National Geographic: The Great Indian Railway Page #2

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where the strength of a lever man means

the safe passage of a train

It is the largest employer in the world

Officially, 1.6 million work for

the railway

But Vishnu estimates that

nearly 80 million people depend on it

for their livelihood

The Grand Trunk Express continues

southbound

The trip from New Delhi to Mardras

will last 38 hours

But for many,

the journey is an adventure

And it doesn't matter how long it takes

Long-distance trains have become

temporary homes for village India

And those on board are captive audiences

for ticketless travelers

who earn their keep

providing everything from entertainment

to food

On a train, meals are a big event

and passengers are constantly being

solicited with different kinds of fare

Twelve bearers run the length of

waiting on as many as 2,000 people

They serve up to 400 hot railway meals

twice a day

In the pantry car

cooks prepare food to suit the religious

mandates of an Indian train

nonveg or vegetarian

for Muslims, Hindus, Christians

The hardest job may be in trying to

satisfy the tastes of so many

And tastes do change from north to south

The food is

for a man it is very sufficient

It is comfortable

yes exactly it is more than sufficient

for one's capacity

It is given to us because here you have

rice and then dal

We call it the grains and then vegetables

Also, available then it is a full meal

for us

If there is a spirit of the railway

it is found in the thousands of small

stations

which have become part of the fabric of

Indian life

They are centers where everyone gathers

And those who can't afford to travel

will come just to watch the trains

The most impressive arrivals have always

been the broad gauge steam locomotive

lovingly called the "black Beauties"

They ride on the widest rails

and their wheels stand taller than a man

But their presence is now becoming rare

and those who grew up with them will

miss them the most

Black is beautiful

Our steam locos are our black beauties

We feel with the phasing

out of steam locos

as if we are doing away with

one of our

kit and kin

with whom we have blood relations

All throughout Eastern Railway

loco sheds are busy preparing their

engines for a Black Beauty Contest

It is a competition like no other

Only the best engines are entered

and to win the Black Beauty is

the highest honor a shed could have

Dhanbad, Rampur Hat, Sahibganj

Asansol, Jha Jha... five sheds hurry

to add the finishing touches

transforming these workhorses into

the beauties that they really are

This possibly should be the very last

Black Beauty Contest of Indian Railways

We mean to bring to you

the effect of the steam locos

when they were is their heydays

To show how they looked

How they worked

And for just one more time perhaps lived

and outlived the glory of those days

when the steam locos bore the burnt of

Indian Railways

The reason behind a Black Beauty Contest

remains very much valid today

because perhaps this is the last time

that we are going to be able to have such

a contest anywhere on the Indian Railways

perhaps in the rest of the world

like China and other

steam will continue

But on Indian Railways

the pressures of economics have forced us

to give up the lovable old monster of steam

With its lovable sound

and unique visual pleasure

which children loved

and therefore aspired to become

locomotive drivers when they grew up

It helps people to remember that

the steam has served a glorious era

from the old days

if you look back into the past

There is intense competition

amongst all those who have slaved

on these locomotives

these 10 competing locomotives

and therefore each one wants to

win the prize

Therefore the judges are under

intense scrutiny

perhaps more than the judges are

in real life

And they have to

therefore, make it as scientific

as possible

They have, therefore

divided the system of grading into

three distinct groups

One is decoration

for which they give 25 percent marks

the functionality, which is

we are giving as much as 50 percent marks

and also the ceramic blanketing is

being given 25 percent marks

And I think that the judges will be

totally fair and clear in their judgment

and may the best loco win

What is important when you see a

when - the whole thing should be

uniformly red

The moment you see a black spot

that's the time there when there's a hole

and then the firebox can burn

So when you are seeing the fire

you have to see that it looks

uniformly red

that there's no localized black spot

Plus the thickness, the firebox should

be uniform...

Those are things we have to look for

how he is maintaining the fire

very important

Everybody wants to win

and none more than Mr. Arora

a shed foreman who has worked in steam

since he was 17

Onboard Rampur Hat's engine

he is never at a loss for words

explaining that even with

all the hard work

they had just run out a time

Like all of the engines

the judges take into account

how efficiently she runs

They put her through the paces

while Arora hangs on like a doting father

Those bosses, my examiners

they have been very much pleased

with the work which you boys

with my staff, with my driver

and the other fellows you know

all the whole

Rampur Hat has done in decorating

this locomotive

in making it fit mechanically sound

and they have checked all the points

and I think we have got

if not 10 percent

then at least 90 percent

Now we should leave the results to

Almighty God you know

Almighty God is there

They parade in all their glory

and anticipation runs high

Now it's up to the judges to

reveal the last Black Beauty winner

Nandini will claim the price

For Nandini and her crew this is

an occasion to remember

But they know

as they back her into the shed that

their victory is bittersweet

For despite the fact that the black

beauties have proven themselves today

another fate awaits them

In northeast India

a little toy train climbs the foothills

of the Himalaya

the tallest mountains in the world

Every morning

Buddhist monks look towards the East

welcoming the sun to the remote mountain

town of Darjiling

Darjiling has always been a frontier town

where an oriental look enters

the faces of India

But is also tells of another heritage

The British loved the climate so much

they mad it a hill station to escape

the heat of the plains below

And the sounds of the train they brought

echo up from the valleys

For the people of the mountain

the train has always been a part of

their lives

In the days of the British raj

it carried the famous Darjiling tea

down from the plantations

Eighteen little locomotives run back and

forth on the Darjeeling-Himalayan line

The youngest is 70-years-old

and the oldest is a hundred-and-five

Everyday, several trains climb from

the plain of the Ganges

in about the same amount of time

it took Mark Twain

when he came to Darjiling in 1896

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