I noticed a post in the flimsies section that talked of an accident in India that sounded pretty serious. I read it yesterday or the day before, but I haven't seen anything about it on here. The newspaper link just talked about a few rail enthusiasts mourning the locomotive. What happened? Does anyone have more information?

Sincerely,
David Ackerman


david_ackerman@yahoo.com

It wasn't an excursion, it was a regular service, the Matsyagandha Express, on the Ernakulam Railway. The locomotive was WDM2 #18320.

The WDM2 is a 2600 h.p. Co-Co diesel with an Alco 251 engine--it's kind of an export version of an RSD apparently. I gather Indian diesel fans like them because they were once the "standard locmotive" of the Indian railways but are now older and getting scarce. Maybe they also like the famous Alco smoke...

WDM2 #18320
eledbetter@rypn.org