Small & Smart

What makes them special is that they have hydraulic shunting transmission unlike engines and suburban trains in which the motor rotates the wheels. The motors tend to go kaput whenever they come in contact with water. Also, the pappus have larger wheels than other engines and trains,with which they manage to tread into flood waters. The mechanism to turn the wheels run on high pressure fluids and is not affected by water.

These multi-coloured engines — 11.5 m in length and weighing 60 tonnes — have delivered time and again,even when the tracks were submerged in six inches of water. “Most trains get stranded near Kurla as it is a low-lying area. These engines are a boon for the railways during monsoon,” said D P Sagde,section engineer at Kurla diesel loco shed.

There was a time when each department wanted these shunters,be it for maintenance,shunting of trains,electical or mechanical work. They were also sent to the satellite car shed and military siding in Pune division for works. “Sometimes,there used to be a shortage of these engines. Two Pappus were attached on both ends in material vans,as in the suburban section; the train cannot be allowed to go back,’’ said Central Railway chief public relations officer V Malegaonkar.

There were 80 such engines around ten years ago,which were phased out over the years and replaced by newer engines. The last lot of 20 engines,around 40 years old,has now been brought to the Kurla diesel loco shed for being grounded. “The model is being phased out as these have been replaced by modern mainline shunting engines (WDS-6),which can take more load. Also,parts of these engines are not available now,’ said S K Sharma,senior divisional mechanical engineer,Kurla workshop.

Malegaonkar,however,disagrees. “The reality is that these engines are important for their speciality to tread into water when tracks are flooded. These cannot be compared with any new engines. I will request the higher authorities to keep some engines for emergency services. Besides,CR has modified a Pappu engine into a giant vaccum cleaner that suck garbage from the track.”