National Rail Museum

The National Rail Museum in Chanakyapuri is a delight for families and anyone who loves trains — a sprawling 10-acre indoor-and-outdoor museum that tells the story of Indian Railways, one of the largest rail networks in the world, through a remarkable collection of heritage locomotives, carriages and railway memorabilia.

• Opened in 1977, it lays out more than a century and a half of railway history across breezy lawns dotted with real engines, alongside air-conditioned galleries of models, artefacts and interactive exhibits.
• The open-air yard is the star.
• Here stand dozens of vintage steam, diesel and electric locomotives, including some genuine treasures: the Fairy Queen, among the oldest working steam locomotives in the world; the ornate saloon carriages once used by maharajas and the Prince of Wales; the skull of an elephant that famously collided with a train; and a monorail coach from Patiala.
• Children can ride a miniature toy train that loops the grounds, clamber into cabs, and explore the indoor galleries with their scale models, signalling equipment and the story of how the railways stitched the subcontinent together.
• A joy-train ride and a simulator add to the fun.
• For vegetarian travellers the museum has a simple café for snacks, and the pure-veg and veg-friendly restaurants of Chanakyapuri and nearby markets are a short ride away for a fuller meal.