Title - Get on this train of memories | Deccan Chronicle

A huge brass bell hangs at a wooden stand now, which till 40 years ago, used to sound out the arrival and departure of steam engines trudging in and out of the railway platforms.

Two iron ticket punching and indenting machines are neatly placed on the racks, next to the timed out black dial telephones, which worked as hotlines when the Indian Railways was still grappling with the dated communication systems in the late 60s and early 70s.

The hand signals, which were used to give clearance to the oncoming train by the guards and station masters and the gate signals at level-crossings to indicate whether the gate is open or closed tell a million fascinating stories of the old Indian Railways.

There are loads of memories, some lived, some churned out from nostalgia that now decorate the Rail Gallery at the City Railway Station – a small museum of obsolete machines and systems that have contributed to this interesting collection of memorabilia at the bustling station, which sees an average footfall of a lakh people per day.

The old ticket counters in the lounge, which once were crowded with thousands of people, piling up to buy the tickets are closed with the new online reservations drying up the milling crowds. Now the closed counters and the storage place behind them have been turned into the ‘Rail Gallery’ using the antique pieces from the Railways.

An old ‘Wordley’ clock with the black and white imprint of ‘Indian State Railways’ at the entrance still ticks with accuracy. The old weighing machine of 1890 vintage when maund was used as the measure now stands on a pedestal specially made for it.

A senior Railway official leads you through the small yet interesting gallery and narrates the anecdotes behind each of the ‘artefacts’ like the cash leather chest, which would cart the monetary collection of the railways in the brake vans and the huge steam engines, which were once the pride of the Indian Railways but were timed out by the new speeding electric engines.