Adorning its frontage was the Viceregal Insignia of Her Majesty's Representative.Four and a half feet high and made of solid cast iron ,the intricate Insignia (shown left) included a Lion and a unicorn,crowns and festoons.The original insignia now has pride of place at the Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering(IRIMEE) at Jamalpur,where it hangs resplendedly on one of the walls in the lobby outside the Director's chamber.The insignia was cast in 1870 in the Iron Foundry of the East Indian Railways' locomotive workshop at Jamalpur within a few years of the latter being set up in 1862.

It's intricacy ,its fineness ,the fact that it has survived more than a century ,is testimony if any is needed,of the skill of the workmen and the state of contemporary art that the workshop has achieved.The workshop was the largest in the country at the time and in the 19th century itself,had many other firsts,like the first Rolling Mill and the first Powerhouse,to its credit.

Surely,it played a mojor role in acting as a catalyst for the entire mechanical engineering industry in the country.It was the creation of works of arts like the Viceroy's insignia ,which were also symbols of power,that set the tone of workshop.The evolution of this spirit of excellence in mechanical engineering at Jamalpur was the force behind the creation of such works of art.It is for this reason that this insignia has been selected to represent the threat that binds this volume you are holding together.

It was only natural that when the British attempted to Indianise mechanical engineering education in India,the location that they selected was Jamalpur. Be that as it may,on 14th february 1927, the first batch of special Class Apprentices arrived at Jamalpur,thus giving birth to the concept of Indians receiving an education in mechanical engineering in India.Prior to this ,all mechanical engineers ,whether European or Indian,were educated overseas.With this historic event began the industrialisation of was then called Mechanical Engineering and Transportation(Power) Department(METP).

Jamalpur became and continues to remain ,the cradle of members of the METP.Years later,in 1970, METP was recristened as the Indian Railways Service of Mechanical engineers(IRSME).Till the dawn of independence ,all recruitment to the IRSME continued through the Special Class Apprentice Scheme at Jamalpur barring a few mechanical engineers being recruited as War Service candidates in the Second World War years. It was only after India was declared a republic the direct recruitment of mechanical engineers was also started into the IRSME in 1951.In the early years training of these direct recruits was not established in one place and was divided between jamalpur and kharagpur.

    However by the late sixties ,training of all direct recruits was consolidated at Kharagpur under an Officer on Special Duty(OSD).In 1988,the Railway Board decided to centralise the training of all IRSME officers under Director IRIMEE.Although the Director thus became responsible for the training and a fair amount of directed classroom started at Jamalpur,probationary officers still reported
to the OSD at Kharagpur,who was placed under the control of the Director at Jamalpur.