Here are some videos of the Convention Proceedings by Rajesh Tukdeo

Day 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr45rxOVaHs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxiZkbQvhGs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78StlgGfq6Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xR_WaInu64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrfYq2-miWU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClVCUUwBRS0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0crsXbr4R8A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9DLL3IfIx0

Day 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc_CkPc61Ts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDRIeN_4Z-o

Folks the 2010 Convention of IRFCA has come to a close. Here is a roundup of the final sessions on Day 2.

After the video quiz and the Clue hunt on the NRM grounds, the delegates assembled back in the auditorium for the closing session. This session was kicked off with a wonderful presentation of modelling Indian Railways by Mr. Ranjeev Dubey who is a member of the Indian Steam Railway Society (ISRS) and Friends of the National Railway Museum (FNRM).

Ranjeev started out modelling Indian Railways over 25 years ago and today his layout is a sight to behold. Built entirely at home with a just a smattering of commercially available stuff, Ranjeev has used t-shirt buttons, cocktail sticks, toilet paper and a whole lot of stuff lying about at his home into a virtual replica of the Kalka Simla Railway. His work features KC, ZDM1, F Class locos and near perfect models of Simla, Barog & Solan stations. Ranjeev had important tips for budding modellers and more importantly, his work proved what single minded devotion to a hobby can result in.

Ranjeev’s session was followed by the first ever IRFCA Awards ceremony where the following awards were given away

IRFCA Trip Album of the Year – Apurva Bahadur & Lalam Mandavkar for A Tale of Two Viaducts

IRFCA Trip report of the Year – Mohan Bhuyan for Upper Class to Sheopur Kalan

IRFCA Photo of the Year – Naveen M for his image of the Boat Mail at Pamban Bridge

Next was the turn of the quiz winners. The competition was so close that it would have been unfair to award just the top 3. So here were the top 6

Special Award #1 – Raymond Arogyaswamy from Chennai (The prize for the same was graciously provided by Hugh Penri Williams)

Special Award #2 – Just short of the top 3 and jointly placed were the duo of Dr. Jitendra Mulky from Dahanu Road and our LP S Sampath Kumar from Madgaon. (These prizes were specially provided by Raymond Arogyaswamy)

2nd Runner up –  Our veteran quizzing champ Ajai Banerji from Jaipur

1st Runner up – Another veteran featured here, Mr. Biswarup Basu from Talcher missed the top spt by a whisker

Winner – After consistently strong performances in past Convention quizzes, Sagar Tipnis from Thane won the top spot at the IRFCA Quiz 2010.

But this was not it…. in its 20th anniversary year it was only fit that the two of the founding members of IRFCA present at the Convention were appreciated for starting the movement that is now an intrinsic part of our lives. A special award went to Dr. Dheeraj Sanghi and Ajai Banerji but the other founders were with us in spirit for sure. And for his invaluable contribution to the the Indian railfan community, Apurva Bahadur was the recepient of another special award which summed up the evening.

As the session wound to a close, a discussion ensued on the next Convention venue. Pune and Bhusawal emerged as the two likely venues, but it was decided that it would be left up to the the votes of the entire IRFCA community to decide the host city for IRFCA Convention 2011.

NRM 2010 ended with another sumptuous lunch which comprised Kadhai Chicken, Dal Makhani, Matar Paneer, Kadhi Pakodi,  Veg Noodles & Manchurian Gravy along with Ice Cream.

Post lunch, most of the assembled gang boarded the bus which dropped them at NZM and NDLS while the Delhi gang along with Bharath, VSP, Kunal D, Sachin Buddhisagar & Vivek Pillay dunked a whole lot of beers and kebabs to celebrate another memorable IRFCA Convention.

A special word of thanks to

• Vikas Singh
• Vikas Chander (the convention t-shirts & lunch was courtesy him)
• Sandeep Sharma
• Vivek Mathur
• Ankit Bharaj
• Ashish Kuveklar
• Lalam Mandavkar
• Apurva Bahadur
• S Srinivas
• Bharath Moro

and most importantly to Mayank Tewari for believeing that NRM 2010 was really possible.

May our tribe grow

See you next year…………

After a quick cup of coffee and tea, folks are out roaming the grounds of the NRM, identifying the clues and putting the answers together. And for the rest of you folks, here’s the clue list. There are 15 of them. You can use the photos on the gallery to arrive at an answer

1. The conflict between man and animals are nothing new. Just like these days, elephants were run over – in fact, they even derailed trains. One such relic of an elephant run over more than a century ago exists somewhere here. Name the forest where this happened and the exact date.
2. It does ensure safety in single line sections by allowing only one train only in one direction. According to NRM, when was this instrument, aptly named at least here – based on its colour (in Hindi) invented?
3. . Why, Why would we ask this question? This did ‘banker’ duties on Igatpuri and Poona Ghats before it was sold to a metal major for their use. This was brought to rest at NRM after a great service of 88 years. Name the loco – Just the name alone as on the plaque
4. Gandhiji would have been proud of this place in South Africa. Though this could not really rise from the ashes, this would have let out tons of ashes. Not of the Australia England rivalry, but the real ones on tracks. Name the loco.
5. I was born in 1888 in Scotland. My appetite for coal was increased and I got an A for it. Remember my crown. Look for a real crown on my head. It bears the name of my capital. Name my capital.
6. . I was born because someone had a whacky idea that you do not need coal to make steam! To make it more embarrassing, they gave me a colour that makes naughty kids yell “ ____, _____ dirty fellow!” Boy! My makers made some beautiful WDM3 diesel locos why did they make me like this? Name my maker.
7. A long and illustrious list of work horses of Indian Railways that still continue to hold silly rail fans in awe. I have the pride of being the first of the kind considering my classification! My road number contains 3 zeroes to signify how special I am. I do not look anywhere close to my successors and in fact, if you look at me from behind, you would think I was a passenger coach! Just name my classification.
8. I was the biggest of my kind when I ruled the mining areas of Bengal Nagpur. So big was I that I needed two sets of tenders to move me. I look as if I am pushing my own luggage trunk on an articulated cart! There are two patents mentioned on my plate. Name the two parties who own the patents.
9. Regality is in my colour of pure white for I was made to serve the Prince who would be King. Maybe the colour serves the reminder of the Taj Mahal for I was built in the same place as the Taj. Bit tricky? Well walk around but name me.
10. Regality is in my crest for I was made to carry a King. Now do not be confused with the foreign king. If you are looking at the Lion-elephants holding a twin headed-eagle, you are right. Funnily, I could run on both meter and broad gauge and the King inside would not even notice the switch.  Who am I?
11. Now what in the world is a Joy’s Gear? Funny? Well dig this – I have inside cylinders too! I was built in Ajmer and I ruled the roost hauling mails and expresses in current day Western Railways zone.  Name me.
12. Look at me! Now who would have thought I am a locomotive with that nice little balcony with yellow railings, a door and a window right at the front? Above all, look at all the unusual combinations I have: meter gauge, goods hauler, DC electric power! You cannot miss me. Now tell me who built me.
13. A 2-8-2 who was a 0-8-0 before I went into a weight reduction programme. I had an interesting job of pushing freight wagons up a ramp and watching them slide down and get distributed.
14. Look at me. Such a tiny fellow! I am a ‘narrow guy” but share my name plate with a wide-bodied jet that has the biggest aero engines ever built. While my namesake was built in Seattle, I was built in the highlands of Scotch and kilts and carried people to the highlands of fine teas. What is my road number?
15. I must have been considered quite a beauty queen in my time. To add, I was also a chameleon that always changed identity to suit the dignitary I served be it a queen, a president or a lord. Name the American President I was once named after.

Now go and figure it out!

And finishing off this part of the quiz is part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZcRzG6OHpY

Hope you all have fun answering the questions. Again, many, many thanks to Mani Vijay for putting together this amazing quiz.

And it gets better. Here’s part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Utnwou1h8

And here’s part 2. Even more challenging, it is going to be!

IR Video Quiz – Part 2 from Mani Vijay on Vimeo.

Folks, here’s the video for the first part. Please start cracking away!

IR Video Quiz – Part 1 from Mani Vijay on Vimeo.

Video quiz will be released in 5 minutes….

A few months ago, Sridhar Joshi, Ranga Eunny and I (Bharath) decided that we had enough of the ‘normal’ quiz pattern and needed to refresh the format. I suspect Ranga was reading up on some children’s book, when he suggested that we should have a ‘treasure hunt’ using the exhibits at the NRM. After much toiling, figuring out clues and reading up on a lot of history, we have something that resembles one.

Here’s the sequence of events that will happen during the quiz

• All attendees will be given a clue sheet containing a mix of questions, clues and other bits of trivia.
• Then they need to go around the NRM, match the clues and write down the answers.
• The winner will be the one to get the most clues right!

Exciting, isn’t it?

And as if this wasn’t enough, we have another quiz. This time a video one

Questions are all based on videos and participants will need to answer after watching the short films carefully.

And yes, for all the rest of you, we’ll reveal the video URL’s shortly, so that you can participate.

Many, many thanks to Mani Vijay for painstakingly putting together this quiz.

On the menu is Chole Bature, Dhokla and Khandvi’s. The attendees have started streaming in and we should be ready for the sessions in about half hour.