Central Railway plans to soon revive a steam-lookalike-oil-fired locomotive for charter runs on the narrow gauge Neral-Matheran-Neral section, following demands from Indian and foreign tourists. The B-794 class engine, that hauled trains on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway till 1988 before being introduced on the Neral-Matheran run, had been built in 1917 by Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, US. Though converted from a coal engine to a diesel one few years ago at a cost of Rs 20 lakh, it has the look and feel of a steam locomotive with the original whistle. The decision to convert to oil was taken to avoid polluting the environment and surroundings of the route to the hill station. Besides, sparks from the burning coal at times ignited small fires in the dry grass alongside the tracks, leading to safety issues. There are demands for charter trips to Matheran, and while trial runs have thrown up a few technical problems, we are working its revival and have succeeded in taking it up to Jummapatti station, a senior CR official said. There have been glitches with the trial runs, but we are confident of fixing the problems and reviving it, Divisional Manager Mukesh Nigam said. Chief spokesperson Narendra A Patil added that running this locomotive will be a big boost for tourism as a steam locomotive is always a hit. Before it was discontinued in 2012, a charter trip was priced between Rs 30,000 and Rs 50,000 for a return journey, depending on the number of coaches involved. Originally, there were four steam locomotives that the Peerbhoy family who built the railway had bought specially for the mountainous stretch from Messrs Orienstein & Koppel, Germany. These were specially made for the narrow curves and steep climbs of the Matheran hills. All four are no longer operational, and one each is stabled at Neral, at Matheran, at Delhi and in UK. COURTESY: MUMBAI MIRROR.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 08:56:56 +0000
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