Matheran-Neral Toy Train: Token machine, giant bell — preserving memories of a bygone era

As Matheran station is yet to receive the modern gadgets seen at other railway stations across the country, it makes do with what it has had for over a century. Janak Rathod

MATHERAN station master Dharmendra Kumar inserts a tiny ball inside the token machine in his cabin and turns a lever to the right, signalling the train is originating from the station. Moments later, a bell rings indicating that the message has been received by the station master at Aman Lodge, the destination station of the toy train section. Kumar immediately rotates the lever to the central position, which signals that the line is closed, and further to his left that allows for movement of the train.

He concludes the procedure by picking the ball or “gola”, as he refers to, which he had inserted into the machine at the beginning. The 30-second process is what defines the signalling communication between station masters at the two originating stations of the Matheran-Neral toy train section, running on a partial basis from Matheran to Aman Lodge since October 30 this year.

The services of the train were suspended last year after two derailments. After the train resumed its services, station staff recall using each of the available services at the station. Officials claim as the section is yet to receive modern techniques of services as used at other railway stations in Mumbai, the 110-year-old section takes pride in these facilities.

“The suburban and main line sections see a proper signal connection. The toy train section does not see the same as it does not see a need for it,” said a senior railway official.

Matheran, discovered in the 1850s, remains a popular hill town for tourists. The first toy train on this section ran on April 11, 1907. While the rest of Mumbai division witnessed an equal upgrade in technology for operation of train services over the years, officials claim the only narrow gauge service continues to preserve memories of a bygone era.
“As the system is not electrified, there was no need to bring in modern technology of signalling for communicating between stations. The section has retained some of the oldest techniques to run the toy train, including the token machine or a giant bell hung outside the station master’s office to be rung each time the train leaves,” said the official.

What is further unique to the station is a ‘ticket tube’, which stands for a wooden box, bifurcated into tiny spaces — each to hold either the wooden ticket cards or cash. As digitisation remains untouched here, manual ticket reservation is still practiced.

“The section continues to give old wooden card tickets. They are rectangular in shape and have details of the number of tickets, fare and section of toy train printed on it. It forms one of the integral forms of ticketing in use in the train. The sections in the tube effectively hold the different varieties of tickets, denominations of currencies and aids the booking clerk when they are at the counter,” added the official.

However, manual ticketing reservation comes with its own woes. Official are required to give daily updates of the ticket collection to the commercial headquarters of the Central Railway at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai over telephone. Monthly, tri-monthly and yearly updates of the revenue collection are later drafted on paper and sent.

“A pre-reservation of ticket for the toy train comes at a separate cost of Rs 15. Each wooden card ticket comes in numbered and accountability is maintained by keeping a tab on the number of tickets sold,” said the official.

Among other treasures hosted by the train section are ancient cash lockers, cupboards dating at least a century back. The section still boasts of some hand signals, previously in use to signal the motorman to stop the train during emergencies.

“There is also a group phone, which needs to be keyed in every time it is used. This is specifically used by the two station masters to communicate the running of the train. Tourists enjoy the ride in the heritage train, we feel privileged to work with these,” said a railway official at the Matheran station.

Among the recent technologies integrated in the train when it was put back in services are fitting air-brakes instead of the manual ones used earlier. It allows for a better control on the braking system of each of the train’s six coaches. The engines have also been re-fitted to modern technology, making the train safer to ply on the route.

“The Matheran-Neral toy train section is a unique feature of the Central Railway. The beauty of the narrow gauge section lies in retaining the heritage features, including the token machine and ticket tubes, which add to its historic taste. We plan to computerise the ticketing process in future for the convenience of tourists,” said Sunil Udasi, Chief Public Relations Officer, CR.