Fairy Queen Express

My second post on trainspotting is special because it brings you the oldest running steam engine in the world! :) Bringing you the original chug-chug train from yore, the Fairy Queen Express that runs between Delhi Cantonment and Alwar stations.

Read more about this historic train here.

The Fairy Queen locomotive was created way back in 1855, and this was one of the first exhibits of the National Rail Museum.

Our advantage: being located close to the Western Railway track helps sight such vintage beauties as they go by, blowing blue smoke quaintly through its chimney, and hooting away in a shrill shriek that is very distinct from the whistles of modern-day engines.

This special train operates every year between October to March. Pity that this year's last trip was scheduled for 27March, which is when we managed to click the above pictures. So you have to wait till October before catching a glimpse of the Fairy Queen Express chugging away again.

Trainspotting: Part 1

Remember I told you we live near the railway tracks, and see all kinds of trains passing by all day long. Well, over the last three months in the new house we observed quite a few different types of trains and learnt to identify them. Now even my kids can tell you which is which! :) And they do that all the time for visitors and first-timers.


So I thought I'd take you through a tour of the trains we spot. Only I couldn't capture all of them on camera, so there will be a Part 2 post sometime later. But for now, here goes...



This is the regular passenger train with its trademark blue coaches.



And notice how this one has loads of people on top. Unfortunately folks here still think it is cool to sit atop since it is a non-electrified, diesel line. What they don't realize is how dangerous this is; one sharp brake and they could all topple over. (And I'm not even mentioning the evils of ticketless travel here...)

This is the regular goods train with its boring rust brown coaches.

And this is the more interesting container goods train. The different colored containers passing by in a queue make for such a pretty picture!

This one is a coal train, loaded to the brim.

This train with blue coaches is used to ferry cars. Notice how the coach size is bigger and has see-through openings.

Hope you enjoyed this first round of trainspotting! Stay tuned for Part 2.