The Indian Railways have come a long, long way since the trailblazing first official train ran in India. It was 1530 hrs on 16 Apr. 1853, and the run was between Boribunder (later Bombay VT and now Mumbai CST) and Tanna (later Thana, and now Thane), and the distance was 35 km.

Today, 147 years later, the Indian Railways is the fourth largest railway system in the world, and the second largest under a single management. The IR now has a whooping 63,000 km of track, a far cry indeed from the 35 km of 1853, and over 13,000 trains run every day, ferrying millions of passengers and thousands of tonnes of freight, round the clock.

During the process of this stupendous growth into a modern high tech railway system, the IR has passed through many phases, and crossed several bridges. The IR has a rich and memorable history, a history worth recording, a history we ought to be proud of.

With the onslaught of modern technology, and innovation, a reliable and time honoured system has given way to marvels of technological innovation. Computerization is the order of the day. A vast majority of the people are not even concerned about the beauty and charm of the old. It was with this in mind that the idea of setting up a Rail Transport Museum was conceived: to preserve the absorbing and colorful past and record the evolution of the modern IR system we see today.

FROM DREAMS TO REALITY:

The idea of preserving some of the old and past relics of railway rolling stock was proposed by the late Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as early as 1953. He made this statement while inaugurating the Railway Centennary Celebrations in India in 1953. The book 'Indian Railways, 100 years: 1853-1953' was also released at the same time.

However, the idea took the form of a proposal to build a railway museum only in 1962, after nearly ten long years. Concrete proposals for the project were conceived in 1970, and the foundation stone for a railway museum was formally laid in the upmarket Chanakyapuri area in Delhi on October 7, 1971 by the then President of India, Mr. V.V.Giri.

The country's first Rail Transport Museum was formally inagurated on February 1, 1977 by the then Railway Minister Mr. Kamlapati Tripathi.

The Rail Transport Museum was later re-named as the National Rail Museum, and the rest of the pages of this website will refer to the museum as the National Rail Museum.

The first of its kind in the country, the National Rail Museum covers a land area of over 10 acres, along with 15,000 sq. ft. for  an elegantly designed octagonal building, housing six indoor display galleries . The 10 acres land space hosts a large, open outdoor display area, laid out to simulate the atmosphere of a railway yard.

Click on the hyperlinks above to visit the indoor and outdoor galleries respectively, or go to the site naviagtor at the bottom of this page after you have read the contents of this page. Hit the 'back' button on your browser to return to this page.

The 15,000 sq. ft. of the indoor  galleries of the National Rail Museum are devoted to the display of various small exhibits like models, photographs, coat of arms, documents, charts and items of railway operations like signals, token instruments and the like. The development of rolling stock, operational aspects, signalling and telecommunication, architecture is depicted in a lucid and pictorial manner.

The outdoor galleries on the other hand are used to display the heavier real life exhibits. Lines of various gauges have been laid out, with multi-gauge points to facilitate movement. The outdoor yard displays some of the most exquisite speciments of railway rolling stock ever seen on the Indian sub-continent.

The displays, both in the indoor galleries and outdoor yard, give a good sampling of the history of the Indian Railways. Seasoned railway enthusiasts and  research students alike can travel through several era and capture several time zones  at one place. The museum also houses a library for use by the more serious enthusiasts. (NOTE: Library is available  by prior arrangement only. Ref. location and general info. page for details of address etc.)

Seeing is believing. This   website only gives a brief idea about the inmates of the National Rail Museum, Delhi: the engines and cars on display there.But visiting the museum and actually seeing the exhibits 'in flesh' is a different kettle of fish altogether: its an altogether different and sublime experience. You know what I mean.

The NRM is the first railway museum in the country. It was supposed to be a fore-runner for the opening of several regional rail museums, spread out all over the country. A Regional Rail Museum opened in Mysore as a result of this plan.

Although no more regional museums have come up after the Mysore museum, there are plans to put up more three more  rail museums at Madras (Chennai), Chandigarh and Varanasi (Benares). The NRM Delhi has now reached saturation point with no more space of scope for expansion. Hopefully the three new museums will open new vistas, and aid those far away from Delhi to still appreciate their railway heritage.

The National Rail Museum is also supposed to be part of a master plan to convert it into a National Transportation Museum, with participation from other ministries as well. However, this has not materialized yet.

Grandoise plans for expanding the present NRM were also chalked out, with about 16,000 sq.ft. of additional covered area proposed. The breakup of this 16,000 sq. ft. was to be: additional indoor display area (4,000 sq.ft.); special exhibition area (4,000 sq.ft.); lecture room/auditorium (4,000 sq.ft) and storage area for indoor exhibits (4,000 sq. ft). Whether all this will really materialize is not known, but a lecture room was definitely scheduled to open in Nov. 1999.

The Railway Museum outdoor display area and other transport display area were to be connected by means of a turntable, and one of 1917 vintage was acquired for the purpose. However, with the participation of other ministries still a far cry, the turntable has now been incorporated in the outdoor display area itself.

The NRM continues to innovate and make improvements. The indoor galleries have recently (1998) been airconditioned. A multimedia kiosk has been added, so also sections for the handicapped, and the blind. Working models of several foreign locomotives have also been added to the indoor display area. A diorama of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is proposed to be added shortly. (2000).

The National Rail Museum has also joined the select group of rail museums worldwide that operate heritage steam trains, when it pulled out the Fairy Queen locomotive from her display and put her back in steam. The engine has now earned her a place in the Guiness Book of World Records, and runs regular excursions on weekends between October and February every year. Refer to the Fairy Queen page for details.

So then, go ahead, enjoy yourself at the NRM Delhi. We, the creators of this webpage, sincerely hope you will find the museum of great interest to you, and look forward to welcoming you back, again, and again and again.

Best wishes from Harsh Vardhan and S.Shankar

INDIAN RAILWAY HISTORY LINKS:

For a brief history of the Indian Railways, click here:

http://www.bigfoot.com/~irfca-faq/faq-hist.html

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Also take a look at this page from the official IR site, which outlines  the history of the IR, though not in that much detail:

http://www.indianrailway.com/railway/history.html

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For a brief history of the erstwhile Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) over which the first official train in India ran on its trailblazing trip on 16 April 1853, click here:

http://www.cr-mumbai.com/gloriouspast/index.html

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