The world's oldest steam engine Fairy Queen is present in India. After completing its final journey from Delhi Cantt to Rewari, the engine is now a tourist attraction at Rewari Loco Shed.
Learn the story of Fairy Queen, the world's oldest steam engine
The engines which pull the train are the center of attraction during the train journey. With the changing times, the appearance of old engines is also changing, but do you know that the world's oldest steam-powered rail engine Fairy Queen still exists?
This engine had completed its last journey from Delhi to Rewari. Since then it is present in the heritage loco shed of Rewari, where it remains a center of attraction among the people. Today we will tell you about the story of the world's oldest engine through this article.
The locomotive Fairy Queen engine was built in 1855 by Kitson, Thompson, and Hewitson in Leeds, England. After its construction, it reached Kolkata known as Calcutta in India in the same year. On arrival in India, it was given the fleet number "22" by its owner, the East Indian Railway Company. The special thing is that the world's oldest engine did not get a name until 1895.
Initially, the locomotive was used to haul light mail trains between Howrah and Raniganj in West Bengal. At the same time, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, army vehicles were pulled by it. Later it was handed over for line construction work in Bihar. This engine was declared damaged in 1905. At that time, foreign engineers had tried to make this engine seven times. Later in 1971, it was established as a model railway at Chandausi Zonal Training School.
When the engine was back on track from the rail museum
This engine from Chandausi Zonal Training School was preserved in the Indian Railway Museum at Chanakyapuri, Delhi. This museum was opened on February 1, 1977, after which people reached to see this engine. However, this engine was yet to complete the journey ahead from here.
This was the reason that once again in the year 1997, it came down on the tracks from July 18 for commercial activities. In 1998, a year after it was put back on track, the engine was certified by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest steam locomotive in regular operation. The following year, the Fairy Queen train received the National Tourism Award for Most Innovative and Unique Tourism Project from the then Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In 2011, the wheels stopped again due to a boiler explosion
During its journey in the year 2011, the wheels of this engine stopped once again due to the explosion of its boiler. It was difficult to get back on track after a boiler explosion, but railway engineers prepared a new boiler at Trichurapalli, followed by a boiler replacement at Shakur Basti and the repair of other engine parts. Earlier the speed of this engine used to be 10 km per hour. Later it was increased to 90 kmph.
The steam engine has also traveled between Delhi to Alwar
The heritage train with the Fairy Queen engine was brought back on track in 2004 with the efforts of the Rajasthan government. This train, which gives a feel of the royal style of Rajasthan, used to run between Delhi and Alwar. It used to run from Delhi to Alwar on Saturdays and from Alwar to Delhi on Sundays. Travelers used to get a chance to see Bala Fort, Silisedh Lake, Sariska National Park, etc. with the help of the Rajasthan Tourism Department.
