We had planned to see the Ajmer railway workshops. We got in touch with Mr Udai Veer
Singh, the Senior Divisional Engineer at the Ajmer DRM office, who called up a colleague at the workshop and arranged
for us to have a look. We also had a look at the DRM office, an old stone building, which houses the divisional
offices. It was quite pleasant and spacious, with a metre gauge loco plinthed outside. Unfortunately we couldn't
get a photograph of it. It was already afternoon, we headed out for a quick lunch, and then went over to the carriage
workshop. We were met by the Deputy Mechanical Engineer, who courteously arranged for one of his officers to show
us around. We were taken on a tour, shown the wheel and axle assembly units, the painting workshop, the bearing
workshop, the brake units etc. It was a pretty long and winding tour, but what struck us most was the very clean
appearance of the workshop. Everything was spic and span. The workshop staff took pride in their maintenance. There
were small gardens everywhere and everything was in place. No junk, no rubbish.
Till recently a metre gauge area, Ajmer now had broad gauge, thereby necessitating facilities for broad gauge coaches
at the workshop. Therefore all the rails laid along the floor are dual gauge so both gauges can be catered to.
There were BG as well as MG coaches under various states of repair. We even saw a few coaches of the MG 'Chhote
Mian' that raced with the BG 'Bade Mian' near Delhi some time ago. Also to be seen were original coaches of the
Palace on Wheels. |
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The imposing clock tower on the white sandstone
main building of Mayo College, at Ajmer, Rasjasthan.
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