I was ten years old then, and living with my parents in our ancestral village of Galwadugoda, Galle. Our house was situated besides the railway track – the Coast Line that ran from Colombo to Galle and Matara. As many a child of that age would do, I spent long hours of my leisure near [...]
I love trains. I find them infinitely preferable to buses, especially in the Third World. Unfortunately, in many countries, notably much of India, train travel, while more comfortable than buses, is something to be endured rather than enjoyed. When I came to Sri Lanka, with its short distances and cheap first-class travel, I was agreeably [...]
Reserve a first-class seat in the Podi Menike train’s observation car and sit back to marvel at mountains, forests… and landslides, says Peter MacNeil
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but for independent travellers on the Indian sub-continent, foresight is even better. Start taking anti-malaria tablets weeks before you leave. Once on the move, phone ahead to [...]
Reserve a first-class seat in the Podi Menike train’s observation car and sit back to marvel at mountains, forests… and landslides, says Peter MacNeil
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but for independent travellers on the Indian sub-continent, foresight is even better. Start taking anti-malaria tablets weeks before you leave. Once on the move, phone ahead to [...]
SHORT STORY: “We meet all sorts of people in our lives and we have to put up with them. I felt sad for this guy. Later I learnt from the conductor that he was on the wrong train. He should have been on the Uda Rata Menike for he had a ticket to Uda Pussellawa.”
The [...]
If you have never taken a train ride from Colombo to Bandarawela or vice versa you’ve missed a lot. The slow, slumbering journey upwards, as you watch the sun appear through the misty mountains and soft rain is a memorable scene.
The journey starts 6 in the morning and after nearly one hour the best part [...]
The Colonial Economy on Track: Roads and Railways in Sri Lanka, 1800-1905,
Colombo Social Scientists Association, 2002.
Indrani Munasinghe
Book Review: By way of critical examination of important British period developments in the spheres of socio-economic activity, political, social and economic historians have already written a great deal. What is of relevance here is note that scholarly studies [...]
Ceylon Along The Rail Track, by Henry W. Cave – A Visidena Publication
Book Review: When 18-year-old Henry William Cave came out to Ceylon from England in 1872 as secretary to the controversial Anglican Archbishop of Colombo, Reginald Copple-ston, he no doubt had commercial ambitions like many of his fellow colonists. Unlike the majority who believed [...]
