Running on steam

What has been a Heritage Steam Loco Shed since August 14,2002,but lay in utter neglect,has finally come to life. The Commonwealth Games came as a boon for Rewari Steam Loco Shed with a sanction of around Rs. 2.5crore,and a motivated leadership in the Northern Railway infused the shed with life. From a derelict building with no amenities,a museum in shambles and a disillusioned team of workers,the Rewari Shed has come a long way.

The Rewari Steam Loco shed was started in 1893 and was under the jurisdiction of Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway (BB&CIR). Rewari soon became one of the biggest junctions on the meter gauge route and the shed,too,was the largest meter gauge loco shed in India with close to 500 maintenance staff working at its peak. In the early 1900s,the shed primarily was home to ‘P’ class engines. The shed’s locos chugged trains to Delhi,Bathinda,Churu,Fulera among others. Officials say the shed had a holding of 65 MG locos between 1980-82. Rewari also had 395 loco drivers on roll making it a major crew depot as well.

The shed had a working span of 100 years and was closed down in 1993. “By 1994,all but two locos were cut up and sold as scrap. The shed was planned to be converted to a MG Diesel Loco shed and from Sept 1993. Diesel locos were maintained here,this practice stopped in August 1996. In 1994 The Royal Orient Express was started and was to be hauled by two steam locomotives on the stretch between Delhi Cantonment and Rewari with this,the shed again came to prominence for some time,” says Ashwani Lohani,Divisional Railway Manager (DRM),Northern Railway,who spearheaded the project to revive the shed.

Over the last year the shed has seen frenetic activity,conserving and reconstructing what it must have been in its heydays. The barren fields abutting the tracks now stand landscaped with gazebos,made of straw and stone. A swanky new cafeteria,washrooms,paved platforms and a revived museum add life to the shed.

Four meter gauge and six broad gauge locomotives now stand resurrected,some of which are lit up every Sunday,when tourists from the Capital and visitors from around the shed come to see the majestic ‘steam beauties’ hoot and whistle while chugging up and down on the tracks inside the shed.

Vikas Arya,Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer/Power,Northern Railway,says,“We are negotiating with tour operators to develop packages and also facilitate domestic as well as international tourists to come and visit the shed. Several tourists from Canada,Britain,China,are fans of steam engines and this shed could be their destination. The shed has an international appeal because most of the locos are imported like the first proto type built by America’s Baldwin Loco Works,Philadelphia in 1947,the only American war loco,and also the oldest broad gauge loco of 1930s. The shed also houses the last loco that ran between Firozpur and Jalandhar on December 6,1995 built by Valcun Foundry.”

Arya says while talks are on with tour operators to work out packages and efforts are also on to publicise the shed,the Railways,in the meantime,will initiate work on the second phase.

“We already have a cafeteria and also a lounge car in a 1961 coach,which is equipped with a bar and snack counter. As part of the second phase we will get miniature locos running on steam,make an array of signature whistles of the steam locos,run steam hauled toy trains within the shed for children. Even for the tour packages we are planning to develop a brief documentary explaining the history of steam locos,rides on miniature loco hauled trains. We are also planning to come up with a small rest house,where tourists can halt the night over,and also golfing greens and water bodies to create an ambience for the shed,” he says.