esperienza: My Kolkata 2: Rail Museum

Engine interior *

Rail Chakka (wheels)

Rail

Rail 2

Vivek and I wrote and sent the following article for The Telegraph's Howrah Metro for publication.

Friday, March 03, 2006

There is no gainsaying that Howrah has been developing over the years, and this development is not restricted only to the industrial and real-estate sector. Now, Howrah is set to attract tourists too. This initiative has been taken up by the Indian Railways, which is set to unveil a railway heritage museum, named the 'Regional Rail Museum'. The foundation stone for the Regional Rail Museum, Howrah was laid by Shri Shyam Kumar, General Manager (Indian Railways), on 12th August 2005 and the expected date of inauguration is 6th March 2006.

Located at the onset of Grand Foreshore Road, the Regional Railway Museum is just a two-minute walk from the New Howrah Station Complex. The museum has been set-up to highlight the history and heritage of railways in the eastern part of the country. Apart from collections of documents, photographs, manuscripts, preserved locomotives and coaches, and miscellaneous items such as platform clocks and lamps, it would also have a toy-train, which is a working locomotive of the DHR along with some coaches, run as a tourist attraction within the museum grounds. An ex-Pakistan Railways' loco, that happened to be near Howrah in 1971 when India and Pakistan went to war and which subsequently stayed in Howrah will also be on display here.

Indeed, Howrah is now set to woo tourists not just for transit purposes but for things beyond that.

- Vivek Toshniwal & Kuldip Garhwal

I want to see: