Launched in 1907, the narrow-gauge train is a prominent tourist attraction in the hill station Matheran, off Pune-Mumbai highway, and is a living example of the engineering enterprise of the 19th century.

Criss-crossing the difficult mountainous terrain, the toy train chugs on a two-foot narrow-gauge line that has 226 sharp curves and 120 bridges and is worthy of consideration for World Heritage Site (WHS) inscription, Soumya Raghavan, General Manager of Central Railway, said.  

The light train, which has five coaches and a capacity of 100 passengers, links the foothill town Neral to hill station Matheran covering a distance of about 29 km in two hours. The gentle ascent takes the passengers along a route that has breathtaking valleys on one side and waterfalls on the other, with a host of food vendors and monkeys jumping on and off as the train slithers along the steep slopes of Sayhadri hill ranges.

The toy train is the only motor allowed to enter Matheran, where entry of vehicles is totally banned to maintain zero carbon in the area. Situated at an altitude of 803 metres, Matheran is next only to Venice in the world, where entry of vehicles totally banned, say Manoj V Khedkar, President, Matheran Hill Station Municipal Council.
With two hill trains — Nilgiri Mountain Railways and Darjeeling Himalayan Railways — making it to the UNESCO’s World Heritage list, the Ministry of Railways hopes to get include NMLT in the “Mountain Railways of India” category by early next year.

In fact, the light train railway track was washed away in torrential train two years ago and it was restored by spending Rs 3 crore. Work on the NMLT started in 1904 after Abdul Hussain, son of business tycoon Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy of Mumbai, planned the narrow-gauge railway line and completed its work at a cost of Rs 16 lakh.