A visit to the National Rail Museum, New Delhi

[JeremiahBunyan]

On the 23rd and 24th of November I was invited to the National Railway Museum to attend the "Model Railroader's Exhibtion" which was being held alongside the "Indian Steam Railway Society" annual meeting.

 

The purpose of the visit was to gather the finest model builders from India to show off their model making skills. There were a variety of static model builders who used various mediums like paper, card, resin, plastic sheet and so on. I attended to showcase my models as the only model builder who does highly accurate, highly detailed working model trains in HO scale using 3D printing techology.

 

The event was a two day event with the first day being the day of the exhibition and AGM and the second day being a steam excursion from Delhi Cantonment to Rewari Jn. where we went to the Steam Loco Shed, Rewari for lunch and had a chance to get up close and personal with a variety of BG anf MG steam locomotives like the YPs, YGs, WPs and so on. Thanks to the efforts of the Steam Loco Shed, Rewari, many of these locos are now restored to full working condition. We were taken to Rewari Jn. from Delhi Cantonment on a special two coach train made up of refurbished ICF coaches hauled by the "Fairy Queen" which is apparently the oldest working steam locomotive in the world.

 

This thread is to summarize the first day of the event. I was at the museum by about 9:30am and we went about setting up our models and displays with the help of the staff at the NRM. By noon the event had begun and the ISRS members began strolling in for their annual meeting. Throughout the day we were greeted by multiple people and at any given time I had a handful of people around my stall. 3D printed, highly detail and highly accurate models based on Indian Railway trains was not something people have been used to. In the past people have tried all sorts of methods for making Indian Railway models but no one has come close to accuracy, scale and detail. Armed with authorized scale drawings and drawings done by myself I set about on a mission to be the first person in the world to make authentic, working scale model trains from lesser known and lesser modelled countries. Much to my surprise I always had a crowd of eager and enthusiastic modellers around my table with lots of questions.

 

In short it was a spectacular event, being my first there was a huge learning curve involved and lots to keep in mind for the next event. I've added some picture below of the National Rail Museum, New Delhi. I hope you'll enjoy it!!

 

I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Ashwani Lohani (Chairman of Air-India and ex-Chairman of the Railway Board). He's an avid rail enthusiast himself and has done a lot to boost the railways in India in many ways, especially the heritage side of things.

 

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Humble beginnings... My small stall at the National Railway Museum, New Delhi.

 

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I'll be posting about the second day which was the steam excursion with the Fairy Queen in another thread and provide the link below. I'll also link my 3D printing and detailing thread below.

- My Detailing and 3D Printing thread:-

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/my-detailing-and-3d-printing-projects/?p=1

 

- Steam Loco Excursion with the "Fairy Queen to Rewari Jn.:-

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[LCDR]

JB

This is very interesting and pleasing to see that there is genuine interest in India for their railways, both in heritage and in model form. From some of the recent television programmes about Indian Railways I have the impression that rail travel is still an important part of their way of life .

 

There is very little about overseas railways in the public domain in the UK, despite the early influence that British railway practice has had on many countries, both originally as part of the Empire, and as countries outside the Empire but as close trading partners, such as Argentina. 

 

I applaud you for what you are doing to foster scale modelling in India and hope that it continues to gather momentum. Well done!

[RDS]

Very informative post and some great pictures there.

Thank you for sharing.

[JJ73]

Hello Jeremiah  😀

 

Some great photos you have got there  😀 In the 1st photo - I take it that's you with Mr. Ashwani Lohani??? I like the red Phoenix Loco - why has it got such large buffers for a small Loco??? In the 21st Photo down - with the white NWR Loco with the Cow pusher on gront - it looks like an old 1930's / 40's Car which has been converted to the railways maybe!!!

 

JJ

[JeremiahBunyan]

Hello Jeremiah  😀

 

Some great photos you have got there  😀 In the 1st photo - I take it that's you with Mr. Ashwani Lohani??? I like the red Phoenix Loco - why has it got such large buffers for a small Loco??? In the 21st Photo down - with the white NWR Loco with the Cow pusher on gront - it looks like an old 1930's / 40's Car which has been converted to the railways maybe!!!

 

JJ

 

Yes, that's Mr.Lohani having a word with me and inspecting the models I've made.

 

Regarding Phoenix, what do you mean by large? The length of it or the overall size?

 

The NWR based vehicle is a Railbus that used to work on the Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR). Not sure of the date as there's been many variations of them over the last few decades.

[JJ73]

@ J. B. :- The length of the buffers may be - just seems to be sticking out quite far but then just notice that the other buffers on some of the other Locos -seems to be doing the same thing though!!!

Now you said Railbus - now it looks more like a bus than a car now!!!  😉 😆

[NWR-Gordon-4]

Great iamges and information. Both are extremely interesting.  😀

 

GNR-Gordon-4 (HF)

[JeremiahBunyan]

@ J. B. :- The length of the buffers may be - just seems to be sticking out quite far but then just notice that the other buffers on some of the other Locos -seems to be doing the same thing though!!!

Now you said Railbus - now it looks more like a bus than a car now!!!  😉 😆

 

Probably an illusion, the smaller tank locomotives are extremely small, smaller than A1/A1X Terriers also. Therefore the regular sized buffers look oversized.

[JeremiahBunyan]

Great iamges and information. Both are extremely interesting.  😀

 

GNR-Gordon-4 (HF)

 

Thank you....