158-year Old Steam Locomotive EIR21 on a Heritage Run Thursday Aug 15,2013

The 158-year-old bedecked locomotive fitted with a coach painted in tri-colour huffed and puffed its way from Platform 4 of Chennai Egmore at 11.15 a.m. for a 10-km journey to Guindy reminiscent of the era of the Industrial Revolution

The locomotive averaged a speed of about 32 kilometres per hour though in previous runs it has clocked 41 kph.

The heritage run had a 15-minute stoppage scheduled at Kodambakkam where a large crowd had gathered

The Loco Works in Perambur which is the EIR 21’s custodian for the past several years has been taking great care to keep the locomotive track-worthy


Note
The EIR 21 belongs to the fabled stock of the Kitson Thompson and Hewitson Leeds in the London. The loco was shipped to India in 1855 and was soon pressed into service on the erstwhile East Indian Railway

The loco was shipped to India in 1855 and was soon pressed into service on the erstwhile East Indian Railway

 By the beginning of the 20 century, it had become a museum piece and in 1909, the steam locomotive was put on display at Jamalpur and Howrah