A royal visit to Chennai recently went unnoticed. Those who got a chance to see the royal guest were unanimous in their comment that “She came, she saw and she conquered ”.
The visiting royalty was none other than The Fairy Queen, world’s oldest steam locomotive which continues to ferry the privileged sections in the society across India’s places of cultural, tourist and heritage importance. Named EIR 22 (East India Railway 22), this steam locomotive, rated as “the princess” among her counterparts, was “born” in 1855 in Kitson and Company, the Leeds based loco manufacturing giants and was shipped to India in the same year.
She has been a mute spectator to the uprisings in India against the British colonial masters and even witnessed the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. The Fairy Queen has even transported some of the prominent White Sahibs from their colonial headquarters in Kolkata and New Delhi to various places in the country.
Though she was superannuated many times in the past and was kept as museum piece, the Railway authorities could smell the vast commercial potential offered by her and the Queen was called back from retirement to haul the exclusive in two opulent and magnificent compartments.
Aditi Saini, the young works manager at Perambur Loco Works in Chennai, could not hide her thrill and excitement over the care which was given to EIR 22 which reached Chennai in the first week of August. “She was brought here for the periodic over hauling which we describe as POH. This is done once in every four years,” said Aditi, a mechanical engineer, who loves steam locomotives. According to Aditi, the POH was like the periodic servicing of the scooties we own
Aditi also disclosed that while she and her team of engineers and technicians enjoyed each and every moment of work, it was not as simple as that. “There are no engineering drawings as well as spare parts available in the market because steam locomotives belong to a different era. We had to make the drawings of each components and get it done exclusively for this unique machine,” she said.
The Queen is set to chug out to Rewari in north India on Monday where she will be ferrying two air conditioned compartments full of elite class of passengers in the Delhi Cantt-Rewari stretch. About the quality of the engine, this young engineer was all gung-ho. “She is great and so simple to operate,” said Aditi.
The engine is not ball alone in this world. She has a twin sister, named EIR 21, alive and kicking in Madurai –Puducherry stretch of the Southern Railway. “Both the engines are in superb form and we can ply it for select passengers in small stretches. Don’t you know that coal has become expensive?” asked Aditi.
Arun Devaraj, manager, PLW, who supervised the entire POH, explained the kind of works executed by his engineers. “We attended to the leakages in the boiler of the engine. The axle boxes (the moving parts in the loco) were made friction-free. The engine’s driving wheel has a diameter of 1.8 metrers and the spokes had to be casted with iron. We also changed the pipeline that supplies lubricating oil to the cylinder,” said Devaraj.
