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With tourists including foreigners displaying a great deal of enthusiasm, Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) Day was celebrated at the railway station here on Monday.After cutting a cake shaped like a locomotive of the NMR, the Nilgiris Collector Archana Patnaik told The Hindu that the mountain train has for long been a pride of this holiday destination and added that it has to be preserved at all cost.K. Natarajan, Founder-Trustee of the Heritage Steam Chariot Trust, which had helped organise the celebrations hoped that the Railway Ministry would seriously consider forming an exclusive corporation to run the NMR.Pointing out that the NMR plays a major role in ensuring the economic well-being of the Blue Mountains, he said that it is in need of constant attention. This can be provided only by a separate corporation. While the Collector inaugurated two exhibitions which displayed photographs and other items connected with the NMR and gave away service recognition awards to over 40 railway employees, who have been continuously part of the NMR for over 30 years, a group of Todas sang a song in honour of the railway.Explaining the significance of the occasion, Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer Balakrishnan said that it was on this day in 1908 the famed NMR line was extended to Ooty.

Described as “an engineering marvel” in the construction of railway lines, the line between Mettupalayam and Coonoor had been thrown open on June 15,1899. It was originally proposed to locate the terminal station at Charing Cross here. However after a great deal of scouting it was decided in 1904 to locate the station at the bottom of the Saint Mary's Hill.

Station Superintendent B. Padmanabhan said that the NMR Day was being observed for the past few years to commemorate the recognition of the railway as a World Heritage Site.