Centre comes up to keep track of railway heritage

Want a glimpse of history of Railways and its old world charm? Step into the Railway Heritage Centre and State of Art Library.

Unveiled at East Coast Railway headquarters here, the heritage centre houses a large numbers of old photographs depicting the history of State-owned Railways during different eras __ before Independence, during the old Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) period and East India Railway (EIR) regime.

Various logos and emblems, associated with Railways, photos of steam engines of yore and stations used in different State Railways since the evolution of Railways in India have been kept for viewing.  Now the ECoR is planning to develop this Heritage Centre by exhibiting vintage equipment of signaling system, rich and vibrant history, nostalgic items used in railway stations, retiring rooms, railway institutions, equipment of steam era, furniture and old tickets.  That apart, the library is a repository of information. Books on various subjects, newspapers, magazines, in-house journals, including reference books for children, students and railway employees, have also been kept in the library. It is created to develop the habit of reading among young masses, students in particular.

This library has also been developed with computerised cataloguing of books through a modern Library Management System. At present, over 15,000 books are available and plans are afoot to increase the number to 30,000 in near future.

The Heritage Centre and the library were inaugurated by General Manager of East Coast Railway Indra Ghosh and his wife Ratna Ghosh, also president, East Coast Railway Women’s Welfare Organisation (ECoRWWO). Members of ECoRWWO were present.