Tamil Nadu   

Restoration time for vintage fire engine

R. Rajaram

NEW INNINGS: The vintage fire tender ready for transportation from the RPF Training Centre in Tiruchi to Secunderabad. — Photo: M. Moorthy

TIRUCHI: An over 75-year old vintage fire engine, preserved as a heritage piece at the Railway Protection Force Training Centre at Khajamalai here, is set to be restored and brought back to "working condition."

The early model fire-fighting vehicle, manufactured by the M/s. Denis Brothers, England, will be sent to the Carriage Workshop at Lallaguda in Secunderabad on Sunday. A team from the workshop is here to oversee the dispatch. After restoration it will return to the training centre.

The 1931 model Self Propelling Unit was sold by the Maharaja of Mysore to the erstwhile Mysore Railways. It was brought to Khajamalai after it was withdrawn from service years ago.

Easy operation

The vehicle was designed as an open type to enable fire fighters to jump out easily and get into action immediately. In-built lockers to store delivery hoses, branch pipes and suction hose have been provided.

Officials said the Railway Board wanted to restore the fire engine on the lines of the fire tender kept at the National Rail Museum in New Delhi, so that it could be operated as a vintage vehicle.

The objective is to enhance its heritage value, Security Commissioner-cum-Principal of the training centre, P.V. Subramanian, told The Hindu . A senior official of the Lallaguda workshop said the vehicle would be dismantled and only old spare parts would be utilised in the engine to retain its heritage value.

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