Well, "23 Things Cambridge" certainly kept me busy. So busy, in fact, that I haven't managed to post anything about my work at the Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS) yet. At the moment I am cataloguing the archive of rare books in preparation of CSAS's big move to its new site on West Road next year. I did my first round of cataloguing early this week and luckily, most books were already catalogued and only needed updating. So it was an easy start.
I would like to use this blog to say a few words about books I catalogued and that caught my attention for one reason or another. In this week's lot there was one book about Railways in India. Now, I find railways highly fascinating (my father used to work for a railway company, so I basically grew up with and on them). This book does not only give a very detailed and interesting account of the history of railways in India but it also contains numerous pictures. I find the idea of transporting elephants by train particularly intriguing.
The tracks look rather wide. Will have to check the book for any information on this ...
That's really interesting, thanks for sharing your project with us!
ReplyDeleteThe tracks look wide because Indian railways were mostly built to a wider gauge than most European railways. The gauge is 5'6" (1.676m) compared to 4'8.5" (1.485m).
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