Chugging into history: National Rail Museum

A walk at the National Rail Museum takes a while, and the line of vintage trains never seems to end.

A walk at the National Rail Museum takes a while, and the line of vintage trains never seems to end. The place is eerily quiet in contrast to how these giant locomotives must have had roared across towns and cities in their heydays.

The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) was India's first railway network, according to records at the museum. The East India Company gave the licence to a private British firm to operate the GIPR. It was formed in 1845.

The steam locomotive model No. MTR-2 greets visitors at the gate of the museum, where iron giants of yesteryear have been let to rest in peace. It was built in 1910 by Dick, Kerr & Co. for the Karachi Port Trust. The 11-acre museum has some 100 original locomotives–steam powered, diesel engine and vintage coaches made of wood.

Although visitors are not allowed to enter the trains, one can sneak out to the farthest corner on the compound where it is quiet and the engines are unprotected.

Two old posts from 2011 on the National Rail Museum have been deleted due to a glitch in Google Photos. This post replaces them.

Also see Indian Railways: going where the tracks take