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The Toy Train is an old tiny-gauge railway going up the hill from Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling. It's so steep that there are six switchbacks -- the train reverses direction -- and a few loops.
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The engine of the Toy Train. |
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The first-class car. |
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The day we left, a Bollywood film crew was filming a former Miss Universe and a famous male movie star, Sharukh Khan, making some movie involving the train. Everyone was there to try to catch a glimpse. We had to be very insistent that we actually had tickets to go on the train that day. But they let us through, and the train left only 15 minutes late, with a diesel engine instead of a steam engine. The entire day was pretty foggy, so we didn't get any majestic mountain vistas. |
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Darjeeling as we leave. |
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Along the entire track people would come out of their houses twice a day to watch the train pass by, once in each direction. |
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Many brave people hitched a ride on the train for short distances. |
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Here's a monument in Batasia Loop, near the top of the track. |
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Road signs visible from the track, which also describe the trip on the train. |
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The station at the end of the line had a map of the toy train route (the "Darjeeling Himalayan Railroad"). You can see the loops and reverses and elevations, from 533 ft up to 7407 ft at Ghoom (it's odd that they're in feet, not meters). |
