Priceless documents to be preserved at rail museum

Rs. 2.6 cr. sanctioned to set up documentation centre

The Rail Museum is likely to witness more visitors during summer vacation.—FILE PHOTO: A. MURALITHARAN

With the rail museum at Tiruchi having been thrown open to visitors last month, railway authorities have now proposed to establish a documentation centre at the museum to safeguard the old documents.

Thanks to funds allocated by the Ministry of Railways, the documentation centre will come up on the first floor of the museum building which contains a range of prized vintage equipment belonging to the colonial era. The Railway Ministry has sanctioned Rs. 2.6 crore for the establishment of a documentation centre at Tiruchi Rail Museum and at the National Rail Museum in New Delhi.

Old gazettes, documents, manuals, and other records used during the days of the erstwhile South Indian Railway, which had Tiruchi as its headquarters then, would be preserved at the documentation centre, railway officials said. The old documents used during the British period have been carefully preserved for posterity at the Divisional Railway Manager’s office complex.

The documents throw light on the glorious heritage of the then SIR and the developments that took place during that period, railway officials said and added that they would be kept on display at the documentation centre for the visitors. There was a plan to digitize the old railway documents some of which had become brittle, a senior official said.

The rail museum in Tiruchi — the first in Southern Railway zone — was thrown open to visitors in February last week. The museum had been recording a good footfall.

Around 6,900 visitors have visited the museum with entry fee alone netting Rs. 1 lakh till date, an official said. Railway officials exude hope that the visitors’ arrival to the museum would increase during the summer. The narrow gauge toy train operated within the museum premises had been a hit with the visitors especially children, the official said.

Plans were afoot to establish a children’s play park within the sprawling museum that had been set up on an area of five acres.

Some of the papers belong to the British era

These documents would be digitised