A treasure trove awaits rail history lovers with the Central Railway (CR) inaugurating ‘Heritage Gully’ on World Heritage Day on Wednesday. The initiative is an an open-air display of items that are linked to railway history and is located at the P D’Mello entrance of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT).
D.K. Sharma, General Manager, CR, said, “Railways have a proud history of doing work in fields other than their core activity such as sports, culture and heritage.” Mr Sharma said that most of the items were found in railway scrap yards across the division and had been neglected for years.
The gully will initially have seven items, which include a steam-powered crane built in 1929, a printing press from 1899 and a fire engine made in 1880, which was was operated manually by a team of eight to 12 men. The key attraction is the Sir Leslie Wilson-GIP Electric Loco, India’s first electric train. CR officials said the locomotive weighs over a 100 tonnes and was built by the Swiss Loco Works Company. It had its inaugural run in 1925, between Bori Bunder station and Kurla. It is named after the then Governor of Bombay, who flagged off the train and was on board for its inaugural run. The locomotive was in operation till 1990 at CSMT yard, after which it has been stationed at Kalyan Loco Shed. CR officials said they are bringing it to the gully by road and it should be installed in a few days. They also plan to add more items.
CR has replanted around 100 old trees in the vicinity of the gully. “There is a lot of infrastructure work being undertaken in the city due to which several trees have had to be cut. Many of these trees are around 100 years old and we will try our level best to preserve them,” Mr. Sharma said.
