What goes into running a train: The locomotives

A train comprises of vehicles that moves on the track. Collectively, all these vehicles are referred to as “rolling stock”.

Rolling stock has two primary components – a powered vehicle that pulls (or pushes) the train, and other vehicles that have no power of their own but are normally pulled by the powered vehicle. This powered vehicle is called a locomotive (loco, in short).

Many non-railway persons refer to the locomotive as the “engine”, but the correct nomenclature is locomotive. The earliest locos were powered by steam, later followed by electricity and finally, by diesel fuel.

Before powered locomotives became standard for all Railways, rail transportation already existed using animal power for movement. Both, horses and cattle were widely used.

The Gaekwad State Railway, around Vadodara, used oxen on the mainline in the 1860s, before steam locomotives were introduced.

Most of these early Railways were in mines or from the mine to the nearest road or waterway.

In India, barring some electrification around Bombay (now Mumbai) and a short stretch from Madras (now Chennai), all trains were hauled by steam locos.

Above: Technicians of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway 'warp up' a steam engine.

Of the 164 years since the Railways have been in existence in India, the locos chugged along with steam power for about 75% of the time.

Apart from the boiler, the steam loco had a tender at its rear. The tender was the place where the water is stored and the coal that the loco needed.

Between the tender and the boiler there is an area where the driver and the fireman did their work. This area is normally referred to as the footplate.

The reciprocating movement of the piston was transferred to the wheels through a connecting rod.

Diesel and electric locos made inroads only in the latter half of the 1950s, and it was only in 1995 that the last Broad Gauge steam locomotive was removed from service. Meter Gauge steam on the main lines disappeared in 1998.

With fire in its belly, the steam loco was like a living being and had a romance of its own that the new locos just cannot match.

The needs of the day made the steam loco obsolete. Barring a few that are still breathing fire and smoke, you now see them only on pedestals in museums or in front of Railway stations and other rail establishments.

However, a recent annoucement made on 15th September 2018 by the Chairman of the Railway Board of India, Sh.Ashwani Lohani, will give many steam enthusiasts a reason to rejoice. After being off the rails for nearly 25 years, the steam will make a comeback for running a weekly, time-tabled service between Farukh Nagar and Gadi Hasaru, in Haryana.

The locomotive chosen to run this service for now is WP 7200, or Azad, as it was aptly named for it was brought to India from the US in 1947, the year of India's Independence.

Azad has been maintained and renovated at the Rewari Heritage Steam Loco Shed, which is the last remaining steam shed of India.

The decision has been met with great enthusiasm by the locals as well as the rail enthusiasts for whom this has brought a piece of history back into their lives.