Nestled in the north of West Bengal, India are the towns
of Darjeeling and New Jalpaiguri. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway,
which is also known as the Toy Train, runs between these two towns. Running on
the narrow gauge, it was built between 1879 and 1881. The distance it travels
is around 78 kilometers. The most interesting part is that it travels over the
elevated terrain – from about 100 meters when it begins in New Jalpaiguri
to 2,200 meters when it reaches Darjeeling.
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, nicknamed the "Toy
Train", is a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railway from New Jalpaiguri to
Darjeeling in West Bengal, run by the Indian Railways.
The toy train ride in the Darjeeling Himalayan Railways
(DHR) is like a sweet lullaby in the midst of a dreamland. Though much has been
said about the present condition of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railways and
Darjeeling itself, a toy train ride through the misty tracks from Darjeeling
to
Kurseong will definitely rekindle the romanticism in a
person.
The entire track has 13 stations in between with Ghum being
the Highest one at 7404 ft. Ghum had once the honour of being the
highest Railway station in the world. Though this distinction has long since
gone, yet Ghum is the highest narrow gauge railway station.
The Darjeeling Himalayan railways are a living heritage.
When built in 1881, the engineers of DHR had pushed technology to the limit of
what conventional railways were capable of that time. The engineers used
various techniques such as loops and reverses to move through the difficult
domain through which the train would pass. The steam locomotives along with all
others provide a shining living heritage.
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railways provided an outstanding
example of the influence of ingenious transportation on the socio economic
development of the region.
DHR was ground breaking and outstanding in this case. The
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was thus very aptly given the status of World
Heritage Site by the UNESCO on 5th December 1999.
Remarkably it also served as model for similar developments
in the world. The development of the railways in the 19th century at such
difficult terrains had an overwhelming impact on the social and economic
development in many parts of the world.
Not much has been changed in the Darjeeling Himalayan
Railways. The track has been extended to New Jalpaiguri from Siliguri. And now
the trains are run mostly by diesel engines and not the erstwhile steam engines
,But steam engine runs on special occasions and from Darjeeling
to Ghum via the Batasia Loop (called the Joy Ride).
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Himalayan Railway holidays with our affiliate partner Booking.com
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