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Welcome to Rewari Steam Loco Shed which re-opened on the 9th Oct 2010, join us in celebrating the return of the Steam Locomotives. The restoration of this heritage shed from a ruin, lost and forgotten, to its present grand state has been a long process involving timely funding and more than that the dedication, planning and expeditious execution by my Engineers .Rewari Steam Loco shed is now on its way to take its prominent place on the steam map of the world, it has had many visitors, besides steam enthusiasts from India and abroad, who have come to enjoy the steam engines in their full glory. There are many who saw a working Steam Locomotive for the first time in their life. Seeing such huge machines at work is one the most humbling experience in life and perhaps, the most joyous one too. For the old timers, its pure nostalgia of an era gone by, where every child wanted to be an Engine Driver and blow the whistle.
History -
Rewari Steam Loco shed was started in the year 1893 and was under
the jurisdiction of Bombay Baroda and Central India Railways
(BB&CIR), Rewari soon became one of the biggest junctions on the
meter gauge route and the shed too was the largest Meter Gauge loco
shed in India with close to 500 maintenance staff working at its
peak. In the early 1900 the shed primarily homed 'P' class engines.
The Shed's locos worked trains to Delhi, Bhatinda, Churu, Fulera
etc. Though the pre Independence holdings are not known, the shed
had a holding of 65 MG locos between 1980-82. Rewari also had 395
loco drivers on roll making it a major crew depot as well.
The shed had a working span of 100 years and was closed down in the year 1993, by 1994 all but two locos, YG 3415 and YG 3438, were cut up and sold as scrap. The shed was planned to be converted to a MG Diesel Loco shed and from Sept'93 Diesel locos were maintained here, this practice stopped in Aug'96. In 1994 The Royal Orient Express was started and was to be hauled by two steam locomotives on the stretch between Delhi Cantt and Rewari with this, the shed again came to prominence for some time. In 2001 it was planned to convert the shed to a heritage shed. By this time all meter gauge routes to Rewari had been converted to broad gauge and some vintage BG locos were also planned to be homed here, one bay of the shed was converted to Broad gauge for this purpose. In May 2002 WP 7161 became the first loco to come to Rewari Shed followed by WP 7200. On 14th Aug 2002 the then Railway Minister Sh. Nitish Kumar opened the shed, declaring it as the Heritage Steam Shed. Rewari Locos have been a part of several Bollywood period films, Guru, Gandhi- My Father, Rang de Basanti, Gadar are a notable few. The shed has been given a new lease of life with large scale renovation and restoration carried out in 2010, A new cafeteria, a small library and a museum have been added. However, the sprit of the place is intact, with the same shed building dating back to 1893 and majestic black beauties back in action.
The Revival - Vikas Arya, the Sr. Divisional Mechanical Engineer says, "Taking over the charge of Rewari in Feb' 2010, I found to my dismay, that out of the 9 steam locomotives based here, only 2, one BG AWE-22907 and one MG YP-3415, were in some kind of working order, rest of the locos were in a complete state of rust in peace. 2 broad gauge locos, belonging to this shed, WP-7200 and WP-7161 were lying at Kolkata and Siliguri, at nature's mercy. Rewari shed itself was in a state of total neglect, with crumbling walls and leaky roofs, wild vegetation was all over and the spirits of the last 25 men standing guard to the 118 year old locomotive shed and the rich steam heritage of Indian Railways, was on a depressing low.The first task was to give the men a sense of purpose and instil a sense of pride in them, here the infectious zeal of Ashwani Lohani, the steam man of India and DRM/Delhi came handy. Offered a cup of tea on his maiden visit to the shed by the staff in Feb'10, he refused to take it saying- "no one has a cup of tea in a graveyard.. get the locos running and then we have a feast here", the words had the required emotional impact that was needed. On my subsequent visit two days later, a hammer could be heard at a distance. An hour long chat session with the old guys of steam, had them committed to the task that the skies of Rewari will soon see smoke puffing out of loco chimneys and the whistle will be heard once more."
It was an odious task to have the 2 WP
locos, stationed in Eastern India hauled back to Delhi, at 30 Kmph
over a distance of 1490 Kms, the movement order was released by the
board in July' 10 and loco 7200 WP left its rusty confines of Howrah
yard and moved towards Delhi, on way to Rewari. Getting 7161 out of
the cooler confines of Siliguri, farther east of Kolkata was
relatively easier. By now the remaining 2 YG locos had been
reconditioned by my men, by July end 3 out the 4 meter gauge locos
were on steam and the work on WP 7161, that had reached Rewari in
mid July, was on at a brisk pace. Another Loco, WL15005 that had
been involved in a freak accident 3 years earlier, that had
unfortunately killed its driver, had been sealed as a case property
by the police. I filed an application in the honourable court in
Feb'10 stating that the locomotive was a National heritage and the
only such class of locomotive in India and if left unattended, a
priceless piece if history will be lost. To our good fortunes, the
learned judge in the very first hearing could gauge the significance
of the matter and released the stay on the locomotive in April '10.
With this order I was free to bring this lovely machine back to
life.
We had 3 big locos in hand, 25 men and
just days to make them puff. Basic tools were not available, there
were no furnaces, expanders and cutters had to be procured. Working
against all odds our perseverance worked, we had to do it, no matter
what! The majestic WP 7200 was put on steam on the 25th Aug, WP 7161
was 'fired' on the 31st of Aug and WL 15005 was tested on 20th of
Sept. By September end the chimneys of 7 Locos were stamping the
overclouded skies of Rewari with steam and smoke, announcing the
re-birth of Black Beauties to one and all.
Contact Details Section Engineer / Loco, Rewari Steam Loco Shed, Northern Railway, Rewari, Haryana, India.
• Early morning (About 0730 Hrs) you will be picked up from your hotel*
/pickup point** in Delhi to drive to Rewari (Approx 75 Kms / 2 Hrs, 30
Mins from city centre).
STANDARD PACKAGE COST
Prices given above are on per person basis in INR.
DELUXE PACKAGE COST
Prices given above are on per person basis in INR. OUR COST DOES NOT INCLUDES:
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