In the fast-paced and extremely stressful environment of life, there is always time to pursue a hobby. One such hobby is railway art, which revolves around everything related to trains, stations, heritage, history, operations, yards, and much more.
In India, the railway is not just another mode of transport; offers a window seat for an up-close look at the culture and traditions. The railway was first introduced to India as a transportation system in 1853 and has since grown to be one of the largest railway networks in the world, stretching for 115,000 km (71,000 mi). Such a large network with a deeply rooted history offers many avenues to learn, photograph and travel. Today, India has around 5,000 train fans, and the number continues to grow by the day.
Railfanning, as a hobby, can be divided into several segments. Each segment has its own benefits and charm and ensures the participation of like-minded fans. The different segments are:
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Train Spotter: A Train Spotter (TS) focuses on spotting specific trains and sharing the running information with other train aficionados. TS is involved in documenting the arrival and departure of trains at a specific station, the type or class of locomotive carrying them, the type or class of carriages, primary and secondary maintenance, and rake sharing arrangements, if any.
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Loco Fan: They are fans of trains whose main objective is locomotives. They specialize in documenting information on the type and class of locomotives used with a specific train, locomotive routing number, CA/CC, shed name, horsepower, bogie type and much more. Photography and videography of locomotives along with trains is a favorite hobby of locomotive (LF) fans. For example: 12343 Darjeeling Mail was hauled by WDP-4 (class of locomotive), 20066 (route number), from Siliguri (shed name).
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Rail Enthusiast: Known as RE, they are the “super heavyweights” of railfanning. REs are involved in various activities besides train locating and locomotive revival. Its main activity is the documentation of yard designs, operations and signaling, railway electrification system, rolling stock, tourist trains, track maintenance, type of gauge (narrow gauge, metric gauge, wide gauge or standard gauge), containerization, transportation, driving force, passenger stations, railway heritage, transshipment yards, old and new alignments, bridges, work schedules, locomotive depots and permanent track, among others. RE travels through various railway divisions in India and creates documentation of your visit to a specific area. They also share this documentation with the Indian Railway authorities to help plan for a better future. REs also specialize in creating layout maps of rail yards and systems, as well as drawings related to trains and locomotives.
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Heritage Range: They are known as HF’s and focus mainly on different types of railway heritage. They also volunteer to resurrect Indian Railway heritage locomotives. Areas of focus and involvement include steam locomotives, narrow gauge and meter trains and locomotives, redundant signaling systems such as upper and lower quadrant semaphores, old sections and track alignments, and historical mapping of the rail network.
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Timetable Specialist: Comprised of a small group of dedicated train buffs whose primary focus is reading the timetable and using it to identify various trains they will encounter at a particular station. They have the ability to identify late and on-time trains based on their knowledge. They always carry a copy of the division schedule with them on their train rides.
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Speed Fan – This is a new generation of train fans aka “Speedofs” and their passion lies in taking videos of high speed trains. They typically visit specific sections where the maximum speed allowed is 100 km/h or more and record videos, which are uploaded to YouTube for the public to view.
Every train buff knows somewhere deep down that there are several railwaymen involved in different duties 24/7 to ensure the safe arrival of the trains at their respective destination. This single thought makes every train fan dedicate this pastime to the unsung heroes!
