Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, India, 31/12/1993
Photographs on the narrow gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, as it heads up the mountain to Darjeeling, north east India. Unfortunately, due to a recent landslip between Kurseong and Darjeeling the railway journey was terminated at the town of Kurseong, but this still allowed the group to experience these magnificent little trains winding their way up these impressive mountains.
The tour group was given tickets for the train up to Darjeeling and was also allocated four or five taxis (Austin Ambassadors), so we could either travel on the train or photograph the train from the roadside, or do some of both. These taxis appear in some of the photographs.
My appreciation of the capabilities of a diminutive 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive was greatly increased after seeing these locomotives at work.
1-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway narrow gauge steam locomotive, class B 0-4-0ST no. 795 (built by DHR in 1919) at New Jalpaiguri station, prepares to take a passenger train up the mountains towards Darjeeling.
2-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway narrow gauge steam locomotive, class B 0-4-0ST no. 795 (built by DHR in 1919), heads the passenger train towards Darjeeling in the mountains, at Siliguri. Here the 2ft gauge DHR track crosses the metre gauge line. Note the cow looking on at the left.
3-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 795 (built by DHR in 1919), passing through a village while heading towards Darjeeling with the train.
4-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 795 (built by DHR in 1919) takes water at Sukna before continuing towards Darjeeling with the train. The steep climb up the mountain begins around here.
5-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 795 (built by DHR in 1919) “neck and neck” with an Austin Ambassador taxi while heading up the mountain towards Darjeeling. The DHR follows the road practically all of the way to Darjeeling and crosses it many times.
6-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 795 (built by DHR in 1919) traverses one of the many level crossings while heading up the mountain towards Darjeeling with the train.
7-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 795 (built by DHR in 1919) taking water while heading up the mountain towards Darjeeling with the. Many of the passengers have got out to stretch their legs.
8-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 795 (built by DHR in 1919) receiving running repairs on the journey up the mountain towards Darjeeling. The train came to a stop and then hammering could be heard. Investigation showed a bit of metal being “adjusted”, using the rail as an anvil, before being replaced in the locomotive running gear (see next photograph).
9-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 795 (built by DHR in 1919) has the “adjusted” component refitted. When this job was completed, the crew got back in the cab, sounded the whistle and started to continue the journey up the mountain. This led to a scramble to get back in the carriages by the passengers who had got off to view what had been going on.
10-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 805 (built by North British in 1925) is replacing no. 795 for the rest of the journey up the mountain towards Darjeeling. While reversing onto the carriages a local girl enjoyed a short trip on the locomotive.
11-of-22) Traversing a zig-zag, photograph 1: the train is travelling forwards and is entering the zig-zag round the mountainside from the left, and continues to travel behind the photographer before it comes to a stop.
Traversing a zig-zag
To gain height on the steep mountainside, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway has to resort to zig-zags and loops. The three photographs here illustrate locomotive class B 0-4-0ST no. 805 (built by North British in 1925), and its train, traversing one of several zig-zags on the route.
12-of-22) Traversing a zig-zag, photograph 2: the train is reversing on the middle part of the zig-zag and will come to a stop shortly after it has crossed the road.
13-of-22) Traversing a zig-zag, photograph 3: the train is now travelling forward again out of the zig-zag and is continuing its journey up the mountain towards Darjeeling. One of the taxis is waiting somewhere out of view to collect me, and any others around, to chase and overtake the train further along.
14-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 805 (North British 1925) rushes past on its journey up the mountain towards Darjeeling with the passenger train
Points of interest:
- The man sitting on top of the locomotive looks after the coal in the bunker, which is below his feet. He breaks up the large lumps of coal into manageable sizes for the fire and supplies the pieces to the footplate crew.
- The two men sitting on the front of the locomotive drop sand on the rails when necessary to give extra adhesion to the driving wheels and prevent them from slipping. The sand is carried in buckets; one of which can just be made out to the left of the feet of the man with his back to us.
- The wooden pole on the side of the boiler at the top is a re-railing pole and is used to help lever the locomotive, or a carriage, back onto the track should it become derailed.
15-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 805 (North British 1925), and its train, traversing one of the loops, in this case “Agony loop”, to gain height on the climb up to Darjeeling. The structures to the right of centre appeared to be shrines.
16-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 782 (built by Sharp Stewart in 1899) passes while bringing its passenger train down the mountain from the direction of Darjeeling.
17-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 805 with the train at a spectacular overlook while heading up the mountain towards Darjeeling.
18-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 805 passes a repaired landslip while heading up the mountain towards Darjeeling with the train. Landslips caused by heavy rain are one of the curses of the DHR and frequently cause the line to be cut until repairs can be made.
19-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 805 enters Kurseong with the train on election day while heading towards Darjeeling.
20-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 805 and train pass Kurseong locomotive shed as they approach the station.
21-of-22) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway class B 0-4-0ST no. 805 with the passenger train takes water and has its ashpan emptied at Kurseong station, India, 31st December 1993. The train had to terminate here since there had been a landslide further on and it was not possible to reach Darjeeling by train. The journey to Darjeeling had to be completed using the tour group’s fleet of taxis.
22-of-22) Site of the landslide on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, undermining the track between Kurseong and Darjeeling. This prevented the train from travelling from Kurseong to Darjeeling, so the group had to use their fleet of taxis, one of which can be seen beyond the landslide.
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