LUCKNOW: Having a cozy room, a fancy bar or a rich library in a railway coach is a fascinating prospect. If owning such a coach has ever been your dream, this could be your chance.The emblem of the Indian Railways on it, the coach could be modified to the buyer's liking or retain its original wooden seats.What one needs to do to make this a reality is bid for the coach when it is up for auction.At least six metre-gauge trains have been pulled out of operations by the Lucknow division of the North Eastern Railway (NER) due to gauge conversion of the Aishbagh-Mailani section. These rakes (trains) would be auctioned by railways as soon as a committee declares them `condemned'.People can participate in the auction and bid for what would then only be `scrap' for the railways.Lucknow division still has 12 metre-gauge rakes (trains) running on the Pilibhit-Mailani-Bah raich stretch and Pilibhit-Shahjahanpur stretch.NER Lucknow divisional railway manager Alok Singh said, “Since railways no longer manufactures these coaches, some of them will be used to augment the existing pairs. The remaining would be sent to other railways with metre-gauge trains running if they demand.“In case the coaches find no takers, railways would auction them.NER chief public relations officer Sanjay Yadav said the auction would be open for everybody . The auction is expected to be advertised sometime next month.The empowered committee of NER has already started review of the old coaches.“Western Railway has demanded a few coaches as it has metre gauge line. Besides, we also have to return some coached we had taken from other railways,“ said senior divisional operations manager Swadesh Singh.The railways inspects all coaches periodically . Coaches that are more than 25 years old are abandoned. Those in need of over hauling are sent to the workshop.The useful parts of a coach are removed and the waste is auctioned.Scrap dealers who buy a coach cut it into pieces to make it easy to transport. A person can also buy a shell from a dealer. The cost of a shell would depend on the tonnes of iron in it. In case of metre-gauge coaches, however, the entire coach can be auctioned as no part of it is useful to the railways. Most trains are now on broad gauge. For other coaches, only the shell is auctioned. The bogey (wheels on which the shell is placed) is not auctioned.Considering that it's tonnes of iron, buying a shell or coach is not easy. The weight of a passenger coach is 7 tonnes. The last metregauge coach was auctioned for Rs 1,10,000. However, that was 30 years ago as the Lucknow division has not had any auction in three decades. Prices now would have increased manifold.