Indian Railways Fan Club
Encyclopedia
The Indian Railways Fan Club (IRFCA) is the internet
's largest website devoted to the Indian Railways
. The IRFCA is an electronic mailing list or discussion group connecting many fans particularly interested in railways in India
. Mail traffic is moderately heavy, and runs around thirty to fifty messages a day most of the time.
Topics on IRFCA cover current passenger services, routes, timetables, technical details of railway operations, motive power, rolling stock, etc. It also has a large section on historical aspects of trains in India
and the subcontinent
.
IRFCA started with a group of rail fans discussing Indian trains in the Usenet
newsgroup
[news:soc.culture.Indian], who later decided to set up an electronic mailing list
for themselves. The list was operational on 1989-08-29. The first incarnation of the list had just 9 members exchanging e-mail directly. The list was then hosted on various US university listservers (University of Maryland, College Park
, Yale University
, University of California, Santa Barbara
) for many years, mainly because many of the members in those days were graduate students in US
universities.
The list was later transferred to ONElist
in 1999. ONElist later merged with eGroups
, which was subsequently acquired by Yahoo! Groups
. During the first ten years or so (1989–1999) the membership remained small, at 50 to 100 members, and predominantly consisted of persons in the US, with some members in the UK
.
With the spread of the Internet in recent years, especially in India, membership has been continuously rising. As of April 2008 the list has more than 5,900 members from several countries. The two biggest groups on the basis of members' locations are from India and the US. The next leading contingent is probably from the UK.
The IRFCA server was originally not a single web site. The Indian Railways FAQ was maintained on a GeoCities
web site, and the irfca.org domain had some Indian railfan
material. Several other IRFCA members had their own web sites scattered across the net. Later the domain irfca.org http://irfca.org and all IRFCA-related material was consolidated on it.
The list's original name was "Indian Railways Fan Club of America" which was appropriate when the list began, as all the members were in the USA. When its membership grew and went global, the original name became less accurate, but it was decided to keep the acronym for nostalgic purposes.
The first ever convention of Indian Railway fans, the IRFCA Convention '06 was held on February 26, 2006 at Hotel Regency, Pune. The second convention (MAS 2007) was held at the Hotel Metro Manor, Chennai on the January 27, 2007. The third convention was held at IIT Kanpur IIT Kanpur on the February 9 and 10, 2008 CNB2008. The fourth convention was held at Bangalore on the January 24 and 25, 2009 BNC2009; Blog of the event.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
's largest website devoted to the Indian Railways
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
. The IRFCA is an electronic mailing list or discussion group connecting many fans particularly interested in railways in India
Rail transport in India
Rail transport is a commonly used mode of long-distance transportation in India. Almost all rail operations in India are handled by a state-owned organisation, Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways. The rail network traverses the length and breadth of the country, covering a total length of...
. Mail traffic is moderately heavy, and runs around thirty to fifty messages a day most of the time.
Topics on IRFCA cover current passenger services, routes, timetables, technical details of railway operations, motive power, rolling stock, etc. It also has a large section on historical aspects of trains in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and the subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
.
IRFCA started with a group of rail fans discussing Indian trains in the Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
[news:soc.culture.Indian], who later decided to set up an electronic mailing list
Electronic mailing list
An electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...
for themselves. The list was operational on 1989-08-29. The first incarnation of the list had just 9 members exchanging e-mail directly. The list was then hosted on various US university listservers (University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
) for many years, mainly because many of the members in those days were graduate students in US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
universities.
The list was later transferred to ONElist
Onelist
ONElist was a free mailing list service created by Mark Fletcher in August 1997. In November 1999 ONElist merged with eGroups. In June 2000 eGroups was purchased by Yahoo!....
in 1999. ONElist later merged with eGroups
EGroups
eGroups.com was an email list management web site. The site allowed users to create their own mailing lists and allowed others to sign up for membership on the list. The web site provided archives of the messages as well as list management functionality. Each group also had a shared calendar, file...
, which was subsequently acquired by Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups is one of the world’s largest collections of online discussion boards. The term Groups refers to Internet communication which is a hybrid between an electronic mailing list and a threaded Internet forum, in other words, Group messages can be read and posted by e-mail or on the Group's...
. During the first ten years or so (1989–1999) the membership remained small, at 50 to 100 members, and predominantly consisted of persons in the US, with some members in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
With the spread of the Internet in recent years, especially in India, membership has been continuously rising. As of April 2008 the list has more than 5,900 members from several countries. The two biggest groups on the basis of members' locations are from India and the US. The next leading contingent is probably from the UK.
The IRFCA server was originally not a single web site. The Indian Railways FAQ was maintained on a GeoCities
GeoCities
Yahoo! GeoCities is a web hosting service, currently available only in Japan.GeoCities was originally founded by David Bohnett and John Rezner in late 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet . In its original form, site users selected a "city" in which to place their web pages...
web site, and the irfca.org domain had some Indian railfan
Railfan
A railfan or rail buff , railway enthusiast or railway buff , or trainspotter , is a person interested in a recreational capacity in rail transport...
material. Several other IRFCA members had their own web sites scattered across the net. Later the domain irfca.org http://irfca.org and all IRFCA-related material was consolidated on it.
The list's original name was "Indian Railways Fan Club of America" which was appropriate when the list began, as all the members were in the USA. When its membership grew and went global, the original name became less accurate, but it was decided to keep the acronym for nostalgic purposes.
The first ever convention of Indian Railway fans, the IRFCA Convention '06 was held on February 26, 2006 at Hotel Regency, Pune. The second convention (MAS 2007) was held at the Hotel Metro Manor, Chennai on the January 27, 2007. The third convention was held at IIT Kanpur IIT Kanpur on the February 9 and 10, 2008 CNB2008. The fourth convention was held at Bangalore on the January 24 and 25, 2009 BNC2009; Blog of the event.
See also
- Indian RailwaysIndian RailwaysIndian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
- Mumbai Suburban RailwayMumbai Suburban RailwayThe Mumbai Suburban Railway system, part of the public transport system of Mumbai, is provided for by the state-run Indian Railways' two zonal Western Railways and Central Railways. The system carries more than 6.99 million commuters on a daily basis. It has the highest passenger densities of any...
- Delhi MetroDelhi MetroDelhi Metro is a rapid transit system serving Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region of India. It is one of the largest metro networks in the world. The network consists of six lines with a total length of with 142 stations of which 35 are underground...
- Kolkata MetroKolkata MetroThe Kolkata Metro or Calcutta Metro is a mass rapid transit system serving the city of Kolkata and the districts of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas in Indian state of West Bengal. The network consists of one operational line and five lines currently under construction...
External links
- Indian Railways Fan Club – Official site
- History and Heritage of Indian Railways –
- A Common Platform, Velany Fernandes, September 12, 2003, Rediff.com
- Off the beaten track, Samnath Subramanium, The Hindu, March 16, 2005
- Chugging along, but not merely, Robin David, Times of India, Ahmedabad, 2002-03-01
- Indian Railways Exhibition
- Searchable Database of Indian Railways Trains & Stations
- The life of a gate keeper on an Indian-rail village crossing