On the century-old map above, railways are shown as dashed lines. Beginning in the top, left corner and working down to the bottom, right corner, you will see:
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I've just discovered/watched a few Sites and Sounds videos, but they are shot using excellent equipment so you can enjoy them on a large screen.
I've watched many from Quetta Railography and he is a sympathetic character who often rides the outside of the unit to video.
Above: I think this runaway track is on the line descending from Bolan Pass.
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Above: At the tunnel entrance, you can see the cot of the worker who is probably the trackwalker.
Sometimes, armed military and para-military personnel protect facilities from the local separatist movement.
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I think this is a trip to Sibi. The line suffered significant damage from torrential rains.
Sometimes large bridges are taken out on the main line.
Notice the nose of this 'branch line' engine.
They look different on the outside, but inside I can often hear an SD40-2 or enjoy a smoking Century.
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This is the 'northbound' portal of Khojak Tunnel. Built in 1891, it is 2.4 miles long.
In Pakistan and Bangladesh, you can often see old interlocking rods, semaphores and unused signal towers.
By our standards, the passenger rolling stock in these countries often shows abundant hazards and arch-bar-style trucks can be seen sometimes. However, the railroaders in Canada and Pakistan would find they have a lot in common if they visited each other's cabs.
As I mature in my interests, I marvel at the enduring efficiency of these old and sometimes under-maintained railway systems. There is a lot of classic railroading taking place on these lines - without the aid of hi-rail equipment or gasoline-powered maintenance of way tools. Trains often operate with 20 coaches as these lines provide essential transportation for much of the population.
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Bureaucracy gets a bad name.
Often used as a synonym for 'obstruction', 'bureaucracy' is often viewed with disdain. However, when it is working properly, a bureaucracy organizes the work of, and preserves the culture of, a large organization. We would not want hospitals or police departments 'winging it' if new employees decided ... that Operating Room infection control masking is 'over the top' ... or that 'shooting a few crooks' would 'send a strong message'.
Few organizations have more rigid written rules to follow than railways and the military. Generally, these rules are in place because they have been proven to lead to successful outcomes, save lives and prevent the loss of expensive equipment.
Health care and the military came together in this 1912 Manual of Elementary Military Hygiene. The British generally went into their dominions, colonies, and their Crown Rule in India with a robust military presence.
To ensure success, they had to keep their soldiers healthy. You'll notice that the statistics they use are mostly from very warm places - nothing like the invigorating climate of British North America.
Here are the criteria to be considered when planning the hygienic layout of a typical camp.
If you look at the statistics below in Appendix I for Afghanistan (1878-80) and North-West Frontier, India (1897-8) I think they want us to acknowledge that disease causes more admissions and deaths ... than 'killed and wounded in action'.
And this is often the case for foreign troops in wars, shown in Appendix II.
Rations to be provided on a daily basis are carefully specified in Appendix III.
In Appendix IV, it is important to ensure that soldiers housed and sleeping in barracks have adequate space.
... so that was 'The Last War' ...
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World War I
The Next War.
It caught most well-trained and experienced military leaders by surprise
and condemned their conventional efforts to failure.
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| from: Light Railways of the First World War; WJK Davies; 1967; David & Charles. |
In the First World War, fighting was conducted in virtually all climates around the globe. However, the main preoccupation was with the European Front. It provided an early example of industrialized war. Trains delivered mass-produced weapons, ammunition and canned rations as close as possible to the Front.
If soldiers could be evacuated beyond the range of artillery, disease could be treated under civilized conditions. Wounds experienced in the trenches under fire were another matter. Soldiers lived in ditches and holes because they saved lives.
The 'hay ride' above is being photographed in 'the Rear' ... there are bushes and trees which have not been splintered by artillery. Smoke-producing steam engines would not be permitted within sight of enemy artillery observers because they would become instant targets.
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| from: World War I in Photographs; JHJ Andriessen; 2002; Rebo. |
Above: These burrowing soldiers have probably violated old hygiene regulations for barrack construction.
They are probably still in artillery range.
While thousands died in pointless attacks resulting in gains measured in yards ...
From time to time, there were successful offensives
which got soldiers out of their deadlocked, sewage filled ditches.
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| from: World War I in Photographs; JHJ Andriessen; 2002; Rebo. |
Given the range and effectiveness of artillery (and machine guns and snipers),
it was sometimes impossible to bring food and water to the front line trenches
... or to rotate troops to an area in the rear for scheduled rest.
Basic sanitation and burying the dead were often improvised on the spot.
With heavy bombardments and static trench areas, the dead did not stay buried.
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| from: World War I in Photographs; JHJ Andriessen; 2002; Rebo. |
Draft animals suffered terribly - particularly in the mud.
The alternative was using human bearer parties for freight.
Horses or mules were essential for moving heavy guns.
Animals killed by enemy artillery added to the hygiene nightmare.
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The Guide
A Manual for the Canadian Militia
(The 'Canadian Army' title did not exist formally until 1940.)
This 1880 book was updated and rushed out the door - typical of most activities of the early war.
It assumed that the future would bear a resemblance to the past.
In its 300 pages, it provides the institutional memory necessary to organize all aspects of an army.
However, it has nothing on how to provide bureaucracy - or anything else - in trenches teeming with well-fed rats, under regular shelling, with clouds of poison gas silently drifting across No Man's Land, or dispensed in deadly puffs from artillery gas shells.
Nowhere does it suggest, when advancing into the overlapping fields of fire of enemy machine guns, how to safely pass barbed wire entanglements during the course of an attack.
Over the din of battle, it had long been prescribed that commands were
to be communicated and relayed by a loud portable device powered by human lungs.
After World War One,
two everyday pieces of music were transposed in commemoration ceremonies
... to represent human death, followed by a resurrection.
Here, they appear in their normal daily sequence.
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| from: The Battle of the Somme; Martin Gilbert; 2006; McClelland & Stewart. |
Having been relieved from their front-line positions,
Canadian troops are rotating into a rest area.
It was about 30 years after World War One that the booklet, below, was published.
However, an (unsanctioned) song from that war reflects
the old traditions (a rum ration),
the perceived daily occupations of the more privileged ranks,
and a notorious technology of World War One
(the barbed wire entanglement).
YouTube link:
Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire
from: Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
