A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY ACROSS THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT IN SEARCH

OF THE LAST SURVIVORS OF STEAM.   (WITH MARK TULLY)

End of an Era

Mark Tully visits the Delhi Railway Museum and using Nick Lera's archive takes us through steam's final years, with 85 year old narrow-gauge locos in Bengal, the last bullet-nosed WP express locos in Delhi, Pacifics in the Punjab and a flashback to Edwardian veterans in Calcutta in the 70s.

In Search of Survivors

On the metre gauge provincial railways of Western India, Mark finds steam still hard at work and he rides the locomotive up the famous Mhow Ghat, on the milk train to Indore - the last long distance steam passenger train in India. By contrast, Tully rides on the diesel 'Shatabdi' express to Gujerat state, where we meet the 92-year old Maharajah of Wankaner in his lofty and ornate palace with architecture from around the world. The Maharajah tells us of the rivalry between the former Indian princely state railways.

The Historic Salt Train

It was in Gujerat that Mahatma Gandhi held his famous protest march to abolish the tax on salt. This humble commodity acquired historic significance in the campaign for Independence so it seems fitting that India's very last steam freight train should be used to carry it. With a closing image of the salt train reflected in the waters of the Little Rann, Mark Tully rounds off his personal farewell to the trains he loved.

Locomotives Featured in Steam

For over a century, the great broad gauge steam trains of India, from thundering expresses to tiny local trains, united this vast and diverse country. At first a symbol of the might of the British Empire, they then became the proud mark of a newly independent nation. Now, however, the once bustling railyards that were home to these trains are largely silent, replaced by diesel and electric trains of modern times.

In Steam's Indian Summer, Mark Tully, a veteran correspondent who grew up in India and spent most of his professional life there, takes us on a nostalgic search for the last remaining steam trains of India.

After presenting a brief historical overview of the steam system in India, we join Mark as he takes us to the western part of the country. Here we discover a number of surviving steam trains. We ride one of them up the famous Mhow Ghat to Indore. Known as the “milk train,” it is the last long distance steam passenger train in India. Continuing our journey, we travel to Gujerat in the western corner of India, where we meet a Maharajah who reminisces about the old Princely State Railways. Finally, we travel to the province of Gandhi's birth to see the last steam powered freight train in India. It was here that the Mahatma held his famous protest march to abolish the tax on salt. Ironically, the last steam powered freight train in India is used to carry salt.

The labor intensive steam engine requires constant monitoring and care. We witness the chaotic scene in the locomotives as crews struggle to keep the trains going. We also see the difference a century can make as we ride the “Shatabdi,” one of India's latest express trains that is more like an airliner than a train.

Steam's Indian Summer is not only a journey into the past, but a look into a nation's soul.