Railway workshops in India

by John Alton Price When quite a child in India I had gathered, from the odd word I happened to overhear, or the odd attitude one observed when the subject of Railways was mentioned there seemed to be an antipathy towards 'those Railway people'. This rather upset me and I thought the attitude was somewhat curious, not to say unfair. I found out as I grew older and a bit more knowledgeable that the Railway people were considered a bit 'Racy' and not quite up to the mark or shall we say a bit common. In much later days I was to discover for myself that these opinions were positively unfair and rather, or downright ignorant. I had in my 'growing up' days had very little contact with railway people in India, except for the occasional meeting through rail travel. During my service in the Military I was to be Posted to a quite important Railway Station called Jamalpur, in Bihar. It was early May 1942 and our Unit was transported to a wooded area to set up Camp. I was to discover th…