17th May 2021 · Narrow Gauge in Nepal & Pakistan

Geoff Warren gave a Zoom presentation entitled “Narrow Gauge in Nepal and Pakistan”.

Geoff began by showing the Janakpur Railway, the Nepal Government Railway and the Kosi Project, the latter’s original purpose being to transport timber.

These railways all went into India producing some interesting locomotives with two ex-Indian Railways Garratts which unfortunately carried out very little work, and others which were built by British manufacturers. Of particular interest were their six-coupled locomotives which had connecting rods to the last pair of driving wheels rather than the middle pair, and an 0-10-0 which had sliding axles to enable it to traverse sharp curves.

A visit to the workshops showed the rather primitive conditions there and, although steam finished in 1994, a few locomotives were still in situ as recently as 2017. Some of the lines were taken over by Indian Railways and converted to broad gauge.

In Pakistan the lines covered were Kohat-Thal, Khanai-Fort Smalman and Bostan-Zhob, but the ability to travel and take photographs was somewhat limited because of hostilities in some areas. One or two shots even portrayed persons carrying rifles!

Geoff’s photography was superb with not only locomotives being seen but the scene in general portraying everyday life in the localities, all of which combined to make the presentation most enjoyable and interesting.