Friday 5 January 2007

My first trip to India

My first visit to India was a business trip in 1992. Ford Electronics had supplied telecommunications equipment to G.E.C. for the Delhi Ring Resignalling Project and I'd agreed to go to Delhi for a couple of weeks to assist in commissioning. In fact, I was there for almost seven weeks! We were very comfortably settled in a large, modern hotel in New Delhi invariably referred to as 'Taj Man Singh' because of its location in Man Singh Road. G.E.C. had a car and driver and each day we would be ferried through the city to the various work sites as necessary.

I had experienced the Far East a number of times in earlier trips to Hong Kong and Taiwan and expected India to be similar. But most people agree that India is unique. The combination of the heat, the people, the culture can overwhelm Westerners. I was told that people either love India or hate it - indifference is not an option. For a couple of days as I coped with it all, I wasn't sure which camp I'd be in. Then I decided I loved it. One of the ex-patriate wives told me "I've been here for five years, but India still has the power to shock or delight me with some new discovery".

There was a different shock for me on the first morning going to work. As the car passed under a railway bridge, a train was passing over the top. To my amazement, it was hauled by a very run-down steam locomotive - a class 'WP' broad-gauge 'Pacific'. I'd assumed all steam had been eliminated and yet here I was, transported back to the '60s when steam was being eliminated in Britain.

We started work in a telecommunications equipment room surrounded by railway lines at Delhi Junction. Working practices were so different from the U.K. - no high-visibility clothing, public and staff wandering all over the railway at will. On one side, we had the broad gauge through platforms with an incessant procession of trains, electric, diesel and (occasionally), steam. On the other side, the metre gauge terminal platforms were served a by a series of diesel- and steam-hauled services.

I could hardly believe my eyes and it was hard to keep my mind on the job in hand! But this, of course, was only the first of the shocks and surprises in store for me. You can read a little more of my adventures here.

[Link to continuation added 15-January 2013]

Thai Railfan Club

Jan working on the mural described below

During my earlier business trips to Thailand, I'd met Sanpasiri Viriyasiri who was involved in the Thai Railfan Club. He was carrying out an ambitious plan to open a railway museum in an existing warehouse building in Chatuchak Park, Bangkok. I'd agreed to go out there in the last few days before the official opening to try to lend a hand. It was a remarkable visit.

The first thing that struck me on visiting the museum was that it was a rather large building for the number of exhibits on hand. Sanpasiri assured me that more exhibits were expected imminently. He had high-level contacts in the Thai State Railway and had used them to good effect. But it was agreed that I would be despatched to the railway to seek out further exhibits of signalling equipment. Arrangements were made for me and I met the General Manager of the railways, who spoke excellent English. My friend Sanpasiri did not accompany me, because there were so many other arrangements to be made, but it was clear that he was regarded with great respect.

I was received with all courtesy and, at the end of a pleasant interview, I was taken to the Signalling Workshops to make detailed arrangements, with the full backing of the General Manager. There followed a fascinating tour of the workshops, where I felt rather like a child in a sweetshop. My eyes would light on something and I would stop and say "that would make a suitable exhibit!". My idea was to re-create a simple signal box, so that the method of signalling a train could be interpreted to museum visitors.

Most of Thailand then used semaphore signals, manually worked by wire from a lever frame in a signal box or station building. The equipment largely followed German practice. Points were double-wire operated from the same 'turnover' lever frame as the signals. In general, the section of track between stations was single, with electric tablet instruments at each end of the section interconnected over an open wire telephone route. The tablet instruments ensured that only one tablet at a time could be extracted from the pair of instruments as authority to a driver to enter the single line. This tablet had to be replaced in either of the pair of instruments before a further tablet could be withdrawn to allow a second train to proceed. At a regional level, the sequence of trains was controlled by a Train Despatcher who was in telephone communication with every signalbox and station in the region over the open wire telephone route. The Train Despatcher telephone equipment had originally been supplied by Standard Telephones and Cables in England but, by the time the museum opened, this life-expired equipment had been replaced by Ford Electronics equipment installed by G.E.C.

It was agreed that the Signalling Workshops would recondition a couple of tablet instruments, a small lever frame and a number of associated artefacts to form one of the displays in the museum. It was the first (and only) time I'd had the authority to commission work in this way.

I had another idea to 'decorate' the museum and this involved me directly. We agreed to paint a full-sized mural of the front view of a British locomotive on one of the end walls of the hall, hopefully to look as if the engine was just entering from outside. We purchased a number of sheets of plywood and fixed these to the end wall to form a 'doorway'. In a magazine I'd brought with me for my Thai friends, there were scale plans of an LMS 0-6-0T shunting engine, the ubiquitous 'Jinty'. I scaled up the front view to full size and drew the outline on the plywood in pencil. Then, using poster paints, I produced the mural, assisted by one of the members of Thai Railfan Club. It was, literally, a huge task. I had never produced a mural before - certainly not a full-size representation of a locomotive! When we were finished, I was amazed at how impressive it looked. The mural survived for a number of years, but when I went back last, it had gone.

Meanwhile, Sanpasiri had achieved tremendous results and artefacts were arriving and being set up hour by hour. The nationalised railway had made a splendid effort with the signalling display and the whole hall took on the appearance of a rather jolly museum. Just as well, as opening day was upon us and all sorts of celebrities were expected.

The opening ceremony was to be just outside the hall (Thai weather is usually rather more reliable than England, except in the rainy season). Microphones were set up, facing a row of huge leather armchairs for the VIPs. Behind the armchairs, a number of rows of folding chairs were provided for the 'lesser lights'. Everyone else was to stand. A number of television news crews were on hand, with Sanpasiri moving effortlessly from one to another giving interviews. To my astonishment, I was to participate in one interview. Since I neither understand nor speak Thai, my contribution was limited to nodding frequently in what I hoped was an intelligent manner whilst studying a plan of the exhibition.

As the VIPs arrived, I was solemnly introduced to each one. They all seemed disproportionately impressed by my presence but I never found out what they had been told. My final embarrassment was when it was made clear that one of the armchairs was for me. I sat through the opening ceremony, completely oblivious to what was being said, apart from the occasions when my name was spoken with far to much respect, for my contribution had not been great. But everyone was happy, we had a great day and, like Sanpasiri, I believe that anything which encourages people to delight in railways, particularly steam railways, is a good thing!

I still prize the Thai Railfan Club tee shirt they presented me with as a souvenir. It has a picture of one of the preserved Japanese-built 'Moguls' on the front and 'I LOVE TRAINS', in English and Thai, on the back.

My pictures

I have a few photographs of this wonderful visit. They were on 35mm film but they have been scanned and you can find them at Bangkok Railway Museum (1990).

[Photograph link added 29-Oct-2015]

Train Dispatcher Project - Thailand

A picture taken at the 'I & C Seminar' held at the conclusion of the Project

The first three or four visits I made to Thailand were on business. We'd concluded an agreement with G.E.C. to design and supply selective call telephone equipment for use on Thai State Railways.

The specification was clearly written around electro-mechanical equipment and much later I found some details of a quite old Japanese system which I imagine formed the basis of the Japanese tender. But we'd come up with what we thought was a fairly elegant approach using a microprocessor, enabling us to show quite significant cost savings which may have helped G.E.C. to secure the main contract.

I quite looked forward to the possibility of visiting Thailand as the contract proceeded. I was placed in a very good hotel - the Hilton at Nai Lert Park. The only down side was the mosquitoes, particularly in the evening, which were attracted by the number of canals in the vicinity. G.E.C. had a resident Project Manager, Phil, supported by a number of engineers based at the offices of the local agents, Summit Engineering. I made a number of good friends within Summit, especially Dheb and Kamthorn and I was treated with great courtesy. In addition to technical work carried out at the offices, I attended a number of meetings with the client, Thai State Railways, and the Japanese consultants. Sometimes there were clashes of culture and things could become difficult but my role was principally advisory and technical so I avoided the real rough-and-tumble.

As the installation work got under way, we ourselves had an Installation Manager, Peter, on site, to assist with installation problems and train the large numbers of staff who had to become conversant with the new equipment. Equipment was installed at over 600 locations throughout Thailand so there was quite a lot a travelling within Thailand.

On my various visits to Thailand, I was always based in Bangkok but I myself made trips to Chiang Mai in the North, Hat Yai in the South, Ubon Ratchathani in the East and along many of the branch railways. Of course, this travelling gave me the opportunity to study the railway, which delighted me. Steam had been eliminated some years earlier but there were occasional steam-hauled enthusiast specials, although I never managed to synchronise my visits with one of these trips.

Occasionally, when problems arose, I went out in the field to carry out tests or investigate the difficulty. I well remember one branch line where unacceptable levels of noise were present on the telephone circuits, despite the circuits themselves testing correctly. Eventually, we persuaded the railway to lay on a motorised inspection trolley so that we could drive along this branch looking for possible external factors. About halfway along the branch, we found one of the largest electrical substations I've ever seen, right next to the railway and with numerous overhead cables crossing or running parallel to the railway. The induction from this installation was more than enough to account for the problems but people were either unaware of its existence or failed to see its relevance. Once we'd identified the problem, we were able to mitigate the effects.

Eventually, after a great many 'alarums and excursions', the project was completed towards the end of 1989 and a conference was organised at a Bangkok hotel where G.E.C. outlined what had been achieved to a large group of senior managers from the railway. I was in charge of setting up a comprehensive working demonstration of the equipment which we'd supplied and I also addressed the conference briefly about our involvement. You can see pictures of this event here.

All-in-all, it was a wonderful experience, leaving me with a number of new friends and an abiding love of Thailand.

I've been back to Thailand a number of times since (for instance, see Thai Railfan Club and various posts on subsequent travels through the Far East, particularly Far East Tour, 2005).

My pictures

My 35mm pictures taken around Thai Railways as we commissioned the train despatcher equipment and pictures of the I&C Seminar have been scanned and can be found below:-

Railways in Thailand (1989).
Train Despatcher Project I & C Seminar: 1-Sep-1989

[Links to pictures added 29-Oct-2015]