To commemorate 160 years of the Indian Railways, the ministry of railways and the South Central Railway will organise a photo exhibition showcasing the evolution and rare moments of the railway journey at Salar Jung Museum from July 20 to 26.
South Central Railway general manager DP Pande will inaugurate the exhibition, ‘160 years of Indian Railways’, on the ground floor of Eastern Block of the museum at 11 am on July 20. It will remain open to the public daily from 10 am to 5 pm and the entry will be free.
About 200 rare photographs from the archives of Indian Railways will be on display in separate galleries like station architecture, locomotives and trains, personalities, carriages and wagons, and men at work. Though the exhibition will not trace the history of Indian Railways sequentially from 1853 to the present, it will have a thematic portrayal of the many facets of the railways.
The photographs will highlight the importance of the railways in the lives of the people, its role as an integrating force, as a catalyst of history and as a mute spectator to the unfolding historical events.
The photographs that encompass the fundamental aspects of the railways are evocative of an era long gone but which has shaped the present. Sections on ‘Station Architecture’ speak of the time in history of their construction.
Their interiors are reflections of the society and the social stratification while their exteriors present a larger picture of the developmental stage of the town and city.
A section has been dedicated to workmen who are solely responsible for the running of the railways. The photographs reflect the hard labour put in to transport lakhs of people across thousands of kilometres, marking practices most of which are still fundamental to railway working today, say SCR officials.
Moreover, it has always been the objective of the Indian Railways to preserve the past as its rich history is undeniably one of the most compelling tales in the story of India.
The photo exhibition provides interesting moments of the life of this organisation concentrating primarily on the first 100 years of its existence which was a period of great turbulence for the railways as well as the world, they add