[jyotirmoy]

Old but beautiful steam engines will pull old heritage coaches between various stations of Delhi. This event is launched by northern railways. First the rides will be offered to students & then it will be thrown open to the public.

[john.sw]

Don't be surprised if you suddenly hear loud toot of a steam engine or see dark columns of smoke being spewed into the sky from the nearby railway tracks.

The black beauties of the bygone era are back and you can see them chugging along different stations of the Capital every Saturday for the whole of this month.

As part of celebrations lined up for "Northern Railway heritage month," the steam engine-run train went on its first run on Saturday morning.

The train departed from Delhi Safdarjung station and went on a circular journey around the city, crossing Hazrat Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar, Shahdara and New Delhi stations on the way.

The special train has heritage coaches, of which two belong to railways owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad.

This ride was especially planned for schoolchildren, who got an opportunity to closely watch a steam engine and see several heritage sites like Old Fort, Red Fort and Humayun's Tomb on the way.

However, from next Saturday, anyone can enjoy the ride for a measly sum of Rs 17 for children and Rs 26 for adults. A symbol of colonial era and industrial revolution, railways are an integral part of Indian History.

"Very few people know that out of all the world heritage sites in India, three are with railways — Darjeeling-Himalayan Rail, Neelgiri Railways and Victoria Terminal in Mumbai. We are trying to promote the heritage value of railways. During this, people would be given an opportunity to go for a joyride on the steam engine-run locomotive," said Rajiv Saxena, CPRO, Northern Railways.

The steam engine was manufactured in 1947 in the US and retired from service in 1987. It was part of broad gauge passenger rail operations till 1955.

Times of India - Click Here

[wanderer22]

Is there any plan to keep this going as a tourist attraction?  Would love to travel by steam again while in India. Still want to do the Nilgiris, and with a little luck this might be the year.  My last memory of steam travel was in the early seventies going from Delhi to Varanasi third class.  During the night you could see the occasional glowing spark from the funnel blow in the windows. Needed a shower and hair wash after that trip.  Figure that's why third class was right behind the engine, you ended up filthy from the ash.  Found an old photo from those days that I shot in one of the Varanasi stations.  

   W22

Attached Files

•  SteamVaranasi.jpg   57.97K   11 downloads

[jyotirmoy]

I am not sure how long this thing will run in Delhi. If you are a locomotive buff do visit the Rail museum in Delhi.