Return Of  The Fairy Queen

IN 1857— and that’s a good 140 years ago— the Fairy Queen hauled British troops to Raniganj in the first Indian War of Independence. Today, the Indian Railways is gearing the 1855-built steam locomotive to cart $500 paying tourists from Delhi to Alwar in Rajasthan in six hours. The 26-tonne locomotive, refitted in the Perumbur workshop at a cost of Rs 4 lakh last August, is the oldest preserved steam locomotive in the country and the first exhibit at the Railway Museum that opened in 1971. Once the commercial runs start, it will also be the oldest running locomotive in the world on a mainline.

On a test run, the Fairy Queen surprises everyone by reaching an average speed in excess of 42 km an hour. At hand, witnessing the old lady’s spurt of power is BBC’s television crew, which is filming the run, and a motley collection of railway officials happy with the Fairy Queen’s endurance. Also thrilled are the swarms at small stations en route from Delhi to Rewari, the station midway to Alwar and the train’s first trial destination. In the age of cable television, a strange sort of entertainment— an eerie throwback to an older era— has seized people’s minds. The message that has spread far and wide is that a funky spectacle is steaming its way in. As a result of which children skip school and shopkeepers down their shutters to stand in vigil.

But there is a slight glitch before the Queen can come chugging in. At a section before Pataudi Road, the station prior to Rewari, the Fairy Queen develops pressure problems. The temperature in the furnace hasn’t shot high enough. But it’s not a fatigue flaw. It is not an old machine that is failing; it is modern materials that are letting her down. The coal is proving to be substandard and hasn’t been broken up into small-enough pieces. The Fairy Queen is, finally, pushed by a diesel locomotive for part of the way before the snag is smoothened. It whistles and puffs its way into the station and the crowd goes bananas, hoot-ing and cheering.

The Indian Railways is dreaming of making a killing by selling the steam ride to foreigners. But before the cash registers start ringing, a few basic problems need to be sorted out— the paying passengers will have no visual access during the ride on the locomotive itself. It’s not a glass coach. Besides, a pantry car run by the Oberois will block the view. Also, the choice of the route, picked primarily because of low traffic concentra-tion, could have been better.

Of the Fairy Queen’s pedigree, however, there’s little doubt. Its sister hauled the first passenger train in India, which covered the 24-miles between Howrah and Hooghly in what is now West Bengal on August 15, 1854. Its makers were Kitson Thompson & Hewitson of Leeds and Rail Museum officials like to inform buffs that the Fairy Queen made it to the museum in 1971 on its own steam. Though 142 years-old, it’s still capable of puffing down to Alwar. And the Indian Railways too has enough hiss and coal to keep the Fairy on the burning tracks. Provided the $500 gang doesn’t lose steam.