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The guys down under
Picture of Anthony Eccles
Anthony Eccles
Hi John, I noticed that the third cogged rail was only used on the really steep parts of the climb and where it started it appeared to be spring loaded so that the drive cog would engage without damaging  itself, a very clever device for the age of the track, did you notice too that the fair was only ten pence and the Indian government wont allow an increase so the railways have to suppliment the one and a quarter million pound that the line is loosing, it has also been made a world heritage site.
Apr. 10, 2010 
 
Picture of John Stickland
John Stickland
Hi Anth.
Yes, the early engineers were nobody's fools, they thought up all the solutions to the problems of running a railway where it was needed. Incidentally, the loco small high pressure cylinders between the frames dorove the rack sprocket and the large low pressure cylinders on the outside drove the wheels.
I personally feel that the world heritage status is thoroughly deserved, for the people as much as the railway. The whole thing is run with the same philosophies as the railways were run in this country 150 years ago. It was a job you were born into, the railway provided the housing and your income, your children probably became railway employees and you died on the railway. Everyone that worked for the railway took a great deal of pride in his work and it was taken personally if there was a problem. Like the driver on the film that said he loved his engine above all else, even his wife and family!
In India the employees live in a railway village just the same as at Swindon 150 years ago. In fact the evidence is still there if you know the town. If you travel from the railway through the town centre to the top of the town you come to a long street called Victoria Road where the town gives way to residences and occasional professional businesses, travelling about three quarters of a mile up Victoria Road you come to what is effectively another very much smaller and compact town, still known as Old Town. This was Swindon before the railway came!
Hey! I'm rambling on again, once I get on my soapbox there's never an end to it!
Gotta go now.
Best regards.
Sticky.   
Apr. 11, 2010 
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