Steam crane that served railways showcased at Pollachi station

‘Rajarajan’ was deployed for lifting coaches and during gauge conversion work

‘Rajarajan’, the defunct steam crane that was used to lift metre gauge train coaches, exhibited at the Pollachi Railway Station.

A defunct steam crane nicknamed ‘Rajarajan’, which was used to lift meter gauge train coaches till 2008, was exhibited at the Pollachi railway station.

Officials from the Palakkad Division of Southern Railway said the steam crane, which had a capacity of 35 tonnes, was manufactured in 1975 at the mechanical workshop in Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh.

The crane was initially used in Madurai but was shifted to Pollachi in the early 1980s, where it was used till 2008, when broad gauge conversion began. At present, only mechanical cranes are being used in Pollachi, an official explained.

In the last phase of broad gauge conversion, the Dindigul-Pollachi-Podanur-Palakkad section became an isolated meter gauge section, when ‘Rajarajan’ was used extensively in Dindigul to remove coaches for transportation between Pollachi and the Golden Rock Railway Workshop in Ponmalai, Tiruchirappalli, according to officials.

Palakkad Division officials added another steam crane nicknamed ‘Gajarajan’, which was also present in Pollachi and moved to Railway Heritage Centre, Tiruchi, for exhibition.

Whenever any derailment of meter gauge trains occurred on the Palakkad–Pollachi–Dindigul–Madurai route, ‘Rajarajan’ and ‘Gajarajan’ were summoned to lift the coaches, recalled T. Krishna Balaji, executive council member of the Pollachi Train Passengers Welfare Association.

“This is a historical structure,” he said. ‘Rajarajan’ was exhibited at the west end of the entrance to the Pollachi railway station.