Continued from February 15 He pulled out his note pad and wrote: “Mr. Lelwela has been entrusted with the work of doing up the minister’s room. For this purpose he is hereby authorized to assume all powers of the GMR. Staff of other sub departments should take his orders and ensure that their work component [...]
It was by a quirk of circumstance that my friend and batch mate AGA and I found ourselves in the office of Mr. Vaithialingam at Railway Headquarters one day about the end of June 1960. This amiable, gentle person was the Chief Engineer, Way and Works, Sri Lanka Railways. Year after year for several years [...]
Continued from last week: “Don’t be slovenly you fellow. It’s time we finished this work and called it a day. If you had drilled the hole on the crown, put half a charge and blast it.” Girigoris did exactly as he was ordered and they all ran for safety having ignited the charge. Two flagmen [...]
This article about the Jaffna Railway was first published by the Lines Magazine in 2004. On August the 1st 1905 a train trundled its way into the newly built Jaffna railway station to be greeted by an expectant crowd. It was the first train travelling the through route from Colombo to Jaffna on tracks which [...]
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 [...]
1953 was the year, when a new chapter in railway history was made. The Ceylon Government Railway ordered the first ever diesel locomotives to its mainline passenger service. The unforgettable Brush Bagnalls were purchased. Then in 1954 under Colombo Plan, the Canadian Government gifted five locomotives. The locomotives were called as G12, in Canada and [...]
Thirty eight years after ‘he’ has left the department, and fifty three years after ‘it’ first landed in our shores and majestically moved around on our tracks, cloaked in blue and silver livery, causing the countryside to reverberate to the high frequencies that it would generate, they (he and it both) are still being talked [...]
A first in Sri Lanka but long overdue project amounting to Rs. 3 billion of railway electrification was proposed by the Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) yesterday. This was revealed at the launch of “Air, Maritime and Rail Transportation in Sri Lanka”, by IESL which is the fifth publication launched by the Institution following [...]