Indian Locomotives : DKPA presents the story of Indian Railway Locomotives through Indian Postage Stamps

indian locomotives

KP Achar Editor Ind Dak

South Eastern Railway celebrated its Centenary on 28th March 1987 and a set of four stamps were issued. The Bengal - Nagpur Railway Co, a company formed in London, took over the meter gauge Nandgaon-Nagpur line on 9 Match 1887. After Independence, the Bengal - Nagpur Railway was merged with the then East India Railway and one Zonal Railway unit was founded and renamed as South Eastern Railway (SER).

SER 56 connects Calcutta with Bombay and Madras and the railway system traverses six States. 150P stamp depicts an early meter gauge steam engine 0-6-4T No.691. 400P stamp features the early broad gauge 2-8.2 steam engine of 1890.

The National Rail Museum was set up by the Indian Railways in 1971. The Museum displays, both in the indoor gallery and the open yard, a good sampling of the history of Indian Railways. It provides an excellent opportunity to research students, railway enthusiasts, philatelists and educational establishments to cover the whole era at one place. In connection with the Silver Jubilee of National Rail Museum a commemorative stamp of 500P was issued on 7 October 1996. It depicts the 145 year old steam locomotive the 'Fairy Queen' and another steam locomotive Ramgotty built in 1862. Out of 79 items on display at the Museum as many as 43 are Steam/Diesel locomotives.

On 16 April 1993, India Post issued a set of four stamps on Indian Mountain Railways. The stamps depict the steam locomotives of yester years They are : 1) Matheren Railway Line (100P) the line was constructed in 1907 The gauge of line is 2 ft. The train was hauled earlier by 0-6-OT tank type locomotive built by Orestein and Koppel of Berlin. The steam locomotive "MLR-739" of 1907 is displayed in National Rail Museum.

2) Nilgiri Hill Railway (800P) : Starting from Mettupalayam to reach Ooty. The train takes 4 hours to cover a distance of 52 km. It was constructed between 1885,and 1908. The earlier locomotives were manufactured by Bayer and Peacock Co. of Manchaster. They had a rack and pinion system of holding them on steep gradient. Later Rack and Adhesion 0-8-2(T) types of steam locomotives were supplied by Swiss Locomotive Works between 1940 and 1952. The Nilgiri Coach of 1914 can be seen in the National Rail Museum.

3) Kalka-Shimla Line (1100P) : It was opened to traffic in 1903. The gauge of the track is 2'6". This section has 102 tunnels on 96 km run and ascends from 643m at Kalka to 2042m at Shimla. The steam locomotives were (2-6-4T) tank type built between 1904 to 1935 in Britain (Class Kl, K-2 and K.C. with Walsharet valve gear) and Germany (Class ZF, ZF-1 with caprotti poppet valve).

On 6 May 2000, India Post issued a commemorative stamp on the occasion of the centenary of the Railway in Doon Valley (Details are furnished under India Post). This in short is the story of Indian Locomotives.