Visit to National Railway Musuem, Chanakyapuri

Its been a long time since we were thinking of going to National Rail Museum. Although, it wasn't particularly this Saturday, i.e., 2nd Feb 2008, that we were going there. In fact as the World Book Fair had started on Friday, we were almost sure to go there on Sat. But, then Sat morning, the newspaper told us, that the Rail Museum is celebrating their Museum Day over this weekend and are having a few workshops and other attractions for kids as well as adults. This did pull our thoughts towards it and finally Nanna decided that we should be going to Rail Museum and may be can visit the Book Fair tomorrow, i.e., on Sunday.

First of all, we missed where it is, and reached the Nehru Planetarium but then after asking a couple of auto wallas, who gave us the most perfect direction possible, we reached there. The next dour neighbor to the Rail Museum is the Royal Bhutanese Embassy and its an exact replica of all the Bhutan architecture we see in any book or magazine, or I can say, was a perfect example of the Dzongs with same structural design and exterior paintwork and looked awesome from the front gate.

So, back to museum, its a huge rush there and no parking, but thats a normal scenario here in the capital, so no problems. Then the entry tickets are Rs 10/- each and Rs 5/- for kids.

As soon as we enter, there are so many old steam engines in the view. Especially for Nanna, to see a railway engine so close was exhilarating. And many of those engines were really very clean and open for kids and adults to climb up and see for themselves. So, she went into a couple of engines, reached their top and was enjoying to the most. There was a fantastic souvenir shop, from where we bought a couple of key chains, some magnets and stickers etc. Although, there were good books available on Railways and trains and also models of Fairy Queen and a few other stem engines, but they all were upwards of Rs 1000/- .

Then, there were a few workshops happening there. One was a guided tour of a the museum, the learned person from the Indian Railway would tell us about all the engines, their life and their history. It would have been good, but with Nanna, it is difficult. Then there was another about Bird Watching. The one, which I was interested about was "Train Modeling".

There I met a volunteer, who was working and showcasing the modeling there at the museum, just for the sheer liking and following for the models. He himself had a lot of models and has been following this hobby since childhood. Well, although, there he was telling about the models, a small slide show about different models, and I was primarily interested in railroad modeling. Still meeting him, I had a lot of information. primary was that there are people who are interested in the same thing, and many of them in Delhi. That there is a yahoo group also. That yahoo group told me about the website of Indian Railway Fan Club, seems like very good, but I still have to explore it well. That gentleman from B'lore is devoting 2-3 hours daily to revive the old engines, the models which are kind of 100 years old. He mentioned, that there are 10-12 volunteers, who are planning to build a huge model railroad withing the next one year by contributing. It seems like fun and I hope to be back here soon.

There there were a couple of small steam engines running around, where we could buy ticket and sit in. So, we got tickets for ourselves and waited for the train to arrive at the station. It is a very small one, and it was definitely very enjoying ride for us and especially for Nanna. The joy train took a complete round of the museum, which has stations with benches where people can sit, tunnels, turns and all the fun. It was fun, and Nanna was jumping with joy. She wanted to sit in the train for some more time, but the line at the ticket window was very long, so I forgot that idea. And, we lunged towards the food court, a few tents serving the chat pakaudi etc. For next time, I will remember to buy 2-3 pair of tickets in one go for the train ride.

Then, there was a steam engine, which was I think 10 inches or so high, and was being driven by sitting on top of it, and could take only two small kids as its passengers. It was fantastic to see it running. Nanna was a little afraid so didn't ride it, but I will make sure the next time we go there, if its running, she sure takes a ride.

The biggest mistake of the day, we didn't take camera along with us for the day. Well, to take it in positive stride, we decided to be back here at the museum very soon, and this time with camera, so as to take back the beautiful memories.