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-   -   National Rail Museum - Matheran Rail Car (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/pre-war/104105-national-rail-museum-matheran-rail-car.html)

Folks, the nation needs you. Buffs who are experts on dodge cars, your expertise is desperately needed since the National Rail Museum has decided to refurbish and completely rebuild the Matheran Rail Car which is currently lying as a dead exhibit. Before i say anything else let me put up some pictures of the same taken yesterday.

I would love to see this on the tracks again. Its been ages since i went to Matheran in the toy train and have very fond memories of those travels in my school days. clap:

I am sorry but i did not quite understand the expectation from this thread. When you say the nation needs experts does it mean that Indian Railways has specifically asked for help to refurbish this? I am not an expert but detailed requirements would definitely help in getting the inputs from the experts.

I have seen this Dodge Brothers "Rail Bus" closely up front and wonder what is required. You need a mechanic who can work on the engine and mechanicals. If I remember correctly this bus has a magneto which needs to be done. I can suggest someone to help you with that. For the engine you should be able to get someone in Delhi.

Cheers harit

Dear Amit & Harit,
We are looking for any kind of help to make this rail car functional again. The aim is to put it back in working order on rails. since it has'nt been used for more than 20 years now or probably more, its going to be an uphill task. I aim to put the engine and the drive train in working order first, followed by the suspension and brakes. The bodywork is something which can be done later on. Its help in the form of enthusiasts with information and mechanics who have worked on a similar engine which is what i'm looking for. anything coming by which will help in the cause is absolutely welcome. Harit mentioned something about people in Delhi who could handle it. Their contact details would be the first thing that i would need to follow up.

Incase additional photos of the engine compartment are needed i would be able to load them up tomorrow.

Regards,
Atul

Atul,

I do hope you find the expertise you are looking for, and the Rail Car is chugging along happily sometime soon.

Yup, look at Atul's member profile page. He is a Mechanical Engineer with the Indian Railways.

Thanks GTO,
As for Amit's query, its as official as it can get since my current assignment is Director/National Rail Museum, New Delhi. Once we are able to trace people who can work on the rail car we would work out the modalities of how to go about it. Rail Museum had done something similar around 30 years back in 1980-81 when the 1914 John Morris fire engine was salvaged back from the dead (and now finds pride of place in the indoor gallery of the museum). I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Atul
9910487546

@GTO - It would help if we get the Vintage Car experts (DKG, Karlosdeville, etc) attention to this thread. Would you be able to do this?

I visited the rail museum a few years ago, and took pictures at that time. Have to search for the Dodge Brothers pictures, but then I found these of another Rail car which definitely has a magnetto in its automobile-like engine. I had put them up on the magneto thread. Maybe this vehicle can also be made to work.
In the meanwhile, please do upload some engine pictures and check if it has a delco or a magneto. I will speak to a friend in Delhi and revert.

Cheers harit

@HARIT
That snap which you have is of the Kalka Shimla rail car presently at the Rail museum. in case god agrees to my plans then i am looking to refurbish the matheran rail car, the kalka shimla rail car and the kalka shimla rail bus. There are plans to have a small roundabout rail track of a couple of hundred metres to run the matheran rail car which would be brought out on weekends for all to enjoy. Am trying to upload some more snaps of the matheran rail car (MRC) which will probably help to identify it better. Meanwhile somebody looked at the photo of the block and said that its a fargo engine. I was actually slumped.

Atul

Harit, the snaps follow...

In this week in the Indian Express the following article was printed. Apparently no restoration work has been done. Reason? Spare parts are not available.:D This Railcar could definitely be restored in India. Maybe some club or restorer takes some interest and helps the railways, afterall our cars get restored inspite of spares not being available off the shelf. We have to search, hunt, improvise, fabricate, replicate, yet in the end creditable results can be achieved. The Rail Museum has to entrust someone with the work, and some club/association could offer assistance. Hope something works out.

Cheers harit

Apparently there were several Railbuses in India , as this picture shows. Cannot say which Hill station or Railway is involved. Matheran is likely, but I am not sure.
There is a monogram up front, maybe of the rail company, and again a plate on the side of the bonnet. Unfortunately cannot read them.

Cheers harit

On our trip up to Shimla in November 2011 I sure I saw a working rail-bus on the line between Kalka and Shimla - perhaps their engineers could be of assistance?

Hi Atul, any update on the dodge engine restoration? Its a simple engine to get going. Have you tried Tutu dhawan , Ranjit Malik, Sandeep Kataria and others in delhi? There are so many people in delhi who can get this project completed. Looking forward to progress reports.

Delhi has many people who are capable of restoring this Dodge Bros rail-car. And NRM have also been in discussion with a few. However, I believe one of the names mentioned above might be working on it soon. When that happens, I'm sure the news will be out in the grapevine, and somebody will post it here too.