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No stopping this clock
A landmark.
THE TOWER clock at Chennai Central Station gets a new look, thanks to the renovation work done by Southern Railway.
The 125-year old clock, which is of heritage value, is still functioning with high precision, comparable to any modern electronic clock.
When the clock was originally manufactured, the dials on all the four sides had a uniform diameter of 90 inches.
However, the front dial was modified to 146 inches diameter later, and this apparently affected the aesthetic appearance of the clock.
This looked odd as the other face of the clock had a diameter of 90 inches.
The Railway administration, which decided to restore its original grandeur, recently changed the front dial to its original size of 90 inches without changing the length of hour and minute hands. The modification was successfully carried out by employees of the Signal and Telecommunication Department of the Southern Railway.
However, till recently the clock did not chime. Though the administration wanted to restore the ringing, there were no experts to undertake the work. Only recently did it manage to employ professional clock repairers who succeeded in restoring the chime.
It may be interesting to note that the clock was manufactured in the year 1874 by Gillette and Bland, Steam Clock Factory Manufacturers, Croydon, London.
The length of the hour hand is 23 inches and that of the minute hand is 41 inches while the size of the figures is 12 inches, each. These hands are made of copper plates and power coated.
Vydhianathan S
Photo: V. Ganesan
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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