Buy Ticket digitally for Chennai Rail Museum

#offbeat, #chennairailmuseum

Read this links to savour the sights awaiting at Chennai Rail Museum

http://www.icf.indianrailways.gov.in/ticker/1471847143340RRM_PRESS_RELEASE.pdf

http://www.icf.indianrailways.gov.in/works/uploads/files/rrm_new/index.html

As far as many tourists and people in the city go, the rail museum still remains a hidden gem.

          One of the hidden gems in IRCTC booking site is the Ticket to Chennai Rail Museum.  

          As is the norm, the ticket charges can be paid through digital transactions channel i.e Net Banking, Wallets etc.

          Indian Railways have built the massive railway network in our country over a period of 150 years. Every year, Indian Railways have contributed immensely to our country’s landscape.

          In this journey, the buildings, bridges, coaches, locomotives, wagons and other artefacts of the yester years are a testimony for the entrepreneurship, skills and innovativeness of the railway men.

To preserve the pioneering efforts of Railway men, museums are the best medium. In this regard, Regional Rail Museum, Chennai was opened by the then Railway  Minister Shri.Nitish Kumar on 31.03.2002.

The Regional Rail Museum is located at North West side of ICF furnishing division and adjacent to new avadi road at an area of 6.25 acres in a serene ambience.

At the centre, it has a built up area of 360 sq.metres having many heritage exhibits, information about rail heritage, audio visual show and photo gallery.

Regional Rail Museum, Chennai or Chennai Railway Museum over the years has enthralled thousands of visitors with its objet d'art’s .

Chennai Rail museum separated into four units first you will be taken to a hall showcased with train equipment, engine motors, train accessories and you are taken to a park and watch all standing trains, old aged trains, mountain trains, rescue trains and again to a hall with a model of all old age trains packed in a mirror glass with a working model of trains

Do you love travelling? Travelling in any mode. Then a visit to the Chennai Railway Museum, Chennai, is a must.

The 10-km-long New Avadi Road houses Chennai Railway Museum, one of the five regional museums in the country.

The Museum offers a lot on History, development, past and present. You will have to enter a traincoach that serves as the ticket counter to buy your entry ticket and once you get off on the other side a road takes you to the first room.

          Alternatively, one can buy the ticket online at Railtourism website

What can you except at the Chennai Rail Museum?

Different scale models of coaches, bogies, tracks, types of trains and write ups loaded with the rich historical data will welcome you. The earliest railway Coach was a rectangular wooden open box affixed to wheels with benches (rough wooden boards without backs) laid out horizontally for seating passengers.

The passengers sat exposed to the sun, the wintry breeze, rain and storm. The coaches were connected by a primitive system of loose couplers, which gave the passengers many jolts whenever the brakes were applied or the train accelerated.

On passing the older models you will notice the gradual development of the coaches.

Don’t miss the train on which Gandhiji travelled, one can see all the different types of classes. The First class not only looked luxurious it also offered a range of services. The second and the third classes, however, managed to accommodate the lesser mortals who could not afford the luxury.

After the passing the “Cheap Trains Act” of 1844 in Britain which provided penny-a-mile fare, the railway coaches built had to necessarily allow free admission of light and air, protection against wind, rain and cold. Provision of lamps for night journeys and seats with backs, windows for looking-out and doors in sufficient numbers were to be included.

But later this was amended as coaches were to have roofs and doors. This gave way to the modern coaches which included individual berths.

Visually Yours

An audio video on the Neal’s ball token system will demonstrate how the signalling system operated before the automated version came into being. At a time when trains ran on one single track A steel ball was used to connect the stations and send messages of entry or exit. On entering a station the guard would throw a ball with a particular number which the engine driver will pick up using a huge net. The numbered ball will then be thrown out at the next station. Once the station master got the ball he would have to push it in machine to lock it signalling a no entry point for any train.

This concept is still prevalent in the Ooty Mettupalayam single line entry section.

Live exhibits

You will get to see the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, GM salon, MG EMU, Hospital van, a hand operated crane, an over head equipment car, Meter gauge EMU, different types engine (Steam, Diesel and Flower stream plough engine), The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Narrow gauge coaches and the gauge coaches. You can get in and see the entire coach.

On its 14^th anniversary, Chennai Rail Museum added new art galleries. Eminent dancer Padma Subrahmanyam on Sunday evening inaugurated the new art galleries at the Chennai Rail Museum, Integral Coach Factory in Perambur, a press release stated.

The 14-year-old museum has now been expanded with a new art, rail heritage and

 diamond jubilee galleries.

The attractions in the museum include steam engines, a joy ride train, a children’s park, a souvenir shop and a photo gallery.

How to reach Regional Railway Museum?

Regional Railway Museum is located in Lakshmipuram. Once you book a cab head towards the Integral Coach Factory (ICF). When you reach the Furnishing Road, you will easily locate your destination. So travel safely and have a great time in Chennai.

ICF (Integral Coach Factory), which manages the rail museum has officially announced that it would be renamed as ‘Chennai Rail Museum’ on Monday when Chennaiites would be celebrating ‘Madras Day’ in commemoration of the founding day of the city on August 22, 1639.

ICF has many rare artefacts that are testament to the evolution of Indian Railways, particularly its southern zone.

Of particular interest would be the steam, diesel and fowler steam plough engines on display outside the museum, which demonstrate the seismic shift in the hauling capacity of the trains over years.

And if you are one of those unlucky ones in the state capital to have not witnessed a heritage Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) train chugging through the narrow caves of mist covered western ghats only on screen, the museum might help you catch a glimpse of a life size model of a NMR coach.

Various plans are afoot to make it more interesting for regular visitors and to have more people visiting Chennai Railway Museum.

As the Chennai Rail Museum completes 14 years this month, those who have visited the facility say the place can do a lot more to keep up interest levels among visitors as well as to draw new people.

“There must be some takeaway for every visitor,” says Arun Devraj, who took charge as its curator in February.

Spread over a 6.5-acre campus, the museum houses a fascinating collection of items. It has two galleries, a number of outdoor exhibits, a toy train and vast outdoor space.

Recently, coach models, which were above the eyeline for children, were kept at the ground level. “Many would like to touch the exhibits and we are open to that,” says Devraj.

Around 50 per cent of the items on display now have captions in English and Tamil.

“We are working on making a visit to the museum more interesting. We encourage teams to take a guided tour in which they the functioning of models is explained to them,” he says, adding that more documentation needs to be done.

Some working professionals feel if the museum is kept open for a longer duration on weekends, it will encourage more people to visit it.

It is also planning to introduce a monthly concept whereby a new exhibit is displayed for the period.