Lucknow zoo’s 44-year-old toy train retires

Lucknow  :  A glorious chapter in Lucknow’s history will come to an end Wednesday as the journey of the ‘toy train’ that chugged in the city zoo for the last four decades, will come to a halt, said the zoo officials.

Officials said the 44-year-old toy train, that carried lakhs on it, will be pulled out of service owing to plans of a revamp.

The toy train would be parked in front of the state museum in the zoo premises. It was gifted to Lucknow zoo in 1969 by the Railway Board.

A new ‘Shatabdi-look-alike’ four-bogey toy train is being made by a Noida based company, officials informed IANS.

A new track alignment would be laid Thursday onwards so that the new train could cover the maximum sightseeing area of the zoo, director Anupam Gupta told IANS.

The new toy train is likely to begin operations mid-2014, officials said.