SPS 2985 R460 0755 Malakwal Khushab at Pind Dadan Khan 21st Dec 1995
Having decided to photograph the afternoon train from Malakwal climbing the last mile or so up the Khewra branch I must find a way to get there before the train does.
An important feature of the transportation geography here is the Jhelum river, which is a major river flowing through the Punjab out of the Himalaya. In the dry seasons it runs shallow through narrow channels, in spring when the snow melts and later when the rain comes it is a different matter, the volume of water it carries is vast. The only bridge over the river anywhere near Malakwal carries the railway line towards Khushab, not to far on the Malakwal side of Haran Pur Junction, a distance of just over eleven Kilometres to Haran Pur. By road it is eighty five!
So I have taken the morning Khushab train to Pind Dadan Khan. Just behind me is a road crossing the railway, it is only six kilometres up to Khewra and I am sure I will not have to walk. A group of university students have kept me company up to Haran Pur, they are also travelling to Pind Dadan Khan, but as was usual here I have been invited onto the footplate so swapped my travelling companions there.
Here the train disgorges passengers at Pind Dadan Khan who take the quickest route to the towns main street, and I have got off the footplate quickly to try and include them in a photo.
SPS 2985 with mixed train R460, the 07:55 Malakwal to Khushab at Pind Dadan Khan, Pakistan Punjab.
December the 19th 1995.
SPS 2985 R460 0755 Malakwal Khushab at Pind Dadan Khan 21st Dec 1995
Having decided to photograph the afternoon train from Malakwal climbing the last mile or so up the Khewra branch I must find a way to get there before the train does.
An important feature of the transportation geography here is the Jhelum river, which is a major river flowing through the Punjab out of the Himalaya. In the dry seasons it runs shallow through narrow channels, in spring when the snow melts and later when the rain comes it is a different matter, the volume of water it carries is vast. The only bridge over the river anywhere near Malakwal carries the railway line towards Khushab, not to far on the Malakwal side of Haran Pur Junction, a distance of just over eleven Kilometres to Haran Pur. By road it is eighty five!
So I have taken the morning Khushab train to Pind Dadan Khan. Just behind me is a road crossing the railway, it is only six kilometres up to Khewra and I am sure I will not have to walk. A group of university students have kept me company up to Haran Pur, they are also travelling to Pind Dadan Khan, but as was usual here I have been invited onto the footplate so swapped my travelling companions there.
Here the train disgorges passengers at Pind Dadan Khan who take the quickest route to the towns main street, and I have got off the footplate quickly to try and include them in a photo.
SPS 2985 with mixed train R460, the 07:55 Malakwal to Khushab at Pind Dadan Khan, Pakistan Punjab.
December the 19th 1995.