24th Aug 2007

(2) At 12.50 the Badulla to Columbo train slows to stop at the station. It's headed by Class M6 no. 790, an A1A-A1A 1.650hp diesel electric locomotive built in 1979 by Thyssen-Henschel, Germany, under licence from EMD in the USA. There was no mistaking the familiar sound of the V12 EMD 645 prime mover. Originally one of a class of 16, two had previously been destroyed by terrorists. A fact that reminded me at the time that Sri Lanka was still in the depths of a civil war!