Roy pulls the toy train with his ponytail. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, April 28: He had earlier pulled a truck with his moustache and two buses with his ponytail. Siliguri’s Samson graduated to a toy train today.

Shailen Roy pulled three coaches and the engine of a Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) toy train with his ponytail at Siliguri Town Station in his first attempt at the task.

“After pulling a bus, I thought my next target would be an aeroplane, for which I had approached the district administration,” said the 5ft-5inch-tall driver of the police department, swaying his waist-length hair in triumph after the haul. “But for some reason I was not allowed. I then approached the officials for permission to pull a toy train, and was given the go-ahead,” Roy said.

Roy pulled the train — weighing 35 tonnes, which is over 600 times his own wight — seven metres in front of more than 5,000 residents of Bagrakot and Subhashpally, which are located close to the station.

Subrata Nath, the director of the DHR, and Shanti Chakraborty, member, mayor-in-council of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, also watched the event in rapt attention. Roy’s wife and only son, however, missed the fun.

“It is an amazing feat which I saw with my own eyes today,” said Nath after the 10-minute show.

As Roy got ready to pull the train along the tracks on a flat stretch, the enthusiastic onlookers, including dignitaries, watched wide-eyed. But the enthusiasm went beyond control as soon as he started the pull, with the people rushing onto the tracks. The government railway police and Siliguri police were almost clueless on how to control the pushing and shoving of the crowd that surrounded Roy.

“He could have pulled it over a longer distance, but because of the chaos, we did not allow him to do that,” said Nath.

After literally tagging his name with one of the world’s most famous trains, Roy is now trying to get his name included in the Guinness Book of World Records.

“I have approached the Guinness Book authority and they asked me to send the details of my performances with video footage,” said Roy, who started practising all this when he was 31 years old.

Now at 41, Roy takes 500ml of milk with grass (durba) every day to maintain his physique.

Gurudeb Saha, an official of the Raja Rammohan Roy Sporting Club, which organised the show, said: “We are ready to extend our all cooperation to him in future.”