mysore rail museumby: S.SHANKAR |
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The Mysore Rail Museum has two small indoor display galleries. A tiny round building with a conical tin roof,called the Chamundi Gallery displays a small collection of paintings, photographs and models. A larger Sriranga Pavillion houses two cars from the Mysore Maharaja's royal train: these are the Maharani's coach (the Maharaja's coach is displayed in the National Rail Museum, Delhi) and the Royal train's Kitchen cum dining car. Here are some details.
An external view of the Chamundi Gallery. The round Chamundi Gallery is supposed to house an interesting collection of paintings and photographs. A series of paintings showing the development of signalling in India is supposed to be particularly noteworthy. Unfortunately, reality is a tad different. The lighting is grossly inadequate, giving the gallery a gloomy and dingy look, with several dark corners. Several photos are no larger than picture postcards. Waterproofing of the building was apparently never a priority, so water seepage has resulted in spoilt and yellowed paintings and photographs, with stained walls.The layout of the display too leaves a lot to be desired. When I visited in 1988, the first train was described as between Bombay and Kalyan (thank goodness they at least got the date right!) and the WP was described as a 'modern locomotive'. I didn't bother much with these this time. The only item I found worth photographing was this painting of the Baby Sivok locomotive from the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. This too is not without inaccuracies.While the caption clearly states the engine as a 0-4-0T, the painting clearly shows a trailing axle, portraying this engine as a 0-4-2T!
The only item worth photographing in the Chamundi Gallery.Note that while the caption describes the engine as a 0-4-0T, the painting depicts a 0-4-2T.
By this time, I was disturbed enough not to try any further photography of the indoor galleries. Hence this substandard scan of the outside of the Sriranga Pavillion from the museum guide of 1980. The facade of this building has in its construction two elegant wooden beams from the old Srirangaptna railway station. The inside of the Sriranga Pavillion is a shade better than the gloomy Chamundi gallery. Apart from the two coaches, the Sriranga Pavillion also has models of: a Theobald block instrument used before 1929 between Dodjala and Devanahalli, a telephone of 1930 used by the Mysore Maharaja, Junker's chloroform inhaler, model of the longest bridge on the Hassan-Mangalore line, a working model of a steam engine, track profiles and hand lamps, among other things. Here is a brief rundown of some of the exhibits in the Sriranga Pavillion. Emphasis has been laid on the two cars of the Royal train.
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