Railed It!

Before, I begin, here’s a riddle for ya….

Why is the monorail so good at his job?

It’s cause he has a one track mind for it.

Hehe….

My sense of humour has completely derailed.

I need formal training….

See what I did there?

hehe….

Here I am, back again after a hiatus(oohhhh, fancy!) and as a comeback post, I decided to take ye lovelies to a miniature railway museum.

This is the miniature railway city at the Joshi Museum of Miniature Railways in Pune. It was established on 1st April, 1998 and has its name in the Limca book of records as the only museum of its kind in India. It has working models of all kinds of trains. There are about half hour shows, where the model is started and a narrator tells the visitors all about trains with a real fun storyline involving a genie.

Now, the whole show had me gasping like a child cause it was all so cool, and in this post, Imma show some of the magic that transpires every day on the railways that innervate the whole world.

So, without further ado, All Aboard!

hehe….

This here is the welcoming train that takes a full round around the miniature city. I absolutely love how smoothly the train runs and the colours are on fleek! Also, notice how this one kid waves at the train as it crosses her. I didn’t notice that while watching the show but while I was editing the videos, I knew I had to include that because her action sums up the joy that the simple working of this train brought. Besides, the tiny toy driver inside the train waves back:) Honestly, what’s not to love.

Train Fact: The train pictured above is a regular steam engine train carrying both people and freight in its carriages. The first recorded experiment on constructing a steam engine was done in the first century AD by a Roman-Egyptian bloke named Hero of Alexandria. His gadget was called the aeolipile. Multiple centuries later, there came the steam powered rail locomotives. James Watt actually improved the steam engine model in about 1776. Bloke sure had a brilliant train of thought, hehe:)

Up next, we have the trolley buses. A trolley bus is basically a bus powered by electricity, drawn from overhead wires. These buses are also called ‘Trackless Trams’ as they do not run on tracks but somehow resemble a tram. Shanghai has the oldest operating Trolley Bus system. However, the first Trolley Bus was introduced in 1882 in Berlin, invented by Dr Ernst Werner Siemens.

Trolley buses aren’t that popular in India. Some states like Rajasthan do have it on a small scale but I’ve never really seen one around. I’m going to look out for these buses, the next time I’m in Rajasthan.

One of the cool things in the model was this small setup of a fair and a circus. It wasn’t much associated with trains but it was a real fun addition to the whole miniature.

Isn’t it straight out of a fairytale when the circus dome lifts up? There’s a tiny trapeze show going on inside the dome, hehe:) Besides, the Ferris Wheel! It gives you a true fun fair vibe, even though it’s just a miniature. The sounds in this video are mostly me yelping in amazement so I muted it cause it gets too noisy, hehe:)

See that train with the coloured carriages? That’s a freight train. I love how it passes through an industrial setup which really shows how hard the makers of the show have worked when it comes to attention to detail.

“Coal in Santa’s sack makes your Christmas sad.

But coal in its red wagons isn’t all that bad:)”

I tried….hehe.

My poetry has flown off the tracks.

The tiny red wagons in the middle are the coal wagons which transport coal out of mines and into the refining factories. They run on tiny tracks and are loaded by a crane which is about 120 feet tall. The model actually showed how the wagons are loaded but I was too busy watching the crane and I missed filming it….

The monorail was one of my favourite things in the whole show. I loved how the trains crossed each other and also the setting in which the tracks are placed. Monorails have always fascinated me. There’s one in Bombay and it’s always a treat to watch it zoom past from above. It gives me a very futuristic vibe:)

Up next, we have the cable cars and the Funicular Train. These two fascinate me so much cause I love going up mountainous roads and having trains specifically for that purpose makes my heart spiral to new heights of joy.

hehe….

Train Fact: The first monorail to carry passengers was built in Hertfordshire in the 1820s. Germany too has had a monorail service since 1901.

The first red train is the Funicular train or the Stepper Train. I’ve been on one of these in Da Nang, Vietnam and it was really fun. Besides, they look so cute! Like caterpillars going up and down the hill.

And cable cars of course are like an eagle eye’s view of the world for human beings:)

Train Fact: The oldest Funicular Train in the world is the Reisszug which goes up to the Hohensalzburg Castle in Austria.

Finally, we’ve got the Millennium Falcons of the Rail Industry aka the superfast trains. In the video, we’ve got the ISBT train of Germany:)

The train actually goes real fast in the model and the evening setup on the miniatures gives it a very techno vibe. The model has a real cool transition from day to night. Watch!

The museum also has some miniatures for display, such as a crystal train and a large miniature engine.

Vintage innit?

The museum also has a workshop for repairing and building new miniatures. What I loved is that most of the craftspeople in the workshop are old ladies:) That is truly empowering!

Besides, the staff is really sweet and helpful which truly makes for a beautiful experience. There’s also a souvenir shop where one can buy mini trains.