Address: ICF Furnishing Division, New Avadi Road, Villivakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600038
Hours: Monday Closed , Tuesday - Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM
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Visited on December 7th,2016.
Nearest Railway Station : Villivakam Railway Station.
Travelers Note: Auto Rickshaw Drivers Charge Rs 50-60 which is overcharge. Since the Museum is walk able distance (if you take a straight Walk from Chennai Beach End ie you walk straight through narrow lanes),The Amount can be neglected if elder or small child is travelling.
OverView : The Chennai Rail Museum is a railway museum in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, which has a rich rail heritage of India. The museum was opened on the 16 April 2002 on the premises of the Furnishing Division of Integral Coach Factory near Villivakkam. It is located in over 6.25 acres of land with the host of both technical and heritage exhibits with a sizable collection of steam engines belonging to various decades of the British Raj. The museum also exhibits various vintage coaches such as Ooty trains endemic to the Indian railways. Most of the older models were manufactured by the North British Locomotive Company and some of the collection dates back more than one hundred years as it covers the railway history of South India. A toy train offers rides around the premises on regular days. Museum remains open from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm (Last entry 5.30 pm) Tuesday to Sunday and remains closed on every Monday and National Holidays. The Indoor Art Gallery is now fully renovated and opened to the public.The museum is administered, managed and maintained by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.
The museum covers an area of 6.5 acres and has two galleries, a host of outdoor heritage exhibits dating from the 1800s, a toy train that takes visitors around the premises, and a playground.
The museum's collection includes both indoor and outdoor exhibits. The indoor galleries include various photographs detailing the early years of Integral Coach Factory and the Indian Railways. The museum also houses a working scale model of trains and rare artifacts from the colonial days. This will be where new exhibits, planned for the museum's second decade, will be located. There is also an opportunity to view a video about Neal's ball token system, which was used for signalling between trains and a coach in which Gandhi travelled.
In the museum's outdoor spaces, there are more than 40 different models of trains. An 1895 model of the Fowler steam ploughing engine made by Sir John Fowler for agricultural purposes and 1860s Double Decker coaches are some of the recognizable coaches displayed in the museum. The models also include Coaches of Inspection car RA 30 made by Metropolitan Carriage and Finance Co. Ltd., Crane Hercules (used for emergency relief) and luxury trains coaches. Almost all coaches in the museum are accessible to visitors.
The exhibits are interspersed with posters of high-speed trains from around the world, the history of the Indian Railways and models of coaches made for other countries, namely, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Vietnam and Zambia. The exhibits also include a coach from the Mumbai suburban train network, old railways map of India, century-old clocks, and engine block of diesel locomotives.
As outdoor exhibits, life size models of Nilgiri Mountain Railway coach, GM Inspection car, MG EMU, Hospital van, a hand operated crane, an overhead equipment car, Meter gauge EMU, different types of engine (Steam, Diesel and flower stream plough engine) etc.. are available.
This museum also contains photographs of the visits of various world leaders, royal and distinguished dignitaries to ICF. The three tier running models, apart from providing amusement to the younger ones, will be of informational value for the elders.
The museum has more than 150 photographs which document the evolution of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) as well as the Indian Railways.
Did you ever know that Tambaram Railway Station had once a metregauge turntable on which engines could be turned and put on the right track? Or does anybody have an idea on how seats in the first class compartments of yore used to look like.
One can step into the ICF Diamond Jubilee Gallery at Railway Museum premises to get an idea about those things. The gallery was inaugurated recently by eminent dancer Padma Subrahmanyam and it has photographs shot by Professor Ian Manning and digitally restored by Poochi Venkat of Chennai that show valuable anecdotes of Railway history like the steam engine turntable.
The seat inside the first class compartments, scale model of third class MG coaches designed and manufactured at ICF for Uganda, photographs showing dignitaries like Queen Elizabeth II, K Kamaraj, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru are among the artifacts in this gallery.
After seeing this section, visitors can move to the art gallery where there are about 14 paintings. This gallery was also inaugurated by the famous classical dancer on the same day.
These artworks by eminent artists like M S Murthy, Shahed Pasha revolve around subjects commonly found in Railway stations and related establishments. M S Murthy's painting 'Gandhi' is an attempt to salute the common man and to transfuse the Gandhian philosophy on to the canvas.
Shahed Pasha's artwork 'Kanhaiya's Journey' shows little lad Krishna showing his mother Yashoda the way to home who is herself pulling a suitcase and trying to board Mathura Express at Bangalore Railway Station.
This painting is another attempt to show that god is not restricted to temples alone, but is present everywhere to guide us and show the way.
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