
The Himalayan tea train that's running out of steam - kposehn
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32995131
======
nickhalfasleep
Railroads of this era (of any gauge), worked because at the time labor was so
cheap, every 50-100 miles you could have people unload the cars and put them
in another freight car, even a different gauge.

Then people around the 1860's had the great idea that you could leave the
items inside the freight car, and just hook it onto the other train if the
gauge, couplers, and brakes all followed the same rules.

Steam Locomotives have an odd attraction in that they were near the start of
the industrial revolution, and have a visceral external motion that can be
followed.

How many keep operating on tourist lines as the number of people remember them
remains to be seen.

Even in the United States, while ridership remains high of tourist lines,
fewer and fewer people have the skills to maintain a steam engine. Engines
were once ordered out of a catalog, and parts were only a telegraph order
away, but today it takes peculiar machinist skill to forge what were once mass
produced castings.

~~~
pjc50
Narrow gauge wasn't just gratuitous incompatibility, it was for areas where
there wasn't room for the normal gauge, like mines and mountains.

Steam trains have a visceral appeal which has worked well as a tourist
attraction for years. The number of people who remember them in operation has
to be small; the last UK scheduled steam service was 47 years ago. So they've
found a new audience.

I'm optimistic about the maintenance given the emergence of "maker" culture.
While it's a very different prospect to desktop CNC and does require more
skill, it's not a magic lost art. There has even been a crowdfunded new
locomotive built, "Tornado":
[http://www.a1steam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=art...](http://www.a1steam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=54)

Edit: this has led me to finding that a large fraction of the UK's preserved
steam locomotives were kept more or less by accident, as they were less
profitable to scrap than wagons and were therefore put at the back of the
yard:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodham_Brothers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodham_Brothers)

------
paulgerhardt
::shakes Magic 8-ball:: Outlook not so good.

A _nearly identical_ situation has been unfolding over the past 10 years for a
certain Taiwanese tea train.[1]

Constructed in 1906, the Alishan Forest Railway has so many similarities it
looks like a joke. Narrow ~2 ft gauge, ~87km in length, 2,000+ meters in
vertical elevation gain serving high mountain tea farms, 6%+ grades, ~5 Z
switchbacks, Class B Steam for special occasions, Diesels for regular days, in
the running for World Heritage sites, and in terrible financial straights
after a long fight to make it go private[2].

The line was government run for most of it's life, privatized in 2008, and
returned to government control in 2011. It makes $2 million USD in revenue
each year but costs $6.5 million to run and needs another $30 million in
repairs to keep it going[3] (due to a landslide as well). That said, if you
get a chance, go on a Wednesday. Shay's are fantastic and we're down to 5 of
these kinds of lines throughout the world.

I am really routing for Mr. Banerjee here but the odds seem stacked against
him. Ultimately it was the installation of a two-lane highway with a plethora
of shuttle services that made the Taiwan high mountain rail obsolete. If he
can command a monopoly on the road as well, of course he will come out ahead.
But from the sound of the taxi business in Ghum it looks like that battle is
already lost.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alishan_Forest_Railway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alishan_Forest_Railway)

[2]
[http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/05/01/2...](http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/05/01/2003502140)

[3]
[http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/05/01/2...](http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/05/01/2003502140)

~~~
BuffaloBagel
Gauge is less than 1 meter.

~~~
paulgerhardt
Thank you, edited to say "ft" not meters. Alishan is 2 feet, 6 inches.
Darjeeling is 2 feet.

Both will rock you side to side like an armored car at a G7 protest.

------
PLenz
The article fails to mention that the DHR is a UNESCO World Heritage Site -
only one of two railways so honored.

The DHR has actually tried to replace the Class Bs a few times since they were
introduced. The original Class As were too flimsy for the job - and the Garret
they ordered after the Class Bs was far too much of a locomotive for them - so
the Class Bs remain, 100 years after being introduced.

I wonder what if anything I build tech wise will survive 10 years - let alone
10 times that.

------
tn13
I have spent a lot of time in Darjeeling on tea and the said train. Indian
Railways is completely different beast. People might have hear a lot of
e-commerce boom in India but Indian Railways online ticket booking system
remains THE largest e-commerce system in India. Also their website is probably
the shittiest e-commerce platform every built with less than 1% of
transactions actually become successful.

Check out what ails indian railways in this 10 part series by one of the
latest consultant hired to turn around IR.[1]

[1] [http://swarajyamag.com/columns/railways-choice-and-
competiti...](http://swarajyamag.com/columns/railways-choice-and-
competition-i/)

~~~
onion2k
_Also their website is probably the shittiest e-commerce platform every built
with less than 1% of transactions actually become successful._

Is there a source for that percentage? I've found
[http://www.medianama.com/2011/09/223-irctc-
reports-13-2m-tra...](http://www.medianama.com/2011/09/223-irctc-
reports-13-2m-transactions-for-august-2011-1-73-down/) that estimates 75%
success on the banking side, but presumably that doesn't count failures in UX,
validation, etc. I'd be really interested in reading more.

------
trapped
@OP Why is this post on HN? Please stop posting just to promote your agenda.
This is not Reddit. Unfortunately I feel visiting HN is now lot of waste of
time. I wish somebody from YC or HN does something about this soon.

~~~
kposehn
No agenda. Why would I have one?

~~~
kleer001
Well, other than sharing interesting stories, right?

~~~
kposehn
Wait! That's the one. I had forgotten.

