The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the DHR or the Toy Train, is a 610 mm (2 ft) gauge railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. Built between 1879 and 1881, it is about 88 km (55 mi) long. It climbs from about 100 m (330 ft) above sea level at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 m (7,200 ft) at Darjeeling, using six zig zags and five loops to gain altitude. Ghum station is situated at an altitude of 2,258 metres (7,407 ft). Six diesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled service, with daily tourist trains from Darjeeling to Ghum – India's highest railway station – and the steam-hauled Red Panda service from Darjeeling to Kurseong. Steam-enthusiast specials are hauled by vintage British-built B-Class steam locomotives. The railway's headquarters are at Kurseong.

On 5 December 1999, UNESCO declared the DHR a World Heritage Site. Two m...Read more

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the DHR or the Toy Train, is a 610 mm (2 ft) gauge railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. Built between 1879 and 1881, it is about 88 km (55 mi) long. It climbs from about 100 m (330 ft) above sea level at New Jalpaiguri to about 2,200 m (7,200 ft) at Darjeeling, using six zig zags and five loops to gain altitude. Ghum station is situated at an altitude of 2,258 metres (7,407 ft). Six diesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled service, with daily tourist trains from Darjeeling to Ghum – India's highest railway station – and the steam-hauled Red Panda service from Darjeeling to Kurseong. Steam-enthusiast specials are hauled by vintage British-built B-Class steam locomotives. The railway's headquarters are at Kurseong.

On 5 December 1999, UNESCO declared the DHR a World Heritage Site. Two more railway lines were later added, and the site became known as one of the mountain railways of India.

Siliguri, at the base of the Himalayas, was connected with Calcutta (now Kolkata) by a metre gauge railway in 1878. Between Siliguri and Darjeeling, Tonga services ran on a cart road – the present-day Hill Cart Road.[1] Franklin Prestage, an agent of the Eastern Bengal Railway, approached the government with a proposal to lay a steam tramway from Siliguri to Darjeeling.[1] Ashley Eden, lieutenant governor of Bengal, formed a committee to assess the project's feasibility. The proposal was accepted in 1879 after a positive report by the committee,[1] and construction began that year.

Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Company was hired to construct the line, and by March 1880 track was laid as far as Tindharia, and Lord Lytton, the first viceroy to visit Darjeeling, rode to Tindharia on the train.[1] Colonel F.S. Taylor, R.E., Consulting Engineer to the Government of India for Guaranteed Railways, and Franklin Prestage inspected the line and authorised the stretch from Siliguri to Kurseong open for traffic from 16 August 1880.[2] It opened a few days later on 23 August 1880. The stretch from Siliguri to Darjeeling opened on 4 July 1881.[3][4] The company's name was changed to Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Company.[5]

Although the railway originally followed Hill Cart Road, the steepness of the road was more than the locomotives could handle in some areas. In 1882, four loops and four zig-zags were built between Sukna and Gayabari to ease the gradient[6] to a uniform 1 in 28.[7] The line was extended by a quarter-mile to Darjeeling Bazar in 1886.[4] The Darjeeling station was renovated in 1891 and Kurseong got a new station building and storage shed in 1896,[6] but the railway was affected by an 1897 earthquake and a major cyclone in 1899.[6] In 1902 heavy rains caused many landslips along the route and the Teesta bridge was washed away.[8] Services were maintained with transhipments at the breaks.

In 1910, the DHR carried 174,000 passengers and 47,000 tons of goods.[6] The first bogie carriages entered service, replacing basic four-wheel carriages. DHR extension lines were built to Kishanganj in 1914 and Gielkhola in 1915.[4] At Tindharia, the railway works were relocated from behind the locomotive shed to a larger site.[6]

The Batasia Loop was constructed in 1919, creating easier gradients on the ascent from Darjeeling.[6] The DHR began facing competition from buses operating on the Hill Cart Road which took less time than the railway to reach Darjeeling. In 1934, a major earthquake in Bihar shook all of Northeast India. Many buildings in Darjeeling were heavily damaged and the railway was also affected, although it soon recovered and played a vital role in transporting repair materials.[6] During World War II, the DHR transported military personnel and supplies to the camps around Ghum and Darjeeling.[6]

In 1951, the railway was purchased by the Indian government and was absorbed into the government railway organisation[6] before it was managed by the Assam Railway. Assam Railway (including the DHR) became part of the North Eastern Railway zone in 1952,[6] and part of Indian Railways' Northeast Frontier Railway zone six years later.[6] In 1962, the railway was realigned at Siliguri and extended by nearly 6 km (3.7 mi) to New Jalpaiguri (NJP) to meet the new broad-gauge line there.[6] The extension began freight service that year, and passenger service in 1964. The locomotive shed and carriage depot at Siliguri Junction were moved to NJP.

The railway was closed for 18 months during the Gorkhaland hostilities in 1988 and 1989.[6] It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.[9]

Following the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the service was stopped for 18 months from March 2020 to August 2021. On 25 August 2021, the service was restarted from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling with the new vistadome coaches for the tourists.[10]

Single-track line through a forest 
1880 line through the Terai
Europeans on an outdoor station platform 
The railway in 1895
Over-under rail loop 
The Choonbatty loop in 1895
Inclines and mountains 
Darjeeling reversing station around 1905
Another over-under loop 
The Agony Point loop in 1921
Steam passenger train rounding a curve 
1930s train
Steam locomotive in a shed 
Locomove in shed, 1979
^ a b c d "DHR History". darjeelingnews.net. Darjeelingnews. Archived from the original on 13 December 2003. Retrieved 24 February 2007. ^ "Colonel F.S. Taylor". Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore). India. 16 August 1880. Retrieved 25 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. ^ "Opening of the Darjeeling Tramway". Times of India. India. 8 July 1881. Retrieved 25 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. ^ a b c "DHR and Its Development". About DHR,dhr.in. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, NF Railway, India. Archived from the original on 10 August 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2007. ^ "The Darjeeling Tramway". Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore). India. 14 July 1881. Retrieved 25 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Whittle, Paul; Terry Martin. "A Brief History of the DHR". History and A Trip Up the Line. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2007. ^ "Darjeeling and Calcutta". Times of India. India. 7 April 1883. Retrieved 25 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. ^ "Recent Landslips on the Darjeeling and Himalayan Railway". Indian Daily News. India. 21 August 1902. Retrieved 25 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive. ^ Cite error: The named reference heritageunesco was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ "Darjeeling Toy Trains to be back on track from today, after more than a year". Hindustan Times. 25 August 2021.
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Arne Hückelheim 2010-09-21 12:41:53 This is a cropped in which the glare has been lessened - CC BY-SA 4.0
en:User:Mjanich - CC BY-SA 3.0
Ankur P from Pune, India - CC BY 2.0
Ankur P from Pune, India - CC BY 2.0
Chirag85 - CC BY-SA 4.0
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