Narrow gauge diesel locomotive is the latest exhibit at Rail Museum

After chugging for several years, a decommissioned narrow gauge diesel locomotive will soon become another outdoor exhibit at the Rail Museum here.

The ‘ZDM5-507’ diesel locomotive has already reached the Tiruchi Rail Museum which showcases a slew of vintage equipment and old records used during the colonial era and the erstwhile South Indian Railway.

The decommissioned loco which is in the heritage inventory of the Indian Railway was allotted to the Tiruchi Rail Museum by the Railway Board, New Delhi. A senior railway official told The Hindu that the narrow gauge loco was brought from Pratap Nagar in the Western Railway zone to the rail museum a few days ago.

The loco was brought by a trailer lorry to the museum here and placed atop a narrow gauge track laid exclusively for this purpose. Necessary repair works was being carried out and the loco would also be given a fresh coat of paint and kept as an attractive outdoor exhibit at the museum, the official said. The museum already showcases a vintage Swiss-made steam loco belonging to the X-class and manufactured in 1952 as an outdoor exhibit besides a vintage fire fighting vehicle.

Established on a railway land measuring five-acres adjacent to the Tiruchi railway junction, the rail museum here was inaugurated in February 2015 to showcase the glorious heritage of the railways and more so the South Indian Railway which had Tiruchi as its headquarters then.

On display at the museum are an array of vintage items including old clocks, hand signal lamps that were once used in railway stations besides rare photographs and old documents highlighting the important milestones in the railways.

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