New Narrow Gauge Steam! (for India)

Some of you may be interested in this news item. Indian Railways has recently posted advertisements requesting proposals world-wide for new oil-fired steam locomotives: 3 for the Darjeeling Himalaya Railway (DHR) and 4 for the Nilgiri Mountain Railway.
The DHR is a 2 foot gauge mountain railway in the foothills of the Himalaya mountains with very tight curves and 4%+ grades. It was exclusively powered by ~1900 vintage British built 0-4-0ST steamers until recently, when a few diesels were introduced.
The Nilgiri is a meter gauge rack-and-adhesion line, and it is powered exclusively by SLM (Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works) 0-8-0RT engines built as recently as the 1950's.
Both these railways carry a lot of tourists, and no doubt this was the main driving force that caused Indian Railways to seriously look at new steam locomotives.
It'll be interesting to see who bids on these engines and what they propose to build. DLM (the company which recently bought out SLM's steam department) is known to be interested. I'm figuring that eventually someone in the U.S. will also be in the market for new steam.
For more info, visit the Material Management section of the official Indian Railways page at:
[www.indianrailway.com]
or see my News page at the link below.
Good Steaming,
Hugh Odom
The Ultimate Steam Page