National Rail Museum

The National Railway Museum (NRM) was set up in Feb 1977 and is over 20 years old today! It is situated at Chanakyapuri, New Delhi and is spread over 10 acres of land. The museum has a wide and varied collection of rare and antique steam locomotives, carriages, saloons and other railway artifacts. It has both live exhibits (75) as well as working/non-working models in its indoor gallery. The museum runs a toy train around its grounds on regular days. On some days the Old Patiala State Steam Monorail is steamed up and runs on its track around the museum. Here is a collection of a few pictures taken at the museum with details of the displays shown!

This is an over head view of the museum and its grounds, taken from the top of a Beyer-Garrat Locomotive!! To the left of the picture is me (Bharat) and on the right is Mehul, a friend of mine. The picture was taken in 1995 after me and my pals climbed on top of the locomotive!! Some of the exhibits that can be seen clockwise from the left are a WP in the distance, an EMU motor coach, Jodhpur Railways Steam loco, Nilgiri Railway 'X' class loco, an old DC loco of the GIPR and on the extreme right a Ledo Coal mine loco. The loco we are on is a Beyer Peacock (Manchester) built, Bengal Nagpur Rly (BNR) Garrat loco with a 4-8-0 + 0-8-4 wheel arrangement weighing 235 tons!!! (YB 1930)
Loco featured is an Ajmer Workshops built, 'F' class No.734 of the Rajputana Malwa Railway (RMR). This metre gauge loco was built in 1895 and was one of the first locos ever to be built in India. It had a 0-6-0 wheel arrangment and wieghed 38 tons. Other exhibits that can be seen in the background are a Jodhpur Railways 'E' class and behind that an 'FMA' class of loco!
On my last visit to the NRM in Feb this year, I happened to spot behind the wall of the NRM a line up of the original Palace On Wheel's rake on a temporarily laid MG track. There were about 12 odd carriages/saloons there and were headed by a Jaipur Railway tank locomotive. The track was broken in parts...so the coaches werent all together. On making a few enquiries, I was told that the old caoches had just arrived there from Ajmer Shops and more were expected soon. The aim was to convert the coaches into a hotel/restauraunt to attract tourists!! Among the contenders to the project were the Nirulas group and the Oberois! Picture shows some of the carriages parked on the track.
This picture should not be confused with the NRM, New Delhi but is an attempt to show the old and new Palace On Wheels rakes. This particular shot was taken outside the Ajmer C&W shops in June 1996 on my last visit to Ajmer. The signal behind the rake is the MG advanced starter for the line south to Ratlam! The road to the right of the rake is the workshop road and on the extreme right of the picture the walls of the workshops can be seen. The new BG POW rake is maintained by Western Rly at the Ajmer works and the motive power is supplied by Northern Railway locos from Tuklakabad!!
1950, Vulcan Foundry built 'HPS' class No.24467 stands with a GIPR saloon on the grounds of the NRM. The loco first worked on the EIR and retired on the NR. Weighing 75 tons it had a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement.
"Sir Leslie Wilson" of the GIPR was one of the first electric locos to work in India. It was built in 1928 and was retired in 1974 as 'EF' class No.1-20027 The EF/1 class were later renamed class WCG1 and were all retired from service a few years ago. The locomotives better known as 'Crocodiles' were built at the Metroplitan Vickers works and their mechanical portions came from the SLM, Winterthur.
One of the more recent additions to the NRM is the 'WL' class of locomotive. Built by the Vulcan Foundry in 1955, this loco worked on SR before being sent to the NR and still bears its Ferozpur shed markings on it!
'Fairy Queen'...the oldest preserved steam locomotive in the country is currently out on the mainline running the special tourist trains to Alwar and back!! The EIR loco was built by Kitson Thomson & Hewitson of Leeds, UK in the year 1855 and is still in operation today!! This loco weighs 26 tons and has a 2-2-2 wheel arrangement.
According to me the best looking steam locomotive built anywhere in the world....class, 'WP' no 7200 was built in the year 1947 and spent its entire working life on the CR! Built by Baldwin this loco retired in May 1987. It weighed 103 tons and had a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement.
Orenstein & Koppel built No.739 of the Matheran Light Railway was a 0-6-0 T engine weighing 18 tons. It was built in 1907 and employed Walschaerts Valve Gear.
'Decauville' was a WG Bagnall built steam locomotive and worked on the Decauville Railway in the North West Frontier. Built in 1902 this loco weighed 15 tons and had a 2-4-2 ST wheel arrangement.