Prabhu to inaugurate first AC locomotive at Rail Museum today

The Union minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu will inaugurate the display of the first air-conditioned locomotive at the Regional Railway Museum in Howrah on Friday. 

For the convenience of visitors, the visiting hours of the Regional Railway Museum has been revised from January 8. As per new timings, the museum will now remain open from 10.30 am to 5.30 pm, instead of present timing from 1pm to 8pm. The museum will remain closed on Thursday as usual.

The first AC electric locomotive which dates back to November, 1960 will be on display. 

On November 25, 1960, it hauled a special train for the congress of ECAFE (Economic Commission for Asia and Far-East) from Asansol to Pathardih via Pradhankhunta. 

The locomotive hauled various prestigious trains of Eastern Railway including Howrah-Delhi Kalka Mail, Coal Field Express, Black Diamond Express and Deluxe Express (rechristened as Poorva Express) on the Howrah-Asansol-Dhanbad-Mughalsarai route. 

That locomotive also hauled freight trains. It covered a total of 38,75,000 km till the end of its service life on October 22, 1997.

Now, it has become a heritage locomotive to be housed in Regional Rail Museum, Howrah. 

It may be mentioned that the Regional Rail Museum, Howrah displays history of East Indian Railway, Howrah station, Eastern Railway and Railways in Eastern India as a whole. 

The 150- year-old steam engines, carriages, salon cars are preserved at the museum to assess the gradual evolution leading to progress in different fields of railway activities. Century-old drawings, forms, documents, fascinating collection of philately are also preserved to demonstrate the rich heritage of Railways.