Text: Erik Pontoppidan

The Indian railways is a dream to any railway enthusiast. Once you have had a train ride in India, you will never forget it. After that, train rides anywhere else will be reduced to a transport in synthetic metal tubes without any smell or atmosphere! And if you really want to know India’s people and landscapes as a tourist, the best way to do it is to take the train to some distant destination in the country. Here, you will get the experience of your life with multi-playable impressions from your internal memory card after the return to your homeland: The yelling sound from the tea vendors, the heavy noise from the trains crossing the iron bridges, the minor-keys of the whistles from the locomotives. Oh yes, railways really ARE poetic!

In 1995, National Geographic made a fantastic movie about the Indian railways and their history, which is available on DVD on amazon.com. For the moment, you can watch 4 of the 5 sequences on YoyTube. One of the main subjects are the former steam locomotives, whitch dominated the railways for more than 100 years and became part of the soul of India.

Du can watch the movie by clicking on the links below:

India: Running out of Steam (part 2) - The Black Beauty Contest

India: Running out of Steam (part 3) - The Little Tibetan Terrier

India: Running out of Steam (part 4) - The Sad Story of Palur & the Last Run of Pondicherry Special

India: Running out of Steam (part 5) - Death of the main line steam & the lone survivor

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