There are books on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway that you should be reading and a BBC documentary that you should be watching. But here you are on my blog. Silly you!

Part II contains numerous things that didn’t fit into Part I. Whereas Part I was an overview, this is more of a potpourri, and a lot of photographs.

Recap

The DHR runs only two services at the moment due to a major landslide that severed the line a couple of years ago and is still being repaired.The tourist traffic from Darjeeling to Ghum and return is handled by the remaining steam engines which haul two or three coaches depending upon demand. The school requirements are handled by one of the diesels with three coaches between Kurseong and Darjeeling.

That the line was built at all I find incredible. The curves are impossibly tight and the gradients always steep. The little steam engines with only two driving axles and all the weight on those axles manage to do the job with the help of a little sand now and then. But it certainly struggles at times.

A watering stop, halfway between Darjeeling and Ghum.

Sadly many of the steam locomotives are up on blocks and being scavenged for parts, such as here at the Kurseong locomotive shed.

The yard at Kurseong looks abandoned and in sad shape. I saw only two flat cars on the line, although there may be more freight equipment at Tindharia and further down the railway, but clearly with all the trucks hauling goods, the days of the DHR as a freight railway are over.

And yes that is a person sleeping on the car.

Finally a couple more shots from Kurseong.

The diesel is coupled to the head of the 7:00 train ready to reverse into the street and then head to Darjeeling.

That’s all from the DHR. But plenty more India to come.

Cheers,

Grover