HERITAGE SPECIAL RUN OF WORLD’S OLDEST WORKING LOCOMOTIVE CONDUCTED

Heritage Special Service EIR-21, world’s oldest working Steam Locomotive Chennai Egmore to Kodambakkam

HERITAGE SPECIAL RUN OF WORLD’S OLDEST WORKING LOCOMOTIVE CONDUCTED

To commemorate the 73rd Independence Day Celebrations , a Heritage Special Service hauled by EIR-21, world’s oldest working Steam Locomotive was successfully operated from Chennai Egmore to Kodambakkam today, the 15th August, 2019. The heritage special with a single coach with Railway Officials left Chennai Egmore around Noon on 15th August 2019 to reach Kodambakkam 15 minutes later.

Shri P.K.Mishra, Addl General Manager, Southern Railway, Principal heads of departments, Shri P.Mahesh, Divisional Railway Manager, and other senior Railway officials travelled on the brief heritage run. Many Rail and steam enthusiasts turned up at Chennai Egmore and Kodambakkam Railway Stations to see the Heritage Special.

These Steam heritage runs are operated to showcase the heritage value of Indian Railways. So, far, nine such Heritage runs have been organized by Southern Railway in Chennai Division. Heritage special runs were also conducted in Salem, Tiruchchirappalli, Madurai and Thiruvananthapuram Divisions in the past few months.

In Chennai, the Heritage Runs conducted so far are :-

1st Heritage Run – Chennai Central to Avadi on 15th August, 2010.

2nd Heritage Run – Chennai Egmore to Guindy on 15th August, 2011.

3rd Heritage Run – Chennai Egmore to Guindy on 26th January, 2012.

4th Heritage Run – In commemoration of the 157th Anniversary from Chennai Central to Perambur on 06th February, 2012.

5th Heritage Run – Chennai Egmore to Guindy on 26th January, 2013.

6th Heritage Run – Chennai Egmore to Kodambakkam on 10th September 2017

7th Heritage Run – Chennai Egmore to Kodambakkam on 26th January 2018

8th Heritage Run – Chennai Egmore to Kodambakkam on 27th May, 2018

9th Heritage Run – Chennai Egmore to Kodambakkam today, 15th August, 2019

World’s Oldest Working Locomotive, the Express EIR 21, which is similar to Fairy Queen in appearance, is 164 years old. The locomotive was originally shipped to India from England in 1855. After withdrawal from service in 1909, this loco was kept as an exhibit at Jamalpur Workshops and Howrah Station for over 101 years. During this period this loco was in the sun and rain; many parts were corroded, some were missing, some were broken and some were not fit for use. Loco Works, Perambur took the challenge of reviving the presently 164 year old steam loco ‘EXPRESS EIR 21’ in the year 2010 and Heritage Runs have been made on this World’s Oldest Working Steam Locomotive.