Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
About the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is a 610 mm (2 ft) narrow-gauge mountain railway that climbs from Siliguri at 119 m above sea level to Darjeeling at 2,044 m. In 1878 Franklin Prestage (1830–1897), an agent of the East Bengal Railway, proposed a 2-ft mountain railway to Darjeeling; authorization was granted in 1879 and the Darjeeling Steam Tramway Co. (later the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Co.) was established. At the time, the only trunk route from Calcutta (Kolkata) to Siliguri combined rail and ferries via East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh), then the metre-gauge North Bengal Railway to Siliguri. Construction, undertaken by the Calcutta firm and contractor Gillanders, Arbuthnot & Co., began in 1879; the line opened from Siliguri to Kurseong in 1880 and through to Darjeeling (82.1 km) in 1881. Geographically Darjeeling lies in West Bengal, but East Bengal Railway’s involvement followed from this routing.
It is often said the line could be completed in about two years not only thanks to Britain’s resources at the time but also because there are no tunnels at all and most of the alignment follows an existing road. The track climbs gradually along the contour lines, and where grades are otherwise insurmountable the route uses loops and switchbacks.
After Indian independence, the DHR company was purchased and nationalized by the Government of India in 1948 and later absorbed into Indian Railways. In the 1952–1958 reorganization the DHR entered the North Eastern Railway and was later transferred to the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), where it remains today. In 1964 the Siliguri end was extended and realigned to New Jalpaiguri (NJP), bringing the total length to 88 km; this has since been the operational core. Freight traffic was shifted to road haulage and discontinued in 1993, but in 1999 the DHR became the first component inscribed in UNESCO’s “Mountain Railways of India.” Today the core services are worked by diesel locomotives built in 1997, while the tourist Darjeeling–Ghum round-trip “Joyride” is operated mainly by steam.
About the Steam Locomotives
Four steam classes have been used: A, B, C, and D. The mainstay B-class originally comprised 34 engines numbered DHR 17–30, 32–36, and 39–53. In 1957 (excluding the already withdrawn 17, 20, 23, and 29) they were renumbered to 777–806. They were built between 1889 and 1927/1928 by Sharp, Stewart (777–785), North British (786–791, 798–806), Baldwin (792–794), and the DHR’s own Tindharia Workshops (795–797). The type is instantly recognizable by its unique appearance: a saddle tank behind the chimney and coal bunkers projecting on both sides of the boiler ahead of the cab. Other classes were the early-workhorse A-class (0-4-0WT; final withdrawal 1954), the two C-class (4-6-2) for branch service, and a single D-class Garratt.
Route Characteristics
The DHR largely parallels Hill Cart Road (today’s National Highway 110). Leaving the subtropical plains, the mountain climb begins at Sukna; through the town of Kurseong the line brushes past shopfronts along the main street. Beyond that it winds through tea-garden terraces, crosses Ghum—the summit station at 2,258 m—and then, from the scenic Batasia Loop, offers distant views of Kangchenjunga before entering Darjeeling again along city streets. Where the adjacent road would be too steep or sharply curved, the railway overcomes the terrain with loops (presently three: Chunabhatti, Agony Point, and Batasia) and six Z-reverses. The original Loop 1 was removed after landslides in the 1991 floods; Loop 2 was removed following the 1942 floods and replaced by Reverse No. 1.