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The Chennai Rail Museum is a railway museum in
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
,
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The museum opened on 16 April 2002 in the Furnishing Division of the
Integral Coach Factory Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is an Indian manufacturer of rolling stock, and electrical multiple units. Established in 1955, it is located in Perambur in Chennai and is the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world. It is owned and operated ...
(ICF) near
Perambur Perambur is a neighbourhood located in the northern region of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Etymology In Tamil language, Tamil, ''pirambu (பிரம்பு)'' means bamboo, and ''oor (ஊர்)'' means city or place. Before British Raj, B ...
. The museum has technical and heritage exhibits, with a sizable collection of
steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
s from the
British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...
. It also has vintage coaches (such as Ooty trains), which were endemic on Indian railways. Most of the older models were manufactured by the
North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park W ...
, with some trains in the collection dating back more than a century. Toy-train rides are available. There are 3 air-conditioned Indoor Galleries (ICF Gallery, Rail History Gallery, Art Gallery, 2 Other Non-airconditioned Galleries, a 90-seater air-conditioned Dolby Digital Movie Theatre (Railway and Railway Heritage Films), Natyarangam, Amphitheatre, a Number of Metal Sculptures made from scrap, 3D MURAL at the entrance, Cartoon Hero Characters better viewed from the Joyous Toy Train Ride, Rail Coach Restaurant, Eco Green Park, Lust Green vegetation, etc., The museum is managed and maintained by the ICF.


Location

It is located in
Perambur Perambur is a neighbourhood located in the northern region of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Etymology In Tamil language, Tamil, ''pirambu (பிரம்பு)'' means bamboo, and ''oor (ஊர்)'' means city or place. Before British Raj, B ...
area, which is renowned for its
Integral Coach Factory Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is an Indian manufacturer of rolling stock, and electrical multiple units. Established in 1955, it is located in Perambur in Chennai and is the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world. It is owned and operated ...
. 71 series buses connects Rail museum to prominent places like Broadway,
Chennai Central Chennai Central (officially Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, formerly Madras Central) (station code: MAS), is an NSG–1 category Indian railway station in Chennai railway division of Southern Railway zone ...
,
Chennai Egmore Chennai Egmore (formerly: Madras Egmore, also known as Chennai Elumbur)(station code: MS), is an NSG–1 category Indian railway station in Chennai railway division of Southern Railway zone. Situated in the neighborhood of Egmore, it is one ...
,
Kilpauk Kilpauk is a semi residential area located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The distance from Chennai's city to Kilpauk is about 6 km. The region is situated off the Poonamallee High Road in the west. Adjacent areas of Kilpauk include Chet ...
,
Ambattur Ambattur is a northwestern part of Chennai, India. It is located in Ambattur taluk of the Chennai District, surrounded by Avadi, Anna Nagar, Korattur, Padi, Mogappair, Kallikuppam, Surapet, Ayappakkam, Athipet and Thiruverkadu. It c ...
and
Avadi Avadi () is a city Located within the Chennai metropolitan area, Its the headquarters of Avadi Police, Avadi City Police, Avadi City Municipal Corporation, Avadi City Corporation and Avadi taluk, Avadi Taluk located within the Thiruvallur dist ...
.


History

The Regional Rail Museum (RRM, its original name) was established in March 2002. The
Railway Board The Ministry of Railways is a ministry in the Government of India, responsible for the rail transport in India, country's rail transport. The Indian Railways is the rail network operated and administered by the Railway Board constituted by t ...
had a strong interest in its development, since it would be a model for other RRMs planned for
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
and
Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
. The Chennai museum was first proposed in a 1993-94 suggestion by the Railway Board secretary to the ICF general manager, followed by meetings between the museum's future director and the ICF CE. It was inaugurated by Railway Minister
Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...
on March 31, 2002, and opened to the public on April 16. The RRM was renamed the Chennai Rail Museum to commemorate the 377th Madras Day on August 22, 2016. The renovated museum, with a new Art gallery, was inaugurated on October 2, 2016 by
Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...
recipient Padma Subrahmanyam in the presence of artist Manian Selvan and ICF General Manager S. Mani.


Overview

The museum has two galleries, a number of 19th-century outdoor heritage exhibits, a toy train that takes visitors around the perimeter, and a playground. Its collection includes indoor and outdoor exhibits. The indoor galleries contain photographs detailing the early years of the ICF and Indian Railways. The museum also houses working scale models of trains, and rare colonial-period artifacts. This will be the location of new exhibits for the museum's second decade. A video about Neal's ball token system (which provided signaling between trains) is featured, as well as a coach in which
Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
traveled. The museum's outdoor exhibits include 41 train models. An 1895 model of a Fowler steam
ploughing engine A traction engine is a steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engi ...
(manufactured by John Fowler) and 1860s double-deck coaches are on display. Models include Coach of Inspection car RA 30 (manufactured by Metropolitan Carriage and Finance), Crane Hercules (used for emergency relief) and
luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, a tax on products not considered essential, such as speedboats or diamonds. **Luxury tax (sports), a ...
coaches. Nearly all of the museum's coaches are accessible to visitors. The exhibits are interspersed with posters of high-speed trains from around the world, the history of Indian Railways and models of coaches made for
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
, the
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,
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and
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. They also include a coach from the Mumbai suburban train network, old railway maps of India, century-old clocks, and a diesel-locomotive engine block. Outdoor exhibits include life-size models of a
Nilgiri Mountain Railway The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), colloquially called the "Toy Train" by locals, is a railway in Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu, India, built by the British in 1908. The railway is operated by the Southern Railway and is the only rack railwa ...
coach, a GM inspection car, an MG EMU, a hospital van, a hand-operated crane, an overhead equipment car, a meter gauge EMU, and a variety of engines (steam, diesel and plough). The museum also contains photographs of visits to ICF by world leaders, royalty, and other dignitaries. The model trains run on three tiers, and over 150 photographs document the history of ICF and Indian Railways. The ICF Diamond Jubilee Gallery has photographs by Ian Manning which were digitally restored, including one of a steam-engine turntable. It also has a first-class compartment seat, a scale model of third-class MG coaches designed and manufactured at ICF for Uganda, and photographs of dignitaries such as
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
,
K. Kamaraj Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras from 13 April 1954 to 2 October 1963. He also served as the pr ...
, and Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...
. An art gallery contains over a dozen paintings. The paintings, by artists such as M. S. Murthy and Shahid Pasha, illustrate subjects commonly found in railway stations and related establishments. Murthy's ''Gandhi'', is a tribute to the man and his
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
. In Pasha's ''Kanhaiya's Journey'', a young
Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...
showing his mother
Yashoda Yashoda (, ) is the foster-mother of Krishna and the wife of Nanda. She is described in the Puranic texts of Hinduism as the wife of Nanda, the chieftain of Gokul, and the sister of Rohini. According to the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna was bo ...
the way home as she pulls a suitcase and tries to board the Mathura Express at the Bangalore railway station. The painting demonstrates that one's god (or gods) are not restricted to temples, but are present everywhere to provide guidance. An antique steam engine which once operated in the Nilgiri Mountains is at the museum entrance, and the space surrounding it is decorated with greenery and herbs. A walking path helps visitors get close to the antique train.


Visitors

The museum was established to showcase the Heritage of Indian Railways. Work on it began in 2001, and the museum was inaugurated in March 2002 by Railway Minister
Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...
. Several additions have been made since then, and the museum constructed a train ride for children. Although nearly 5,500 people visit the museum each month (primarily students and local residents), the railway struggles with a lack of awareness and publicity despite its role in India's growth. During 10th-anniversary celebrations in 2012, the museum announced plans for expansion. In August 2017, 14,792 people visited the museum (up from 10,809 visitors in August 2016). Many visitors complain that the museum deserves better facilities and clean pathways. Many heritage models are desperate for painting.


Restaurant

On August 31, 2018, a rail coach-themed restaurant opened at the museum. The air-conditioned Chennai Express restaurant is inside a Linke Hoffman Busch train coach provided by the ICF. It is the second such restaurant opened in the country by the IR, following one in
Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...
(2015). The restaurant offers Chinese, continental, North- and South-Indian cuisine. The area leading to the coach entrance was designed to resemble a railway platform. The restaurant can seat 64 people at tables in the coach and on the platform. The coach's interior was designed to resemble the
Maharajas' Express The ''Maharajas' Express'' is a luxury tourist train owned and operated by The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). It serves four routes across North-West and Central India, mainly centered on Rajasthan between the mont ...
and the Deccan Odyssey. Its adjacent kitchen is a repurposed shipping container. The coach's exterior was painted by Asma Menon and a team of artists.


Theater

The museum opened a small 90-seater, Digital Dolby, Large Screen, air-conditioned theater on August 15, 2018. The theater, with a capacity of 90 people, to showcase films about the Integral Coach Factory, Indian Railways, World Railway and Railway Heritage clippings to museum visitors.


See also

*
National Rail Museum, New Delhi The National Rail Museum in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, displays exhibits on the history of rail transport in India. The museum was inaugurated on 1 February 1977. The museum spans over an area of over and the indoor gallery comprises an oc ...
* Rewari Railway Heritage Museum * Railway Museum Mysore * Railway Heritage Centre, Tiruchirappalli *
Joshi's Museum of Miniature Railway Joshi's Museum of Miniature Railway is a miniature railway museum located in the Erandwane locality of Pune, a city in the state of Maharashtra, India. The museum hosts working models of various types of trains. It was started by Bhausaheb Joshi ...


References


External links

*
Rail Museum - a hidden gem: Slideshow
{{authority control 2002 establishments in Tamil Nadu Children's museums in India Museums established in 2002 Museums in Chennai Rail transport in Tamil Nadu
Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...