Steam locomotive displayed at Ashokapuram Railway Workshop in Mysuru will roar to live with simulated smoke and noise.
| Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram
A static steam locomotive on display in front of the Ashokapuram Railway Workshop will billow “smoke”, blow whistle, and recreate the chugging sound to transport the onlookers to a bygone era.
As part of Independence Day, the workshop authorities fitted the steam loco with a few electronically controlled equipment that simulated smoke apart from whistling and creating the puffing noise associated with steam locomotives.
B. Anjaneyalu, Deputy Chief Workshop Manager, said the simulation of the steam or smoke and the noise will be remote-controlled and is timed to function thrice an hour. The simulated smoke is akin to what is used for effects on stages during dance and music programmes and was tried out on Thursday to mark Independence Day, he added.
Senior section engineer Basavalingappa said the project was taken up under the initiative of Chief Workshop Manager O.P. Shaw, and for the time being the simulation of smoke and chugging noise will be restricted to Sundays and special occasions or public holidays.
The objective was to let the people “get a feel” of what steam locomotive was all about rather than viewing a static museum piece, according to those involved in the project.
The steam locomotive was procured by the then Mysore State Railway from London in 1926 at a cost of ₹1.65 lakh. It could carry 4.5 tonnes of coal and carry 5490 litres of water and was in service till 1983. During its long stint, the locomotive plied on the Mysuru – Bengaluru section and Bengaluru-Bangarpet section transporting millions of passengers over nearly six decades of service before it was retired. Post-retirement it was stationed inside the workshop and exhibited near the entrance.
