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Over 100 years old steam engine: Born 1914 at Winterthur, and still going strong!

462 views · Published 8 May 2013 · 0:44 · Indexed 23 October 2026

Channel: Incredible Steam Trains of India and Other Videos · 2013 · Travel & Events

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Built in 1914 by Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM), at Winterthur, Switzerland, this X Class coal fired steam engine with wheelbase 0-8-2RT entered service on Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) on April 10, 1920.

In the late 1990s this ageing engine was operating only on the non-rack Coonoor-Ootacamund stretch of the Nilgiri Railway, as it's cog-wheels were removed and it could not be used on the rack section of the route between Coonoor and Mettupalayam.  When NMR was accredited as a World Heritage Site in 2005, this engine was fully rehabilitated, and is now seen operating trains on the rack section of the railway, 

In this short video, taken by chance, she is seen hauling a load of workers and granite blocks to a retaining wall construction site on the ghat below Coonoor on a cold and rainy morning of October 18, 2012.

This meter gauge steam engine is still on coal-firing  and has not been converted to oil firing like the rest of the fleet, and it is also the oldest steam engine in active service on Nilgiri Mountain Railway.  This steam engine, X 37384, was adjudged the winner at the two Black Beauty Contests held at Coonoor in the annals of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway. 

V.M.Govind Krishnan's book: "NMR [Nilgiri Mountain Railway]-From Lifeline to Oblivion", now available in its Revised Edition documents the efforts of the public to thwart the moves of the Indian government to dismantle this unique rack railway, now in its 114th year; and to keep this engineering marvel in running condition to this day. Nilgiri Mountain Railway is the only metre gauge (1000 mm) rack railway in Asia. This book can be ordered online at: https://notionpress.com/read/nilgiri-mountain-railway-nmr?cN=af22197be2df8d21f124b5e0a0e3d7d9d066c92f

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