It covers a distance of 21 km (13 mi), cutting a swathe through forest and connecting Neral to Matheran in the Western Ghats.

[5] Adamjee Peerbhoy visited Matheran often, and wanted to build a railway to make it easier to get there.

When the railway was opened, the rolling stock consisted of just two locomotives, fifteen First Class, two Third Class coaches, two luggage vans with postal accommodation, twelve open goods wagons, along with two saloons that were in verge of completion at GIPR's Parel Locomotive Workshops.

[12][13] The MHR and its assets, including the stations, line, and vehicles, belong to the Government of India and are entrusted to the Ministry of Railways.

Consulting engineer Everard Calthrop designed the MLR Class 0-6-0Ts with Klien-Lindner axles to give a flexible wheelbase and four were supplied by Orenstein & Koppel.

A B-class locomotive (#794) from the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was transferred to the Neral–Matheran line in 2001 to test the feasibility of steam excursions.

738 is plinthed at the southern end of Neral Toy Train station, in a small garden.

It was the engine in which Sir Abdul Hussein Adamjee Peerbhoy traveled, when he visited Germany to order the original four locomotives.

Class NDM1 has two powered units, articulated with a central cab and initially developed by German builder Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik.

Two more zig-zags through deep cuttings remain before Panorama Point is reached, and then the line bends back to Simpson's Tank and ends at Matheran.