Come Friday and Nilgiris Mountain Railway (NMR), popularly known as toy train among tourists, will be celebrating the 11{+t}{+h}anniversary of its World Heritage Site status.
NMR received World Heritage Site status by UNESCO on July 15, 2005 at the 29th session of World Heritage Committee at Durban, South Africa. It received the status along with the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR).
The UNESCO Committee acknowledged that while “the DHR was basically a roadside tramway with no notable structures and experimental in nature, the NMR was altogether more substantial affair”. With the (Abt) rack system, the NMR makes the climb quickest on a steeper gradient. The committee also observed that “there are a few other Abt rack railways in the world, and none so authentic throughout”. The NMR was the most original and one of the largest rack-and-pinion railways in the world.
