The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
The narrow-gauge toy train climbing from the plains of West Bengal to Darjeeling, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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via Wikipedia: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway · see source
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, or DHR, is a narrow-gauge line in West Bengal, India, running about 88 km from New Jalpaiguri up to the hill town of Darjeeling. Built between 1879 and 1881, it rises from roughly 100 m above sea level to about 2200 m, using zig zags and loops to gain height on the steep slopes. Along the way it reaches Ghum, the highest railway station in India. UNESCO listed the line as a World Heritage Site on 5 December 1999, and it is now grouped with other hill lines as one of the mountain railways of India.
Lore & Background
By 1878 Siliguri was linked to Calcutta by rail, but travellers still went up to Darjeeling by tanga on the Hill Cart Road. Franklin Prestage of the Eastern Bengal Railway proposed a steam tramway, and after a favourable committee report the plan was approved in 1879.
Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Company built it; Lord Lytton rode as far as Tindharia in 1880, the section to Kurseong opened that August, and the full route to Darjeeling opened on 4 July 1881. Extra loops and zig-zags were added in 1882 to ease the grade, and the Batasia Loop followed in 1919. The Indian government bought the railway in 1951.
Did You Know?
- Ghum station sits at 7,410 ft.
- In 1910 the railway carried 174,000 passengers and 47,000 tons of goods.
- Of 34 B-Class engines built, only 12 were in use or under repair by 2005.
- DHR 778 is the only DHR steam locomotive ever taken out of India.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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