Toy train to chug along in Mysuru Bal Bhavan soon

The Jawahar Bal Bhavan here may soon get a new Toy Train to enthrall children and adults. Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), which is maintaining the bhavan, had requested Mysuru Railway Workshop in the city to manufacture a train. 

The new train will add to the attractions in the Bal Bhavan by next Dasara. The Mysuru Railway Workshop is the prime manufacturing facility for toy trains in Indian Railways. Department of Women and Child Development, Mangaluru has also placed an order at an estimated cost of Rs 56.77 lakh for a toy train comprising one power car plus three trailers for the Bal Bhavan there.

The Mysuru Bal Bhavan already had a toy train but the services were stopped a year ago. MUDA has earmarked Rs 70.82 lakh for the train which will have one power car plus four trailers (each with a capacity of 20 people). The power car will be driven by a diesel engine having 55 BHP with maximum speed of 15 km/hour. The tare weight of the engine will be 3.5 tonnes with overall dimensions of 4x1.1x2.7 meter.

The trailers (compartments) will be two or three in numbers depending on the requirement. Each trailer will be able to accommodate 20 children. The tare weight will be 2.5 tonne with overall dimensions of 4x1.5x2.7 m, said sources.

Mysuru workshop, which started manufacturing a narrow gauge train way back in 1970s, has so far successfully delivered 15 Toy Trains to parts of the country and abroad. The toy trains manufactured at the workshop are running in amusement parks, Rail Museums at Rajasthan, New Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, Rail Museum, Mysuru, Mahatma Gandhi Park,  Glass House in Hubballi and in Goa. The first toy train comprising one power car with two trailers was manufactured in 1995. In the same year, another toy train was exported to Accra/Ghana.