This afternoon we visited the rail museum of Cooch Behar. A minuscule version of the National Rail Museum, New Delhi, it resembles the architecture of Madan Mohan Temple of Cooch Behar.
I learnt about the rail museum sometime back and have been planning to explore it ever since. The museum is not very popular as of now as not many are aware of its presence.
The rail museum, located at Cooch Behar Station, is home to some valuable things including railway signals, lights, galleries of photographs, and so on. Amongst all, I found Okhil Chandra Sen’s letter the most interesting.
When trains had no toilets passengers had to wait till the next station to answer nature’s call. A passenger named Okhil Chandra Sen missed his train as he had to go to the washroom off the train. So he wrote a letter to a local railway office highlighting the issue. That’s how the letter, written in 1909, led to the introduction of toilets on Indian Railways. The transcript of the letter is on display at the museum. Just imagine the POWER of a LETTER!
I was quite happy to visit the museum. In case, you are planning to visit Cooch Behar, do take out time for the rail museum also. The entry fee is 20 rupees, and it remains closed on Tuesdays.
(Information sources: indianrailways, internet, staff member of the museum)
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