Viceroy Special

The Viceroy Special is a special passenger train service operated by J.F. Tours & Travels (Ceylon) Ltd.[2] Powered by the sole steam locomotive kept in operation in Sri Lanka, it is operated as a private train on all railway lines in the island. The 75-year-old luxury train has two air-conditioned observation saloons and a restaurant car.

Viceroy Special
Viceroy Special at the Fort railway station
Overview
LocaleSri Lanka
Transit typeinter-city rail charter
Operation
Began operation1986[1]
Operator(s)Sri Lanka Railways (owner) & J.F. Tours & Travels (Ceylon) Ltd (operator).[2]
Technical
Track gauge1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) (Indian gauge)

History

The launch of the Viceroy Special was spearheaded by Hemasiri Fernando and Cliff Jones.[3] The idea of re-introducing steam to Sri Lanka rails was inspired by a tourism promotional visit to Sri Lanka in 1984 by Cliff Jones who, returning from a day trip to Kandy, called at Dematagoda loco sheds and saw, what he later described a graveyard of 'veritable massive tourism potential' and put the proposition to the then Minister of State Ananda de Tissa de Alweis who was wildly enthusiastic and with the tremendous help of GMR Manager and Hemasiri Fernando it came to fruition 2 years later. During the Second World War, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India and Supreme Commander of All Forces in the South East Asian Command (SEAC) used a special train called the SEAC Special to travel to and from his headquarters in Kandy, Sri Lanka. This train was the inspiration for the Viceroy Special.[3]

The Viceroy Special has been running for over 25 years.[4]

Features

The Viceroy Special acts as a heritage service. Passenger carriages on the train are fitted with nineteenth-century period fittings and include a restaurant car, an observation car and a bar. It also has some modern features like air-conditioning.[2]

It is run by the only steam locomotive still in operation in Sri Lanka.

Charters
Scenery seen from hill-country Badulla-Colombo railway line
Route
Hill Country OdysseyColombo to Nanu Oya
Route
Sense of HeritageColombo to Kandy, with an excursion to Pinnewela
Route
Glimpse of the OceanCoast line to Galle

Rolling stock

Currently three steam locomotives run the Viceroy Special service.[5]

  • Class B1a No. 251 "Sir Thomas Maitland"
  • Class B1d No. 340 "Frederick North"
  • Class B2b No. 213

See also

References
  1. ""Viceroy Special"". 2011-02-02. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
  2. "Viceroy Vintage Train Tours". Archived from the original on 2011-08-28. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
  3. Vinodh Wickremeratne and Kanishka D. Perera. "Railways of Sri Lanka". The Viceroy Special. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
  4. Weerasuriya, Sanath. "'Viceroy Special' rolls on the track for 25 years". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
  5. http://www.infolanka.com/org/mrail/locos1.html
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