CHENNAI: It may be 157 years old, but it is still the darling of Chennai as people jostled with one another to have a glimpse of the oldest steam locomotive in the world as it embarked on its third heritage journey to mark India’s 63rd Republic day.It was a festive atmosphere at platform number four with policemen trying to keep away the crowd as VIPs tried to squeeze in to enjoy the 10-km journey from Egmore to Guindy. The locomotive East Indian Railways (EIR) 21, created by Kitson Thomson and Hewitson of England in 1855, was attached to a 25-year-old compartment that also completed its shelf life in 2010 and was converted into a heritage special. It was packed with VIPs, which included Southern Railways general manager Deepak Krishan, director general of police K Ramanujam and other officials.The engine, shipped to the subcontinent, had been chugging the length and breadth of the country before being put into hibernation in 1909, for more than a century, at Jamalpur Museum. Interestingly, it replaced Fairy Queen EIR 22 as ‘the oldest working steam loco’.The locomotive completed its first heritage run from Chennai Central to Avadi on August 15, 2010 and a second heritage run from Chennai Egmore to Guindy on August 15, 2011, said railway sources. And now on its third run it was piloted by driver Devrajan, who expressed his joy on being part of the historic moment.An excited guard V Gopiram told Express that the train will proceed to Mount before returning to the shed, after it’s journet to Guindy. The maximum speed of the 130 horsepower engine is 30 km per hour. Railway sources said the steam locomotive is provided with a GPS-based speedometer now and receives signals through satellite for longitude or latitude with respect to time.“The micro-control unit inbuilt in this speedometer decodes the signal input collected through change in latitude or longitude, from first place to second place, and converts this into speed in kmph,” a railway source said. Meanwhile, the coach is an old Guard’s compartment which has been modified at Perambur Carriage Works. “We made it as a hall for inspection of railway officials,” a railway staff said.The coach also has a watertank to feed water to the steam locomotive besides a generator to supply current to the fans and AC equipment. The generator will also help run the water pump to feed water to the steam engine. And although the train was 20 minutes late, and passengers thronged the compartment , it was worth the wait for this moment in history.
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