another book that I have looked through is the aforementioned Couplings to the Khyber by PSA Berridge (whatever happened to the railway author who was only known by his initials? Whiter the LTCs and HCs now?). Berridge was a bridge engineer on the NWR from 1926 to 1946 and his book tells the story of the NWR from this point of view. Whilst mainly concentrating on the civil engineering side, there are some interesting insights into the operational side of the railway (and a splendid chapter concerning the Great Train Robbery on the Kalka Simla Railway in June 1942 - all very Boys Own stuff!) The book is excellent however about as rare as hens teeth (although I have just looked on Amazon and there is a second hand book dealer in the UK selling one for 24 quid. The usual price that you see them go for is nearer 40) I was very fortunate to be given my copy as a present. Anyhow, among the treatise on bridge design and building, there is a chapter entitled Motive Power which has some interesting snippets concerning types of motive power and perhaps more importantly, liveries. In the 1870s all services were operated by 0-4-2, 2-4-0 and 0-6-0 locos with stovepipe chimneys. In teh 1880s, teh L class 4-6-0 began to displace these. By the time of grouping in 1886 there were 225 of the Ls, the last one being delivered in 1889. The L was the first 4-6-0 tender loco to operate in India snd according to Berridge the Highland Railway's CME David Jones took the L class as the model for the first 4-6-0s in the UK. Both the IVSR and SPDR favoured 2-4-0 and 0-4-2 inside cylinder locos but the IVSR had some unusual 4-4-0s which had fixed wheels rather than a leading bogie. The standard passenger loco was the SP class 4-4-0, although there were preceded by a slightly smaller M class which had "brass bands to their chimneys" (one would assume GWResque). On liveries the standard was black with polished steel boiler bands and letters and numerals in raised brass. When Eagle (see post above) was displayed at the workshops at Moghalpura (which Berridge describes as the Crewe of NWR), it was painted black and lined in red and white with yellow (or gold letters) SPDR on her tender. In teh war years when it was displayed in Lahore and Delhi it was repainted Great Western green lined in black and yellow and a polished brass dome (one may assume that someone in the loco works may have done their apprenticeship at Swindon?!). Barrage says that he cannot ascertain what its authentic 1869 livery was though. A driver who worked prior to 1928 reported to him that he could remember an L class loco painted in North Staffordshire red but Berridge assumed that this was for a special occasion, probably the Duchess of Connaught opening the bridge over the Champner Rift in 1927. An SP was also repainted into Caledonian blue when the Prince of Wales travelled over the NWR but he states these were the exceptions as "the established livery from 1886 onwards has always been black with the coaching stock mostly in Midland red". Out of the date period but interesting nevertheless, two XC Pacifics were later turned out in non-standard liveries for special occasions, one in Midland red and the other in brown lined in black and yellow

Railways & Military Movement, Railway Report 1878-79 The rapid and steady movement of troops and supplies in time of war and internal commotion is an important element of strength, whether in the administration of internal or external affairs, and we have seen the value of a railway system during the recent advance of the army into Afghanistan. The greater the distance the more important are railways as military communications. It has been a subject of great regret with the authorities during the late campaign that the line did not more nearly approach the north western frontier than Jhelum, which is 173 miles from Peshawar. As an example of what was done, I may mention that the arrangements made by the SPDR for the daily conveyance in 24 hours from Delhi to Lahore (a distance of 348 miles) of two batteries of artillery, two regiments of European Infantry, 1 ½ regiments of Native Infantry and one regiment of Native Cavalry, being at the rate of 4000 men of all arms in these proportions. Between Lahore and Multan, the number of trains admitted of the daily movement of about 3000 troops in similar proportions, The average speed was 20 miles per hour, with 35 vehicles per train. By these means, 146,000 troops and followers (four fifths consisting of the latter), 15, 197 horses, ponies and mules, 6227 bullocks, 218 camels, 138 guns and 33,780 tons of commissariat ordnance and military stores were transported in 184 special trains during the operations. Railways & Military Movement, Railway Report 1879-80 I alluded in my last report to the service which had been rendered by the railways in the prosecution of the Afghan campaign in 1878-79. When operations were renewed in the autumn of last year, the railways were again brought into requisition and the work done by them may be learned from the following extract from a report by the Traffic Manager of the SPDR. The following statement is from each month from September to the end of May last. September 1879, 25 Special trains, 11,403 troops and followers, 3053 horses, mules and ponies, 42 bullocks, 302 camels, 42,449 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance October 1879, 65 Special trains, 21,806 troops and followers, 11.044 horses, mules and ponies, 1098 bullocks, 2328 camels, 12 guns, 160,142 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance November 1879, 22 Special trains, 20084 troops and followers, 18583 horses, mules and ponies, 30 bullocks, 692 camels, 296,717 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance December 1879, 14 Special trains, 13,478 troops and followers, 4673 horses, mules and ponies, 588 camels, 36 guns, 228,4352 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance January 1880, 28 Special trains, 26,318 troops and followers, 7874 horses, mules and ponies, 645 camels, 9 guns, 117,310 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance February 1880, 16 Special trains, 19,436 troops and followers, 2782 horses, mules and ponies, 85 bullocks, 342 camels, 97,087 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance March 1880, 5 Special trains, 11,892 troops and followers, 663 horses, mules and ponies, 300 bullocks, 507 camels, 97.085 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance April 1880, 7 Special trains, 9,538 troops and followers, 2,556 horses, mules and ponies, 2,425 bullocks, 1,932 camels, 226,377 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance May 1880, 10 Special trains, 10,868 troops and followers, 2,896 horses, mules and ponies, 288 bullocks, 1,268 camels, 70,000 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance Totals, 192 Special trains, 144,823 troops and followers, 54,124 horses, mules and ponies, 4.263 camels, 57 guns, 1,335,593 maunds of military baggage and commissariat ordnance Up until the end of May 1880, the gross military traffic booked under Government warrants during the whole campaign was 336, 428 troops and followers, 80,702 horses, ponies and mules, 11,816 bullocks, 9,577 camels, 414 guns, 2,749,605 maunds of commissariat, ordnance and military stores and 681,653 maunds of railway material.

As nan addendum to my last post, I realised that I had not included the following link (well I had but I had forgotten to write a caption for it). It is a Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway A class 2-4-0T. There were eight of these locos built by Sharp, Stewart and Robert Stephenson in 1877 and 1881. They were used for suburban services in and out of Bombay. The class was withdrawn 1899-1904 and three (including this one) ended up as shunting locos, the last one being finally withdrawn in 1919. http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Heritage/13vint17.jpg.html