Now, 3-D view of heritage railway museums, stations a click away

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 4

The dream to visit railway heritage museums, railway stations and other places while sitting at home has come true, with the Railways in collaboration with Google Arts and Culture developing a website.

“The website (g.co/indianrailways) enables a person get a 3-D view of railway stations and railway museums on his/her mobile phone or a computer. History of the place is also given,” Executive Director, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, Subrata Nath said.

The idea is to apprise the people of the rich heritage of the Railways. Three out of five UNESCO heritage railway routes with a 360-degree panoramic view of iconic railway stations, including Kalka-Shimla, Nilgiri Mountain Railway and Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, are available on the website, he told The Tribune.

There are 33 railway museums in the country, including the national museum in New Delhi and four regional museums. The 70,000-km railway tracks are heritage properties being more than 150-year-old.

The Railways is taking measures to give exposure to these sites and attract people, especially the youth. Camps will be organised for schoolchildren at these sites, including the Baba Balkhoo museum and Shimla railway station. The 96-km Shimla-Kalka narrow gauge, declared as a UNESCO World Heritage track, is a marvel of engineering. The rail line begins its climb starting from the Kalka railway station and chugs along the line, whistling through deodar, pine, oak and maple forests with a speed of 25 kmh and offers a view of the majestic glory of the railway stations and Gothic-style bridges enroute. The climb is gradual with an altitude of 655 m (2,150 ft) in Kalka to 2,076 m (6,811ft) at the last destination of Shimla. One of the most interesting features of the route is the absence of girder bridges and there is only one 60-foot plate girder span near Dharampur and a steel trestle viaduct, which replaced a stone gallery in 1935. The remaining 866 bridges, representing 3 per cent of the line, carry the rail track over the ravines and between the hill spurs.