Thursday 21 June 2012

Romancing the Black Beauties


Indian RailwayThe railways have held some kind of romantic notion to them ever since they came into being. Perhaps it has got to do with the vast landscape one could observe passing by from the window of a railway coach, the rails leading into the horizon, The rhythm of wheels passing over rails over many a vacation journey to visit grandparents or make annual trip home from the boarding school, the romantic notion of being closeted with one’s sweetheart in a rail coupe over a journey to no where in particular, or taking the Trans Siberian rail. A lot of these notions also visualize a classic railway engine running on steam and coal with its plume of smoke and rhythm of ‘Chuk Chuk’. This indeed inspired many a songs, nursery rhymes, lullabies and childhood games. Romancing these beautiful engines or Black Beauties is the toil of many a rail engineers.
Steam EngineWhile with the advent of modern locos, diesel engines, electric trains and metros, the journey has become more efficient; the romance of rail is firmly anchored in the past with the steam engine. As steam engines have almost all retired from active service, the efforts by Indian railways (after their classic success with rail museum in Delhi) to revive the steam loco shed in ‘Rewari’ are laudable. The shed is impressive and efforts at restoration praiseworthy as can be seen form the following  link from Times of India. Rewari makes for an interesting day trip out of Delhi and takes you through the country abounding in ‘Neel Gais’ or blue buffaloes. The town also has some interesting ‘havelis’ from the past. This is a trip all Rail aficionados will enjoy. Contact us, at The Other Home, if the imagination takes you to explore the trail.

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