Central Railway revives Neral-Matheran toy train to maintain heritage steam engine look

Raigad/Mumbai: The Indian Railways have revived the charm of steam engines in the toy-train that runs in the hill station of Matheran in Raigad district near Mumbai.

The Mumbai-headquartered Central Railway runs the Neral-Matheran toy-train, which is very popular.

The Neral-Matheran Light Railway which is one amongst the few Heritage Mountain Railways in India has completed 116 glorious years with the first toy train service run by steam engine which started in 1907.

A special team of engineers and technicians at Parel Workshop of Central Railway have been working 24x7 to make modifications, create a model of the steam engine hood and make necessary changes so as to ensure smooth running of the engine and maintaining the heritage look as well.

“The entire process of giving the heritage look involved a lot of technical processes, including removal of hoods of existing engine, manufacture and fitting of new heritage steam Loco like hood, modification in the present diesel engine, fitting of steam vapour and sound producing system and finally painting of the engine with the new heritage hood and decorating the same with stickers as per requirement,” a Central Railway spokesperson said on Friday.

“Now the Central Railway is all set to revive the glorious past of this narrow-gauge railway by giving a 'heritage steam engine look' to the present diesel run engine on the Neral-Matheran section,” the spokesperson added.

The Neral-Matheran railway construction started in 1904 and the two feet gauge line was finally opened to traffic in 1907.

As a precautionary measure, the line remains closed during the monsoons, however, shuttle services between Aman Lodge and Matheran continue to run even in the monsoon.

Matheran, which means - "forest on the forehead" - was discovered in May 1850 by Hugh Poyntz Malet, the then district collector of Thane.

Lord Elphinstone, the then Governor of Bombay had laid the foundations of the development as a future hill station.

The Britishers developed Matheran as a popular resort to beat the summer heat in the region.

The Matheran Hill Railway - a popular toy train - was built in 1907 by Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy.

One can do a lot of things in Matheran – walk, trek, mountaineering and rock climbing, valley crossing, night trails, bird watching and so on.