TIRUCHI: The glorious saga of the Indian Railways, which is over 150 years old now, could be known from its heritage symbols, which have been carefully preserved till date.

The prized exhibits displayed at rail museums and in front of some station buildings and railway offices across the country takes a person back to the long and exciting journey of the railways, besides displaying the glory of the bygone era of this extensive network which has touched the life of people.

Be it the full size real life rolling stock, like the steam engine, or other artefacts, these exhibits give an insight into the rich heritage of the railways and its functioning ever since the first train chugged from Bombay to Thane in 1853.

A few of these heritage pieces are still preserved in the Tiruchi railway division as well as in the Goldenrock railway workshop here. One among them is the Mobile Fire Fighting Vehicle, kept at the sprawling Railway Protection Force (RPF) Training Centre in Khajamalai here.

A glance into its history reveals that the fire-fighting vehicle, manufactured by M/S Denis Brothers, England was supplied to the erstwhile Mysore Railways in 1931. After it was withdrawn from active service years ago, it was brought to the RPF Training Centre here where it was given a fresh coat of red paint and is now being maintained carefully.

An early model fire vehicle, which was driven by petrol, this Self Propelling Unit (SPU) could accommodate an officer, eight fire fighters besides a driver-cum-pump operator.

It was designed as an open type to enable fire fighters jump out easily and get into the fire-fighting act at once on reaching the spot. The SPU was brought from the Railway Fire Service at Mysore to the RPF Training Centre here around 10 years ago. An added feature of the SPU is that it has in built lockers where fire-fighting equipment like delivery hoses, branch pipes, and suction hose were stored.

It was provided with a Hose Real Hose (HRH) to tackle initial fires and fires involving saw dust, dry leaves etc. The old vehicle is also equipped with a fire pump, which could pump water to douse major fires.

The SPU, while in action, used to be taken close to an open water source like static water tank etc from where water was pumped and relayed through the delivery hoses at the fire spot.

It has been kept on display essentially to make the RPF Trainees understand about the early model fire fighting vehicle and its functions, says an RPF officer.

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