Even as its counterpart in Darjeeling has managed to get the heritage status, it continues to evade the Matheran toy train

It was the mid 1990s. After being wowed by frames from grainy TV adverts and Hindi film songs, we were to finally set foot inside the Matheran toy train, thanks to a school camping trip during the Diwali break. Dressed in starched uniforms, a bunch of excited kids had assembled at Neral railway station, one early October morning. As frisky monkeys and overzealous mynas greeted us with their antics, yours truly watched awestruck, as the heritage engine chugged towards the toy train in the station enclosure. It was unlike any engine we had seen before. The pale yellow and Prussian blue colour scheme of the tiny little train impressed us with its picture postcard-like appearance.