Museum of Miniature Railways
In the Kothrud area
of Pune, is located a small factory : Soudamini Instruments. Here a special hall 26'
x 26' has been built to house the Museum of Miniature Railways. Mr. B. S. Joshi, known to
all as Bhau Joshi, is the originator and founder of the Museum. Collecting train models
has been his hobby, or rather his obsession, from childhood.. In the 1980's he started work on a layout, which he visualised could be taken from town to town like a circus or fair. The layout was first displayed in Pune at the `Gokhale Hall' in 1982 and was a huge success. It was kept open for a month with an average attendance of 1200 people a day. In 1984 the layout was displayed in Bombay at two locations, a month at each place and then in 1986 it was again displayed in Pune at `Dastur Girls High School' for a month. Later he took the decision of creating a permanent Museum of Miniature Railways. The work and dedication that is behind this layout can be appreciated by fellow rail modellers. There are nearly 1000 wires coming out of the control panel. The entire Wuppertal Railway has been hand built from photographs. There are about 85 signals, all of which have been constructed by hand. All the fences, the lampposts, the flyovers etc have been constructed by hand, using chemical etching techniques. The control panel has been designed so that the entire layout can be operated manually or can be computer controlled. All this has been achieved due to the single minded devotion and hard work of one man, Bhau Joshi. What you will find here :
The Museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 5 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. throughout the year. Batches are scheduled every half hour. Ticket sales close at 7.45 p.m. Group bookings and other timings on enquiry. Admission : Family pass (admits 4) Rs. 50/- Additional single ticket Rs. 20/-.
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