The Magnificent Maharajas and their Fabulous Machines
Way before Indian royalty fell in love with the motor car; they were
enthralled by Sir James Watt's creation. An object of perennial
fascination and amusement - the steam engine has been a part of
the lives of kings and queens in various avatars. Over here, we list a
few that tell the tale of a more genteel era that has gone by.
With the passage of time, all the princes vied with each other
to display their ostentatious carriages. Maharaja Gaekwad of
Vadodara not content with gifting his son a toy train, went on to
install a royal throne in his personal coach. As a matter of fact, the
Nizam of Hyderabad's private railway car was covered with thin
strips of ivory and had solid gold hardware.
As a child, yuvraj or prince Madhav Rao Scindia was fascinated by
the railway train. Seeing this, his father the royal Maharaja built a
two mile rail track on his palace grounds. One would often see the
little prince taking his friends on a joy ride on the palace grounds on
his special locomotive that ran on a two feet gauge track.
 It was around 1880, that the princely states
in India took the initiative to lay their own
railway lines with contributions from their own
exchequers. But Maharaja Jaswant Singh of
Jodhpur had his own little railway, a year in
advance. The Raika Bagh Palace was probably
the first railway station in India!
Even when it came to the state of Vadodara, the passion for the railway was intense. As a birthday gift, Maharaja Pratapsinh Gaekwad gifted his five year old son, Ranjit Singh Gaekwad (the present Maharaja of Vadodara), a fully functional toy train that ran on ten inch gauge rails !
 The Maharaja of Gwalior had a silver
model train chugging along the centre
piece on his banqueting table. Meant
to circulate liqueurs and cigars to his
royal guests, the train was operated at
the touch of a button. The Maharaja
was immensely proud of the show that
his little toy train was put up at the end
of every royal banquet. Alas ! Once, the
train derailed en route its tiny voyage.
The Maharaja's rage knew no bounds.
The servants quivered in their boots
as the Maharaja ordered an inquiry to
ascertain the reason behind the accident !
History does not record the quantum of punishment handed out, if any.
In 1936, the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
built a luxury state coach for Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar of
Indore. Probably the most luxurious railway carriage ever built and
the largest ever to be constructed in Britain at that time, the art
deco interior used sycamore wood, chrome, pink mirrors and an
internal telephone system. And such was the attention to detail that it
also had air blown over ice to keep the carriage cool in the
tropical climes.
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And so it is with us. After all, it is not everyday that a luxury
a train earns itself the right to be christened
the Maharajas' Express.