Darjeeling Toy Train

Places Covered: New Jalpaiguri - Tindharia - Sukna - Rangtong - Chunbati - Ghum - Darjeeling

A ride through the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) takes one to experience one of the most magical and most scenic rail journey of the world. Designated by the UNESCO as World Heritage Site, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway sets an emblem of excellent railway engineering.

Started in 1881, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway still runs with the same valour and mechanics as it did at the time of its inception. Covering the total distance of 88 km between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling, the toy train journey, though, takes long 8 hours, but, this is what constitute the best things about the train as the long ride makes one witness the amazing beautiful Himalayan scenery.

Climbing the vertical Himalayan mountain, the toy train takes its joyous passengers to an altitude of over 2,000 meters. Passing through several of scenic points like Agony Point and Runtong Watering Point, and narrow streets, the toy train ride enables travellers to have a superb glimpse of local landscape and life. The majestic scenery of Darjeeling comes to its best view when one is on the toy train.

The Darjeeling Himalayan railway is a marvel of sorts in what one would call non-engineering. It uses neither rack mechanism nor cable as other mountain railways do, but moves only on adhesion. It was the genius and vision of Franklin Prestage, which conceived of such a mechanism and executed it to perfection. During its 87.48-kms journey from Siliguri to Darjeeling, the toy train as it is aptly and affectionately referred to, loops gracefully around those recalcitrant humps, much like a spiral and chugs its way up to Ghum, its highest point at 7,407 feet. It seems to be gentle persuasion all the way. The only other mountain railway in the world that reaches a higher altitude is in the Andes where Cusco station is located at 14,000 feet, but the mechanism used there is different.

After Kurseong, it's tea garden all the way. Margaret's Hope, stretches for miles in front of the onlooker and one can marvel at the deftness with which the hill women pick the tealeaves and drop it into the massive baskets on their backs. Their movements seem choreographed to perfection. But they have time to pause and flash a smile at the visitors passing by.

After pausing at Tung station for water, the train climbs to Sonada station built in the 1880s. From here, one heads for the clouds – Ghum, enveloped eternally in a mist. As one nears Ghum, its colourful monastery comes into view. After ghum, the train runs up along a small ridge to reach the most spectacular engineering feat on the line-the Batasia Loop – with a breath-taking view of the Kanchenjunga as a backdrop. At Batasia, there is a memorial to the Gorkhas. After its laborious climb, the train takes its last drink of water before teetering precariously on the hillside to reach its final destination, the Darjeeling station.

New Jalpaiguri, the starting point of the hill train to Darjeeling, has direct connections to Calcutta, Delhi, Guwahati and other places in India.

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