A Rail Plane Traveller

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Now for the reason that I traveled all this way, The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Also known as the "Toy Train", it is a 2ft wide (610 mm) narrow gauge railway railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in West Bengal India.

This magnificent feat of engineering was built between 1879 and 1881, and is 78 km long. It begins at the elevation of about 100 metres (328 ft) at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 metres (7,218 ft) at Darjeeling. Four modern diesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled services; however the daily Kurseong-Darjeeling return service and the daily tourist trains from Darjeeling to Ghum (India's highest railway station) are handled by the vintage British-built B Class steam locomotives - DHR778. However as mentioned in my earlier post, due to a landslide in 2010, the line now is only between Kurseong and Darjeeling.

DHR was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1999, along with the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the Kalka-Shimla Railway, is listed as a Mountain Railways of India World Heritage site.
The station at Darjeeling is a landmark in the center of the town, with the station platform on the left and you enter the town, with the locomotive shed on the right with the road in the middle.

The station and platforms

Loco shed on the right

The beautiful steam locomotive

Train enthusiast would love the fact that you can walk up close to the trains, touch and feel all you want.

Refurbished in 2007

First Class

Third Class

The tiny turntable

There are also four diesel locomotives of the NDM6 class transferred from the Matheran Hill Railway that operate the services from the lowland but due to the land slide, they now only operate the normal service to Kurseong leaving the Steam locomotives to operate the tourist train to Ghum

One of the main difficulties faced by the DHR was the steepness of the climb. To overcome those problems loops and Z-reverses were designed different points along the route to achieve a comfortable gradient for the stretches in between them. When the train moves forwards, reverses and then moves forward again, climbing a slope each time while doing so, it gains height along the side of the hill. Once the whole stretch is reopened next year I would like to take the whole 8 hour journey to experience the Z-reverses. This is a route diagram of the whole system.

from DHR Indian Railway web page

a 1921 photo of the Agony Point loop

Painting of a Z-reverse at the DHR Museum

Next post will be of my 2 train rides on the DHR. Do visit again soon.

Darjeeling

Darjeeling is a beautiful hill station, just like our Cameron Highlands, it was a place that the British colonials would go to run away from the heat of the lowlands. It is often referred to as the queen of the Himalayas and famous around the world for Darjeeling tea and the little blue trains of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway which has UNESCO World Heritage Status.

On a clear day, Mt Kanchenjunga forms a beautiful backdrop to this town that clings to the sides of the mountains. Mt Kanchenjunga is the world's third highest mountain, with an elevation of 28169 feet. We only managed to see it on the first morning and sadly it was hidden in the clouds the rest our stay.

Mt Kanchenjunga overlooking the town

The town center is the Chowrasta and the Chowk Bazzar. The Chowrasta is a flat vehicle free area that is surrounded by lovely shops and great views of the town. It's an oasis from the noise of vehicles in the rest of the town.

The best way to visit some of the places of interest is on foot, however you must remember a couple of things. First a distance in the hills will feel like almost three times of a similar distance on flat ground as you will be walking uphill. And most of the roads in Darjeeling have steep gradient or slope. So unless you are used to walking in the hills, it may not be as easy as you may think. Second, there are some sightseeing places in Darjeeling that can only be reached on foot. A vehicle can only go up to a point beyond which you will need to walk. So make sure your have a good pair of walking shoes!

This is a lovely old style bookstore

The inside of the bookstore

The Chowrasta Mall

There are many beautiful old colonial buildings that look like they belong in the English countryside rather than India.

A must do, is visit one of the many English style hotels and have English tea.

My companion for tea

Having tea that was grown just down the road

Cool weather and lovely views

Lovely setting

Another interesting place to visit is the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. It was established in honour of Tenzing Norgay after he and Sir Edmund Hillary climbed the Everest in 1953.It has some nice exhibits on the Himalaya's and mountaineering.