Driving a rail engine and chronicling the railways’ past may be two absolutely different jobs, but multifaceted Arora pursued both so beautifully. “He was an inspiration for us. Now there are many motormen who are pursuing higher studies like M Phil or PhD. His death is really a great loss for us and the railways,” says Sharma. Arora was well-known for his knowledge about history of the Indian Railways. He was even called by former President of India R Venkataraman to have a discussion over his researches.

His published works on history of railways are: History of Bombay suburban railways, Nehru and Indian Railways (published by the Railway board), Voyage history of seafarer’s movement in India. His research articles have been published in some magazines and newspapers.

Arora achieved honours like ‘Rajasthashri’ from the Governor of Rajasthan; first rank in Russian History contest; ‘Vocation’ from Rotract club of Bombay Harbour, etc. Besides this, he was also featured on many TV programmes like House of efforts; Unsung heroes, Jyoti — there is a woman behind every man’s success (episode on Dr Arora); Kanot— world record of pen pals; Chakraview, Saath-Saath, and the greatest Indian Railway by National Geographic channel. Moreover, Arora’s popularity and friendly nature can easily be understood by his record number of pen friends, which is even listed in the Limca Book of world records.

Born on September 18, 1947 in Ajmer, Arora was only son of his father, a railway cashier. He joined Western Railway in 1967 as an apprentice motorman and was driving trains independently since 1971. He retired on July 1, 1998. Arora had arranged exhibitions and went on foreign trips to attend events and seminars. “He took interest in every sphere of life. He helped over 20 students in their research work. Last year, he had renovated a primary school of 600 students in a village near Jaunpur in UP, and upgraded it to senior level. He purchased books worth Rs 15,000 and a TV set for them. He was a social worker too,” says his son Sunil. “During his last days, he did not quit writing... a lot of his stories are unpublished,” he added.