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JEWELS OF TIME -
Delhi National Rail Museum...
The
museum that houses most priced locomotives of India also has in
display the tiny two feet narrow gauge locomotive of Darjeeling
Himalayan Railway writes, Rangan Datta
“The stations and locomotive sheds became our temples, the
locomotives the god we worshiped and our tributes were not measures
in gold and silver, but in the profits of Kodak and Agfa.”
The following lines are written by a railway enthusiast about the
Indian Railway ~ It is often said that India is a country but Indian
Railway is no less contrasting From the super fast Satabdi Express
to the super slow trains of Mettupallayam- Ootacamund line, from the
vintage steam engines of Darjeeling Mountain railways to the state
of art technology of the Konkan Railway, from the luxurious coaches
of the Palace on wheels to the crampe coaches of the Bombay’s intra
city railways, India has it all. It is true that Indian Railway is
as diversified as the country itself.
Experiencing India by traveling in rail is an altogether expensive
affair, both in terms of money and time, but there is a way out.
There is a short cut of experiencing the history and evolution of
Indian Railway and get a real feel of the vintage pieces of the
Indian Railway. The Indian railway museum at Chanakyapuri, New Delhi
has this short cut.
As one enters the museum he is greeted by locomotives, coaches,
wagons of all shapes and sizes. In fact
 the
museum is a unique example of diversity; here one can find the huge
234 –ton Beyer Garratt locomotive standing beside the tiny two feet narrow
gauge locomotive of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway or the luxurious
saloons of different native maharajas standing beside the third
class coaches.
The museum contains some of the most prized locomotives of India.
The star attraction of the museum is the tiny engine of
Fairy Queen. This 1855 made steam engine still
operates and is the oldest surviving railway engine in the entire
world. Once every month during the tourist season the Fairy Queen
make its journey out of the museum to make its schedule journey.
Another attraction of the museum is 1909 built monorail belonging to
the Maharaja of Patiala. This odd shaped train (there is an engine
and a coach) as the name suggests runs on only one rail. The one and
only one rail runs through the centre of the train containing a set
of wheels while an oversized wheel jutting out on the right
maintains the balance. The most incredible thing about this train is
that it still runs every Sunday making a trip around the museum.
Among the other engines were
 two
huge Swiss built electric locomotives; which were in fact the first
electric locomotives of India. It also contains huge 234 ton
locomotive; which is one of the largest in the world. Another star
of the museum is the yellow coloured fireless engine. It is an
example of environmental friendliness. The mechanism of the engine
is also explained in brief but it was tough for me to digest. Sadly
the technology didn’t click and
it was used for a short period for shunting purpose only. Apart from
this the museum also houses a rare collection of narrow gauge
locomotives, and a host of other engines of different sizes.
Among the coaches the most remarkable is the saloon built for the
Prince of Wales (Emperor Edward VII), this milk white saloon comes
with a red sun shed and is provided with seats of armed guards on
the four outside corners. The inside is highly decorated with all
sorts of luxury items but sadly visitors are not allowed inside the
saloon. Another attraction is the highly decorated saloon of
Maharaja of Baroda, the entire ceiling of this green coloured saloon
is decorated with gold and ivory, again we were not allowed inside
this mobile palace of luxury. There were numerous other saloons
belonging to the other local maharajas. Apart from the saloons the
museum also houses some of the most remarkable coaches including an
armored car used for transporting soilders to different war zones
and a sheep car used for transporting sheep and goats.
The museum also houses a number of other railway accessories like
rail car ( a car shaped vechile running on rails), railway cranes ,
small railway engines used by the railways. In the centre of the
museum lies a gallery containing models, pictures and various facts
about the Indian railway. There are model of Fairy Queen and the
monorail, which were supposed to run, but during my visit none of
these were running. It was the same case for every model on display.
The museum houses the different logos used by the private railways
of the maharajas, it also contains the logos of the different engine
makers starting from Switzerland to Canada and from England to
Japan. There are rare facts and pictures about Indian railways. The
most interesting item of the gallery is the skull of an elephant
killed in a collision with a train.
Sadly the most crowd puller in the museum has nothing to do with
history. It is a model of a vintage train (although it has little
similarity with the vintage beauties all round him) which goes round
the museum. It runs everyday and provides a joy ride for people, who
have little interest in history. However, this joy ride provides the
museum with valuable revenue for running the museum.
As I walked out of the museum I turned around to have a last look at
the vintage pieces and to recall on my journey that took me straight
into the pages of history. |
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