The Northeast Frontier Railway was formerly a part of the North East
Railway until 1958 and was similarly an all metre gauge system for a long
time.
Unfortunately, it was a restricted area and it was extremely difficult
to get the required aliens permit. Mere mortals would have to claim to be
visiting one of the wildlife reserves while those with the right contacts
might be able to get Coal India to extend an invitation to a 'mining
engineer' should they wish to visit the narrow gauge railway at Tipong. In
both cases there might just be opportunities to photograph NFR steam but
the Railway Protection Force were well aware of the state wide
restrictions.
In the 1990s Assam was made 'open' and a few enthusiasts did visit
before the 'end of steam' but by then it worked only short local passenger
trains in the flat areas of the state. However, I do have a short section
with Keith Robinson's pictures
from a January 1979 visit to two rarely visited sections.
