I have been living with steam trains since childhood. In the 1970’s and 80’s a meter gauge steam train brought me from Ajmer to Delhi. Its load used to be rambunctious school kids from Mayo College, heading back home for vacations. Being exclusively meant for kids, it symbolised freedom from the drudgery of school to the warm comfort of home.
Years later, the train has stopped running, the kids have all grown up and Ajmer is now connected by broad gauge. The rickety steam engine has been confined to a forgotten railway scrap yard. What remains are memories. Memories of that breathtaking journey — sweeping bajra fields, the steam engine bellowing clouds of smoke and the coal getting into the eyes of little kids straining out of windows.
My search for the ‘old grannies’ took me to far off places - Wankaner in Gujarat, which had the last passenger and goods train in the country that ran on steam; Howrah, which has one of the largest loco sheds, and also to remote parts of Assam, Darjeeling, Nilgiris, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Dehradun and Shimla.
