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Saturday July 1st |
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Knowing that I could be quite late on Friday, I booked my car for 11:00am on Saturday morning. My objective was the National Railway Museum in Delhi. I do like trains. I spent a couple of very enjoyable hours in there and was impressed with the beautiful designs painted on the fronts of the steam engines. A work colleague later told me that these designs are not purely decorative, but are the same designs as housewives make outside their houses. I have reproduced the text from some of the signs around the museum, and have highlighted it to disgtinguish it from my own words. |
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There is a plan of the museum at the entrance. |
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STEAM LOCOMOTIVE "MTR-2" Originally built for the Karachi Port Trust by the British firm of Dick Kerr & Co in 1910, this beautiful 2'6" locomotive with an oversize chimney also worked at the Marala timber depot from 1917-1922 after which it was finally brought to the creosoting plant at Dilwan on the Northern Railway. This locomotive is on display at the entrance to the museum. |
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On entry to the museum, I visited the indoor exhibition first. It contained scale models, memorabilia and educational materials, including railway history and a section devoted to the Metro which is being built in Delhi. SKULL OF WILD ELEPHANT Run into by the up mail of September 28th 1894 at about half past nine at night. The accident occurred in the Saranda Jungle near Goilkera at a distance of 220 miles from Calcutta. As a result of the collision, the engine and seven vehicles were derailed whilst the elephant, which was apparently trying to cross the line, was subsequently found dead and considerably mutilated at the bottom ot the bank which is 40 feet high at this point. One of the tusks of the elephant has been preserved at the board office in London whilst the other became the property of the engine driver, Mr.James Bell. |
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I haven't done my "scholarship" properly on the next exhibit, as I cannot read the label on the glass case, and didn't separately photograph it to job my memory later. |
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More scale models. The one on the right is showing recovery equipment for use after a derailment. |
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A piece of railway history that you simply must read: Letter written by Okhil Ch. Sen in 1909 to the Sahibganj divisional office West Bengal after which train compartments came to have attached toilets. |
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A telegraph machine and another scale model. |
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A cross section of a steam locomotive. |
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The bookshop. |
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The Joy Train. It's pretty realistic-looking. |
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The Canteen, set in a shallow lake, with some of the exhibits close by among the trees on the other side. |
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STEAM LOCOMOTIVE PHOENIX This broad gauge 5'6" locomotive was originally built in 1907 as a rail motor car by Nasmyth Wilson & Patricroft UK and used on the branch lines of East Indian Railway. In 1927 the coach portion was removed and the locomotive was converted to a shunting locomotive. Its sister locomotive Hercules is preserved at the Jamalpur workshop of the Eastern Railway. I loved the pattern painted on the front of the boiler case of this locomotive. |
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STEAM LOCOMOTIVE EM-922 This glamorous broad gauge locomotive built by the North British Locomotive Company in 1907 which had the proud privilege of hauling V.I.P. royalty trains in the past also adapted itself by changing its name matching the dignitary it carried. It changed names from Lord Clyde to Roosevela to "Queen Empress". This locomotive which hauled passenger trains on the Great Indian Peninsula & North Western Railway systems was converted to super heated type in 1922 and was rebuilt in 1941 at the Mughalpura workshop when its classification was changed from E-1 to EM. |
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The monorail. |
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"Fairy Queen", one of the oldest steam locomotives in the collection. |
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STEAM LOCOMOTIVE B-26 |
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A steam locomotive for which I have recorded no details, and another bearing the number 37156 PT. |
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SIMLA RAIL CAR - INSPECTION Built by the British firm of Wickham Co. 1931 this 58 HP 4 cylinder petrol engine driven 2'6" gauge rail car was mainly used for inspection purposes on the Kalka Simla section of the erstwhile North Western Railway. Weighing less than a truck (weight 2.6 tons) this light weight exhibit is provided with a bottle jack to turn the vehicle for the return journey. |
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On the left is a fire-less engine, which is charged up with steam and then sent out to work, returning to the depot to be recharged as necessary. On the right is a crane. This exhibit appears to be in less good condition than many items on display. |
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Another locomotive for which I haven't noted down any details. I admired the pattern painted on the front of the boiler housing of this locomotive. |
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Steam locomotive bearing the identification X-37385. |
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Diesel electric locomotive. |
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"Beyer-Garratt" Locomotive 815 BNR (Bengal Nagpur Railway) |
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Beyer, Peacock & Co Ltd |
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Electric locomotives "Sir Roger Lumley" and "Sir Leslie Wilson". |
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Maintenance on a railcar, and a small steam locomotive for which I haven't recorded details. |
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Steam locomotive bearing the number 37385. |
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On the left is a close-up of the sign on the footplate. There is a large railway workshop at Ajmer. |
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Steam locomotive with carriages set up as living accommodation for a dignitary who was travelling around India. |
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After I’d seen enough trains, my driver took me back to the hotel, where I planned to have a swim, and that’s where my trip to India went a bit wrong, as one of their water features had overflowed onto some outdoor steps due to a frangipanni leaf floating to the edge of a pool, and I incorrectly assumed that as they were outdoor steps that they would be passable with care when wet. Unfortunately I was wrong and my feet shot out from underneath me and I landed hard on my nether regions and then bumped down a further three or four steps. Another guest helped me back onto my feet and suggested that I took my shoes off, which I did. A hotel employee saw me without my shoes and commented, and the whole story came out. They were very apologetic, and when I asked for an ice pack, they decided that maybe I was sufficiently injured to need a doctor, so they called the hotel doctor who duly turned up and tested my reflexes and made sure I had feeling in my feet and toes. He prescribed a very good anti-inflammatory gel and also advised me to take Ibuprofen. |
More from my June-July 2006 business trip to India: July 2nd: Jai Guru Dev Temple The road to Agra
Back to June 30th: Global Technology Day and Quarter-End Party Disco pictures
India Trip - June-July 2006 - Index Page
Last Revised: 25th June, 2007.