Baba Bhalku Rail Museum, Shimla, at a distance of 1 kilometre from Shimla Train Terminal & 190 m from Shimla Old Bus Stand. Museum was established on July 7, 2011, as a homage to the man that assisted the construction of the railway line with his mythological powers. Bhalku Rail Museum, the display of heritage property is nicely shown in a medium-sized hall. Each product has a plaque on its side providing details concerning the display. There is a huge brass bell, which got on the top of the main gate of Narrow Gauge Northern Train Mechanical Workshop at Kalka.
Baba Bhalku
Bhalku came from Jhajja town near Chail in Solan area. Bhalku’s job was in between June 1898, when the agreement to construct the Shimla-Kalka train line was signed, and November 1903, when it was finished with 889 bridges and also 103 tunnels. It is thought that Baba Bhalku a saint near Shimla, that had some super ordinary engineering abilities, aided the British engineers in laying down this track.
Its is claimed that when barog tunnel was dug from both ends of the hill under the guidance of a Colonel (or Mr) Barog. The positioning failed as well as both ends did not meet. The British government fined Barog (Simply Rupee 1) with allegations of squandering the time of government. Colonel Barog really felt embarrassed and also out of stress and depression committed suicide. He was buried near the incomplete tunnel. The job was then assigned to Chief Engineer HS Harrington. Harrington and also his group with all their tools battled to locate an option to the very same difficulty of alignment. Nonetheless, he was incapable to finish the job as well as might not appropriately line up both sectors. Baba Bhalku then appeared on the scene who was “guided by the local deity” to trace the right path in the mountains.
With an outstanding monitoring power, Baba Bhalku utilized just a stay with touch the rocks, pay attention to audios and also lead the diggers. He helped to make a lot more tunnels on this track. According to the tale, Bhalku would certainly strike an area of the hill wall surface with his wood stick inside the passage and also pay attention to the noise. When he located something, he would certainly advise the engineers to dig from the point he concentrated on. As well as they followed him to dig the tunnel further. This dramatically resulted in the completion of the difficult obstacle of constructing the Barog tunnel which is now the longest straight tunnel in the world.
It is also said after the completion of Kalka-Shimla Railway in 1903, Baba Bhalku went on a pilgrimage to Badrinath from where he is said to have disappeared. To commemorate his efforts, his statue was installed at his village near Chail. And so is the Baba Bhalku railway museum in Shimla.