Mysore Rail Museum

Monday, August 29, 2011

This was my first visit to a Rail Museum and The Mysore Rail Museum left me totally amused.

Located on the Krisharaja Sagar Road , very close to the Mysore Railway station, the museum, which was built in 1979, has a very good collection of engines and locos. These look new to this day as they are very well maintained.

The museum can be visited everyday from 930 hrs to 1830 hrs except on Monday as it is closed for maintenance purposes. 

Inspection Car

The Inspection Car is very beautifully done on the inside and has a kitchen, bedroom and attendant room. Pretty impressive! 

Steam Pump

Most of the engines here were built in the 19th century and were brought to Mysore for the use of the Royal Family. What caught my eye were the Steam Pump and the Austin Car.

The Steam Pump was built in 1932 by Merry Weather Company. It used to boil water by using the steam generated by the copper boiler. It was used for irrigation purposes and also at the time of fires.

Austin Car

The Austin Car looks very impressive to this day. This car was brought as scrap and then converted to a railcar and used for inspection purposes way back in 1925.

Travelling Crane

Also on display is a Traveling Crane built in 1885 in England. This crane could take a 360-degree turn and was used to load and unload wagons with cargo. Used in the case of accidents as well, it is still in working condition.

Maharani Saloon

The most impressive sight is that of the Mysore Maharani’s Saloon which was made in 1899. This loco comes equipped with an ornate balcony, bedroom, western commode, kitchen and dining unit. This train could run on both broad gauge and meter gauge.

There is a small museum on the premises which has miniature models of engines, wagons, railways bridges, rail lanterns used for signal purposes and other railway equipment in use in those days. This museum is truly worth visiting on a trip to Mysore.

Another Rail museum visited by me is the Western Railway Heritage Gallery.