I spent my 23rd birthday at the steam shed in Bhusaval, India. Definitely a
memorable birthday. We'd arrived in India 2 days before, taken an overnight
train to Bombay, where we spent the 22nd, then caught the Amritsar Express
overnight from Bombay to Bhusaval. Bhusaval is a junction and was the end of
electrification from Bombay on at least some of the routes.

In 1980, there were electric, diesel and steam sheds, with the steam shed having
more than 100 engines assigned. Pretty amazing for an American kid who had
never seen steam in regular service before.

I've posted my shots from that day at

[photofile.name]

I know that these photos are not "Scott Lothes goes to India"...I'm afraid
you'll be put more in mind of C. W. Whitbeck with most of these photos, but it
shows what a real steam shed was 30 years ago...20+ years after similar scenes
had vanished in most parts of America. That's why I've pretty much included
everything I shot that day, as the photos are all windows on a world that is now
long gone.

Oh, as for the coaling scenes...the freight engines were fueled with the little
steam cranes, but passenger engines literally got hand picked coal, which was
carried up to the tenders in baskets on the heads of workers.

Mike Tisdale