THERE'S GOOD NEWS FOR all of us, boys. I am pleased to announce yet another star attraction of the steam railway show here in India. Sorry, it is not a loco, but a book, and a lovely one too, called “Indian Railways—More Miles... More Smiles...” The author, Shri J L Singh is one of those rare railwaymen who are steamed up with enough enthusiasm for the railway itself, and the result is here for us to see in the form of a book brought out by the gentleman. And what is more, Singh is also planning to start a railway magazine, so if there’s anyone out there who's starved of railroad romance, he had better be on the lookout for this magazine.
Shri Singh is a member of the Indian Steam Railway Society, which certifies that he is a member of our own gang. And now let us hear the story from the author himself:
“Last
year, I had brought out a coffee table book for the Indian Railways called ‘Indian
Railways - More Miles...More Smiles’. The railways are not good at marketing,
so the book is not very well known. The success of the book is prompting
me to start a magazine for Rail enthusiasts. As of now, I am thinking of a
Quarterly magazine. I am now at a stage where I am preparing a Memorandum
of Association for registering a Society that will own and publish the
magazine. I hope to have the magazine's first issue out by the end of
October.
“Like
the President of our Society, Shri L K Sinha, and Secretary, Shri G Shanker, I am an alumni from Jamalpur. For the
record, Shri Sinha is a Special Class Railway Apprentice from the 1957 batch, Shri
Shanker is 1959 batch, while I am from
the 1965 batch. I resigned from the Railways in 1993 and joined RITES from
where I resigned in 2005. I would normally have retired in 2006.
“After
retirement, I worked for some time (4 years of this was in Mali but on a
non-railway job) and now I am indulging in my hobbies. These are railway
history and heritage on the one hand and bird watching on the other. I am
interested to convert both into writing. One of the outputs of the last
was the coffee table book that I had referred to. It is called Indian Railways - More Miles...More Smiles
and I had compiled, designed, edited and brought it out on behalf of the Indian
Railways. It is available on sale at the National Rail Museum in Delhi.
“The
book is a collections of articles and more important, photographs, that bring
out more than anything else, the role of the rail enthusiast. Most of the
articles in this book and particularly the photographs, I got from rail
enthusiasts. Even the railwaymen who have contributed have done so as rail
enthusiasts. It is the success of this book that has encouraged me to go
ahead with a rail enthusiast magazine.”
..............................
So
what does the book hold for store for us within its covers? Here’s a list of
contents telling us what we may expect within this well made treatise...
C
o n t e n t s
Manning
the Indian Railways
|
The
Hidden Face of the Railway Enthusiast
|
A
Rich Architectural Heritage
|
Branch-line
Profit and Poetry
|
Development
of Indian Steam Locomotives – A Philatelic Journey
|
Trains
in Motions – Photo Feature
|
First
Ladies
|
Indian
Railways and Society
|
Bridging
the Indian Railways – Marvels of Engineering
|
Rail
Modelling
|
Sporting
Traditions
|
India’s
only Rack Railway
|
Romancing
the Bhore Ghat
|
Railways
and 1971 War
|
Railway
Colonies
|
Railway
Women’s Welfare Central Organisation
|
Railway
Public Sector Units
|
RITES
Ltd.
|
Ircon
International Ltd.
|
Container
Corporation of India Ltd.
|
Rail
Vikas Nigam Ltd.
 |