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Young World
Guarding history
SUBHA J RAO
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If you want to see an interesting collection of railway signalling gadgets, then head to the Heritage Gallery of Signal and Telecommunication, Podanur in Tamil Nadu.
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Many of the instruments displayed at the heritage gallery are now redundant, but retain their quaint charm.
Photo: K. Ananthan
Rail magic: Imstruments of yesteryear.
As children, we looked at every movement of the train with awe. It seemed like magic when smoke curled out of the engine, the whistle shrilled, and the train chugged. But, it was not quite magic. Because, a lot of work went on behind the scenes to ensure that trains moved safely. This involved many people and departments, aided by instruments that keep time, delay a train, give a signal… the works.
Many of these instruments are now redundant, but retain a quaint charm. More than a hundred such ‘retired’ signal and telecommunication (S and T) equipment used in Southern Railways find a place in the heritage gallery at Podanur near Coimbatore.
Interesting exhibits
Some of them are complicated; others look insignificant, but capable. What would happen if a train is chugging out of a station without permission, or due to some unforeseen circumstance (the driver takes ill or collapses at the wheel)? To stop it from endangering another train on the same or nearby track, a system (Haye’s Derailer) derails the errant train gently, so as to avoid casualties. Thankfully, there has been very little reason to use this system or its successors.
Another interesting exhibit is a master clock that used to be synchronised with all the other clocks in the workshop or a big station, to ensure they were ticking right. A couple of working miniatures made by a former employee are also on display. The oldest display dates back to 1931.
Some of the other interesting displays include Announciator (a magneto telephone machine where flaps fall off slots to indicate who called the station), a banner-type repeater (repeats signals in places where there are lots of bends), and Double Heppers Key Transmitter (the latter invented by Major Hepper, a British signal engineer working in India). This replaced the system of a gate keeper manually handing over keys to the nearest station after locking the gates at a level crossing.
Though meant to train signal engineers, colleges and school can organise trips to the gallery.
For details contact: Mr. Karoth at 0422-2412472 or write to him at S and T Training Centre, South Railways, Podanur - 641023.
The beginning
The idea for setting up such a gallery came about when Shanker V (presently GM, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works) was Chief S and T Engineer, Chennai, during 2003-05. “Signalling keeps changing every 25 years; there are so many advances. I wanted people to know how it has evolved. Some gadgets are unique to some stations. They should be preserved,” he says.
The gallery was set up by Ramanathan Karoth, Principal of the S and T Training Centre, in 2004 in a heritage building that was the erstwhile hostel and warden’s house.
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