Almost 52 years after the last tram chugged on Mumbai’s streets, the discovery of two sets of tram tracks near Flora Fountain has made Mumbaikars nostalgic of these out-of-favour transportation systems. The last five decades have seen the introduction of new modes of transportation in Mumbai, from Metro, monorail to radio taxis. However, a small decrepit museum tucked away in Wadala, where these newly discovered tracks were finally taken, still holds significant historical relics of city transport. The museum of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) in Sion has over six two-way seats of old trams on display. The seats are in a good condition. The museum, located on the third floor of the administrative building of Anik bus depot, also has the miniature models of trams drawn by horses and trams on electric supply. A tram that was preserved by BEST is now completely damaged and beyond repair. It has been lying on the premises of the depot and is likely to be scrapped. Tram tickets from 1905 to 1947 and bus tickets from 1926 to 1947are on display in the museum. The Marathi tickets introduced by BEST in 1986 have also been preserved. A collection of model buses of plastic-coated paper, old gas lamps, old wall clocks, old ceiling fans of wooden plates, used by the British are also on display. The most interesting one is a chassis of a 1938-built Daimler of double deck bus, placed at the centre of the museum. The hand-operated ticket issuing machine that was in use till 1947 is also on exhibition. “Ever since the printed tickets came in, this machine was discontinued from use,” said Sanjay Chaulkar, supervisor of the museum. The other interesting thing includes half-cut fake coins. “Earlier, BEST used to submit coins to RBI to get the currency notes. At one point, they returned these coins calling them fake,” said Chaulkar. Interestingly, an exhibition in the museum shows that BEST, in 1962, first proposed underground railway in city. It had sent an engineer to study the Berlin and Milan model before preparing the plan which could not be materialised due to financial constraints as huge fundings were required. In 1983, BEST museum was started in Kurla depot. PD Paranjape, the then labour officer, convinced the then BEST general manager G B Mitbander to start a museum on lines of a railway museum in Delhi. In 1981, all collections were stored in a room in Dharavi bus depot. The museum was shifted to Anik bus depot in 1993 due to space constraints in Kurla depot. It is open from Wednesday to Sunday between 9 am and 5 pm and is closed on Monday and Tuesday. The entry to it is free. “While we have many important relics of BEST, the number of visitors is less since the location is odd. While on some days there are no visitors, we may see huge number of visitors on other days,” explained Chaulkar. “The museums and galleries are in fort area, which sees many tourists. Our museum may also get similar footfall if we shift it here. Recently, we had a discussion with BMC which is positive about giving us a plot. We are searching for a plot ,” said Jagdish Patil, general manager of BEST.
