Part 2 - Darjeeling Railway (India) - Steam Special – Rongtong to Kurseong - Zig Zags & Loops - 4K

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In this video the railway enters the mountain section of the route and the scenery reflects our gain in altitude. The diminutive locomotive hauling just one carriage slipped to a halt on numerous occasions as rusty rails and steep gradients conspired to test the locomotive crew to the limit. The line opened the day before our trip after services had been suspended for over 4 months between the 5th July to 17th November 2024 due to a number of serious landslips between Sukhna and Kurseong caused by heavy rain. Damage to both the road and railway can be seen at a number of locations and the rains also washed a huge amount of debris onto both the road and railway. The road is never far from the railway and in places they share the same alignment. This railway is unique and well worth visiting, please join me on this trip to experience train travel as you've never experiened it before.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) built between 1879 to 1881 and affectionately referred to as the 'Toy Train' is a 610mm (2 ft) narrow gauge line located in the Indian state of West Bengal. The train begins its journey from New Jalpaiguri, just 100 metres above sea level rising to an altitude of 2200 metres by the time it reaches journeys end at Darjeeling. The line runs next to the Hill Cart Road for much of its route gaining height via a series of Zig Zags and loops. Six Diesel locomotives handle the scheduled passenger services between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling with steam operating the daily tourist trains between Darjeeling and Ghum, the highest station in India at 2258 meters above sea level. British built B-Class steam locomotives handle enthusiast specials such as the train featured in this video. The railway's headquarters are located in Kurseong and on the 5th December 1999, UNESCO declared the DHR a World Heritage Site. Siliguri, located at the base of the Himalayas, was connected to Calcutta (now Kolkata) by a metre gauge railway in 1878. The Hill Cart Road connected Siliguri with Darjeeling. Franklin Prestage from the Eastern Bengal Railway approached the government with a proposal to lay a steam tramway from Siliguri to Darjeeling. The proposal was accepted in 1879 and work began that year. Construction of the line was undertaken by Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Company with the railhead reaching Tindharia in March 1880. Colonel F.S. Taylor and Franklin Prestage inspected the line between Siliguri to Kurseong declaring it open for traffic on the 16th August 1880 with the completed route between Siliguri and Darjeeling opening on 4th July 1881. Although the railway followed the Hill Cart Road for much of its route, the gradient proved too severe in places to be operated by adhesion worked locomotives, as a result four loops and four zig-zags were built in 1882 between Sukna and Gayabari to ease the gradient to a uniform 1 in 28.
The 1897 earthquake damaged the railway as did a major cyclone in 1899. Heavy rains caused many landslips along the route and the Teesta bridge was washed away in 1902. The Batasia Loop was constructed in 1919 to ease the gradients on the ascent from Darjeeling. In 1934, a major earthquake shook Northeast India causing serious damage to many buildings in Darjeeling with the railway also heavily affected, it was soon repaired to play a vital role in the transportation of materials to repair the damage caused by the quake. The DHR played an important role in WW2 transporting military personnel and supplies to the camps around Ghum and Darjeeling. In 1951, the railway was purchased by the Indian government to become part of Indian Railways.

To watch Part 1, please click on this link - https://youtu.be/J0y5iKJgGhs

Animated travel routes - https://www.routegenerator.net/

To learn more about this fascinating railway, please click on this link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darjeeling_Himalayan_Railway

01:45 - Rongtong
10:27 - Route diagram - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darjeeling_Himalayan_Railway
10:37 - Zig Zag No.1 - https://www.openrailwaymap.org/
23:37 - Chunbhati Loop - Google Maps
27:08 - Zig Zag No.2 - Google Maps
28:20 - Zig Zag No.3 - Google Maps
31:50 - Tindharia Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon Workshops
33:49 - Tindharia station
36:12 - Zig Zag No.4
40:19 - Zig Zag No.5
40:56 - Gayabari
43:27 - Zig Zag No.6

00:51 & Zig Zag locations - Map - Google Earth
01:08 & Zig Zag locations - Map - https://www.openrailwaymap.org/

This trip was part of a tour “Railways of the Raj” organised by “The Railway Touring Company” - https://www.railwaytouring.net/ in conjunction with Travel Pals (India) Pvt Ltd