Having spent the last 24 years in a state of utter neglect, more than 150-year-old locomotive, “Victoria Queen”, is finally set to get pride of place in a South Delhi farm house.
This rusty beauty, presently stationed in Noida, was brought to India in 1857 and pressed into service by Mumbai Railways. The steam engine kept chugging for more than five decades before it was “retired.” Touted as one of the oldest steam engines, the Victoria Queen was later bought by a private company and after that it was purchased by a Noida-based realtor, Harimohan Sharma, in 1990 through an auction and parked on a piece of barren land owned by Sharma in Barola, Sector 49 in Noida.
Over the last 24 years, extreme weather conditions have taken a toll on the old beauty and the heritage engine is badly corroded and in a shambles. Not just this, vandals have also stolen the antique locomotive’s parts that are irreplaceable now. However, it seems that the days of neglect are over now and the owner has decided to take care of Victoria Queen.
“As Harimohan Sharma wants to utilise this piece of land for a real estate project, it has been decided to relocate the engine to his farmhouse in South Delhi, so that it can be maintained properly and protected from vandals,” said Jitendra Attre, hired by the owner of the engine to take care of it.
Unable to give the specifications of the heritage engine and the exact year and place of manufacture, Attre claimed that authorities of several museums in the country had asked Sharma to give them the Victoria Queen. He asserted that even Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation had made similar requests last year but Sharma refused to part with the locomotive. However, this could not be verified with the Railways.
Another employee of Sharma, Sachin Chaudhary, who works at the farmhouse in Delhi, said that a proper space has been earmarked at the farm house, located at Rangpuri area of Mehrauli and the engine is likely to be taken there before the end of this month. “The owner had purchased the Victoria Queen with the intention of keeping it at his farm house in Noida. As Sharma lives in the Capital now, he wants to display it there. Once it reaches the Delhi farm house, it will be restored to its old glory,” said Sachin.
Residents of Barola claimed that earlier scores of people thronged Sector 49 to have a glimpse of the engine since a wall had not been constructed around Sharma’s land. “Whether the giant machine has historical significance or not we don’t know, but people come to see the engine. After the boundary wall was raised, the numbers did reduce, but they are still intrigued by it. However, in the absence of proper maintenance, the locomotive is lying in a deplorable state,” said Rampal Awana, a resident of Barola.