One of the
major attractions of this fabulous hill station is
the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a steam locomotive. While the
long-haul trip from the plains of West Bengal to Darjeeling (about 70 km which
could take about 6-7 hours by train) is on hold due to restoration work
following a major landslide a few years ago, the short trip is operated by the
Railways as a ‘Joy Ride.’ The bogies are pulled by a steam locomotive,
one of the very few of its kind being operated in the world. One might
wonder what is so fascinating about a steam locomotive, which is probably over
a hundred years old, running at a speed of about 10 km an hour, or perhaps even
slower. One gets a better perspective when one realizes that over a
century ago, before DHR (Darjeeling Himalayan Railway) came into existence, it used
to take about 5 days to reach Darjeeling from the plains of West
Bengal, a distance of about 70 km. Some of the charts displayed at the
Railway museum portray the conditions which prevailed over a century ago; how
much thought, effort and time went into making DHR a reality; why and how,
at that time, the whistle and smoke of this train chugging up from the plains
to the slopes of Darjeeling, was a boon in terms of convenience and a delight
for the senses ...
