Chennai Rail Museum

The Chennai Rail Museum is a railway museum in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The museum opened on 16 April 2002 in the Furnishing Division of the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) near Perambur . The 6.25-acre (2.53 ha) museum has technical and heritage exhibits, with a sizable collection of steam engines from the British Raj. It also has vintage coaches (such as Ooty trains), which were endemic on Indian railways. Most of the older models were manufactured by the North British Locomotive Company,[1] with some trains in the collection dating back more than a century.[2] Toy-train rides are available, and a renovated indoor art gallery is open to the public. The museum is managed and maintained by the ICF.

Chennai Rail Museum
Location in Chennai
Former nameRegional Rail Museum, Chennai
Established2002
LocationPerambur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600 038, India
Coordinates13.1006076°N 80.2071805°E / 13.1006076; 80.2071805
TypeRail museum
Visitors7,500 per month
CuratorJ.Nagesh
Public transit accessVillivakkam railway station, Anna Nagar Tower Park metro station, ICF Bus Stand
WebsiteOfficial site

History

The Regional Rail Museum (RRM, its original name) was established in March 2002. The Railway Board had a strong interest in its development, since it would be a model for other RRMs planned for Kolkata and Pune. The Chennai museum was first proposed in a 1993-94 suggestion by the Railway Board secretary to the ICF general manager, followed by meetings between the museum's future director and the ICF CE. It was inaugurated by Railway Minister Nitish Kumar on March 31, 2002, and opened to the public on April 16. The RRM was renamed the Chennai Rail Museum to commemorate the 377th Madras Day on August 22, 2016. The renovated museum, with a new art gallery, was inaugurated on October 2, 2016 by Padma Bhushan recipient Padma Subrahmanyam in the presence of artist Maniam Selvan and ICF general manager S. Mani.[3]

Overview
1895 Fowler ploughing engine at the museum

The 6.5-acre (2.6 ha) museum has two galleries, a number of 19th-century outdoor heritage exhibits, a toy train that takes visitors around the perimeter, and a playground.[4] Its collection includes indoor and outdoor exhibits. The indoor galleries contain photographs detailing the early years of the ICF and Indian Railways. The museum also houses working scale models of trains, and rare colonial-period artifacts. This will be the location of new exhibits for the museum's second decade.[5] A video about Neal's ball token system (which provided signaling between trains) is featured, as well as a coach in which Mahatma Gandhi[6] traveled.

The museum's outdoor exhibits include 41 train models.[7] An 1895 model of a Fowler steam ploughing engine (manufactured by John Fowler)[8] and 1860s double-deck coaches are on display. Models include Coach of Inspection car RA 30 (manufactured by Metropolitan Carriage and Finance), Crane Hercules (used for emergency relief) and luxury coaches. Nearly all of the museum's coaches are accessible to visitors.[9]

The exhibits are interspersed with posters of high-speed trains from around the world, the history of Indian Railways and models of coaches made for Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Vietnam and Zambia. They also include a coach from the Mumbai suburban train network, old railway maps of India, century-old clocks, and a diesel-locomotive engine block.[4] Outdoor exhibits include life-size models of a Nilgiri Mountain Railway coach, a GM inspection car, an MG EMU, a hospital van, a hand-operated crane, an overhead equipment car, a meter gauge EMU, and a variety of engines (steam, diesel and plough).

The museum also contains photographs of visits to ICF by world leaders, royalty, and other dignitaries. The model trains run on three tiers, and over 150 photographs document the history of ICF and Indian Railways.

The ICF Diamond Jubilee Gallery has photographs by Ian Manning (digitally restored by Poochi Venkat of Chennai), including one of a steam-engine turntable. It also has a first-class compartment seat, a scale model of third-class MG coaches designed and manufactured at ICF for Uganda, and photographs of dignitaries such as Queen Elizabeth II, K. Kamaraj, and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. An art gallery contains over a dozen paintings. The paintings, by artists such as M. S. Murthy and Shahid Pasha, illustrate subjects commonly found in railway stations and related establishments. Murthy's Gandhi, is a tribute to the man and his philosophy. In Pasha's Kanhaiya's Journey, a young Krishna showing his mother Yashoda the way home as she pulls a suitcase and tries to board the Mathura Express at the Bangalore railway station. The painting demonstrates that one's god (or gods) are not restricted to temples, but are present everywhere to provide guidance.

An antique steam engine which once operated in the Nilgiri Mountains is at the museum entrance, and the space surrounding it is decorated with greenery and herbs. A walking path helps visitors get close to the antique train.

Visitors
Engine on display at the museum

The museum was established to showcase the heritage of Indian Railways. Work on it began in 2001, and the museum was inaugurated in March 2002 by Railway Minister Nitish Kumar. Several additions have been made since then, and the museum constructed a train ride for children. Although nearly 5,500 people visit the museum each month[10] (primarily students and local residents),[4] the railway struggles with a lack of awareness and publicity despite its role in India's growth.[2][11] During 10th-anniversary celebrations in 2012, the museum announced plans for expansion.[5] In August 2017, 14,792 people visited the museum (up from 10,809 visitors in August 2016).[12]

Restaurant

On August 31, 2018, a rail coach-themed restaurant opened at the museum.[13] The air-conditioned Chennai Express restaurant is inside a Linke Hoffman Busch train coach provided by the ICF. It is the second such restaurant opened in the country by the IR, following one in Bhopal (2015). The restaurant offers Chinese, continental, North- and South-Indian cuisine.

The area leading to the coach entrance was designed to resemble a railway platform.[14] The restaurant can seat 64 people at tables in the coach and on the platform.[15][14] The coach's interior was designed to resemble the Maharajas' Express and the Deccan Odyssey.[15] Its adjacent kitchen is a repurposed shipping container.[15] The coach's exterior was painted by Asma Menon and a team of artists.[14]

Theater

The museum opened a small, air-conditioned theater on August 15, 2018.[16] The theater, with a capacity of 90 people, was designed to show films about the ICF and Indian Railways to museum visitors.[16]

Visitor Hours

Tuesday to Friday - 09.30 AM to 06:00 PM

Monday - Holiday

Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays - 09.30 AM to 07:30 PM

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See also

References
  1. "Meter gauge Diesel locomotive, Western Railway". Regional Railway Museum. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  2. Janardhanan, Arun (20 April 2012). "Here, past comes chugging to you". Times of India. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  3. Hamid, Zubeda (22 March 2014). "Rail museum looks to make inroads into tourism". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  4. "Housing the history of Indian Railways for a decade". The Hindu. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  5. "A peep into the Rail Museum". The Hindu Business Line. 28 October 2002. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  6. Kumar, S. Vijay (18 June 2018). "Retired staff to showcase railway heritage at museums". The Hindu. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  7. "Fowler Ploughing Engine". Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  8. "Outdoor Exhibits: Narrow Gauge Engine (Darjeeling Himalayan Railways)". Regional Railway Museum. Archived from the original on 22 May 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  9. "Housing the history of Indian Railways for a decade". The Hindu. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  10. Sreevatsan, Ajai (16 August 2010). "Rail museum far from public gaze". The Hindu. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  11. Rajendra, Ranjani (14 September 2017). "Trainspotting for beginners". The Hindu. Chennai. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  12. "Integral Coach Factory installs AC rail coach restaurant at Chennai Rail Museum". The New Indian Express. 1 September 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  13. "Indian Railways' luxury ICF Chennai Rail Coach Restaurant will leave you craving for more; see pics". Zee Business. 1 September 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  14. Paitandy, Priyadarshini (10 September 2018). "Journey to a full stomach". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  15. Reporter, Staff (16 August 2018). "Mini theatre comes up at Rail Museum". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 4 January 2019.

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