Rewari Railway Heritage Museum

Rewari Railway Heritage Museum
रेवाड़ी रेल संग्रालय
Rewari Railway Heritage Museum
Location in Rewari, India
Rewari Railway Heritage Museum (India)
Former name Rewari Steam Locomotive Shed
Established 2 February 1893 (1893-02-02)
Location North end of Rewari railway station, Rewari, Haryana, India
Coordinates 28°12′31″N 76°36′43″E / 28.2085056°N 76.6120139°E / 28.2085056; 76.6120139Coordinates: 28°12′31″N 76°36′43″E / 28.2085056°N 76.6120139°E / 28.2085056; 76.6120139
Type railway museum
Key holdings Rewari Queen
Collections steam locomotive
Owner North Western Railway zone of Indian Railway

The Rewari Railway Heritage Museum (formerly Rewari Steam Locomotive Shed) is a c.1893 railway museum in Delhi NCR at Rewari city in Haryana state of India. Built in 1893, it is the only surviving steam loco shed in India and houses some of India's last surviving steam locomotives as well as the world's oldest still-functional 1855-built steam locomotive Fairy Queen. It is located 400 m north of entrance of Rewari railway station,[1] 50 km from Gurgaon and 79 km from the National Rail Museum at Chanakyapuri in New Delhi.[2]

History

Steam loco shed

Built in 1893, it was the only loco shed in North India for a long time and a part of the track connecting Delhi with Peshawar.[3] After steam engines were phased out by the 1990s and steam traction on metre gauge tracks was discontinued in January 1994,[4] the loco shed remained in neglect for many years before it was decided to rehabilitate it. The steam shed reopened in May 2002.[5]

Heritage musueum

The Rewari Steam Locomotive Shed was declared as a heritage museum in December 2002.[6] The shed was refurbished as a heritage tourism destination, its heritage edifice was restored and a museum was added by the Indian Railways exhibiting Victorian-era artefacts used on the Indian rail network, along with the old signalling system, gramophones and seats. The refurbished heritage museum was opened in October 2010. The engines are also be available for live demonstrations.[3][7][8]

Exhibits

The shed and compound has 11 (out of 16 functional in India)[9] of the world's oldest steam locomotives,[10] restored and still functional, including the following: [11]

  • Baldwin AWE, built by the American company Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1945[12]
  • Akbar WP1761, named after the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, built in 1963 at Chittranjan Locomotive Works was inducted into active service in 1965. It has 4-6-2 wheel arrangement, 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) gauge and 110 kmph maximum speed now-restricted to 45km/hr. The locomotive was based at Saharanpur railway shed after being retired from active service and it has been restored and housed at Rewari shed.[13][14][15] It is used to power the 150UP Delhi Cantt – Alwar Steam Express heritage train.[16]
  • Shahanshah WP/P, is one of the original bullet-nosed american Baldwin prototype number 7200 Shahanshah, which was at the Charbagh workshops in Lucknow, was restored for use in steam specials by the Northern Railway. It has also run several steam specials, including one between Royapuram and Tambaram on 26 January 2009, to commemorate the 153rd anniversary of Royapuram railway station (built 1856), the oldest railway station in India and even ran the Steam Express on 14 January 2012. It is considered lucky mascot for the film shoots and is rented out at INR4 lakhs (INR400,000 or US$6,150) a day.[11][17]

Development plans

In January 2018, Indian Railway prepared a proposal to develop a 8.8 Hectare railway heritage theme park adjacant to the Rewari rail museum. It will be built in collaboration with the Government of Haryana and India's Ministry of Tourism on similar concept as Devon Railway Centre in UK, Edaville Railroad Theme Park in USA and Ferrymead Heritage Park in New Zealand. The Railway has requested Haryana Government to include this heritage museum in the state subsidised "Swadesh Darshan scheme" under the under-development Madhogarh-Mahendragarh-Narnaul-Rewari heritage circuit of the Tourism Ministry being implemented at the cost of INR1.47 billion (INR147 crore or US$23 million).[18]

Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has launched a drive to increase the awareness of this museum among the students.[19][11]

Facilities

The museum is open 7 days a week from 9 A.M. till 5 P.M. The entrance fee is free for all, and it can be leisurely covered in 2 to 3 hours even with small kids. Photography is permitted at no charge. There is a cafeteria, water and toilet.[20] It has 3-D steam loco simulator simulating Darjeeling Himalayan Railway steam locomotive ride, 3-D virtual reality coach simulator, a toy train, educational yard model train system, indoor exhibition gallery, a 35-seater conference room with projector, a century-old dining car, cafeteria and souvenir shop. Average daily visitor footfall in 2017-18 was up to 450.[18] In the museum, there are exhibiting halls showing models of small engines, railway equipment, hand-held brass signal lamps, and photos. The facilities at museum include 30 minute long documentaries and films shows, once or twice a day in museum's conference hall with seating capacity of 50, about the history and present operations of railways in India.[19]

Fairy Queen steam-locomotive ferries tourists from Delhi (10:30 AM) to Rewari (1:00 PM) every second Saturday from October to April.[18]

Rewari steam loco shed, being the only surviving repository of steam locos in India housing some of India’s last surviving steam locomotives, has become an ideal choice for filmmakers. The Rewari steam locos have been rented out for various film shoots and a part of the film Gandhi, My Father was shot here.[3][21] The locos at the shed have appeared in films such as Barfi!, Guru, Love Aaj Kal, Rang De Basanti and Veer-Zaara among others.[22] The locomotive Akbar has featured in several movies shot here, including Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, Gandhi, My Father, Ki & Ka, Sultan (2016 film), Gangs of Wasseypur (film series), Qareeb Qareeb Single, Partition (2007 film), Pranayam (2011 Malayalam movie), Ek Tha Chander Ek Thi Sudha (TV serial) [13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ [www.fairyqueenwiki.com www.fairyqueenwiki.com] Check |url= value (help). Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ Google map of Rewari Railway Heritage Mesuam and national Railway Museum at New Delhi
  3. 1 2 3 Ghosh, Dwaipayan (10 Aug 2010). "Eye on Games, black beauties gather steam". The Times of India. India.
  4. ↑ Overview of Bikaner Division
  5. ↑ "National Conference on Steam Heritage Tourism inaugurated". Ministry of Railways. 2 December 2002.
  6. ↑ "National Conference on Steam Heritage Tourism inaugurated". Ministry of Railways. 2 December 2002.
  7. ↑ "Gathering steam". The Indian Express. India. 4 Apr 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
  8. ↑ "Rewaristeamloco.com". Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  9. ↑ Rewari Museum needs some steam, Business Standard, 30 Nov 2017.
  10. ↑ Railway heritage department starved of funds as hundreds of century-old steam trains fall into neglect, Daily Mail UK Newspaper, 7-Sept-2016
  11. 1 2 3 Rewari locomotive: The only steam loco shed that remains in India, The Economic Times
  12. ↑ [1945 Baldwin AWE]
  13. 1 2 "Learn- about Gadar's 'Akbar', has run in more than 40 films.", Dainik Jagran, 12 November 2017.
  14. ↑ DNA India news, Tourist train 'Akbar' to commence tiger sighting journey in October, Daily News and Analysis, 24-Sept-20140
  15. ↑ A walk around the 'Akbar steam locomotive #1761'
  16. ↑ '150UP Delhi Cantt – Alwar STEAM EXPRESS'
  17. ↑ Bullet-nosed 7200 Shahanshah
  18. 1 2 3 Railway heritage theme park on the anvil at Rewari, Daijiworld, 19 Jan 2018.
  19. 1 2 Rewari heritage rail museum to attract students, Times of India, 29-Sept-2012
  20. ↑ REWARI STEAM LOCO SHED, mycity4kids
  21. ↑ "Charm of Chhuk-Chhuk". The Tribune. India. 3 July 2005.
  22. ↑ Full Steam Ahead: Photo exhibition pays tribute to steam locomotives, Indian Express news, 17 June 2014
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