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Go Backpacking > Destinations > Asia > India > The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

May 31, 2008 By Dave

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Darjeeling Himalayan

The day after visiting the zoo I set my sights on a joyride on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. I was up at 5:30am, out of bed by 7am, queued for a train ticket at the rail station around 7:30am, and enjoying breakfast at the popular cafe Glenary's by 8:30am. I received an email from Natalie stating she, Sarah, and Cameron just arrived in town.

At 11am, I paid for a taxi to take me back and forth for the necessary (and free) permit to enter Sikkim in a few days. The process of shuttling between two offices still took an hour but it was well worth the cost.

Chugging along the main road

Around 12pm, I headed back down to the train station to await my turn on the World Heritage listed toy train. When the little locomotive pulled into the station and people began to disembark, I bumped into Natalie, Sarah and Cameron. It was nice to see familiar faces, and we made plans to meet later that evening at 6:30pm back at Glenary's (restaurant).

Photo stop

I jumped on the train and was immediately asked to switch seats by two separate Indian families. I agreed to both, moving from the front of the train to the last seat, however on the way back, it meant I had the absolute front seat (so I could watch the engineers and brakemen at work).

Stoking the coal fire

The little train took off, chugging parallel to the road I had taken up to Darjeeling. The train is over 100 years old, running along the side of mountains, so it doesn't move much faster than the people walking on the street. At first the train just seemed to be a noisy, pollution-spewing, antiquated mechanical contraption, however it's charms grew on me over the course of the ride. The views were fantastic, and riding the rails was a lot smoother than driving on the roads.

Turnaround point - Ghoom - Elev. 2,258 meters

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Filed Under: India

About Dave

Dave is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Go Backpacking and Feastio. He's been to 65 countries and lived in Colombia and Peru. Originally from New York, Dave now calls Austin, TX home. Find him on Instagram and Twitter.

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Comments

  1. crambox says

    May 31, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    Yea! Dave a train ride, I love the blue paint your camera picks it up so well. I guess you found a place to upload some pictures . How long was the train ride?

  2. crambox says

    May 31, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    Yea! Dave a train ride, I love the blue paint your camera picks it up so well. I guess you found a place to upload some pictures . How long was the train ride?

  3. crambox says

    May 31, 2008 at 8:54 am

    Yea! Dave a train ride, I love the blue paint your camera picks it up so well. I guess you found a place to upload some pictures . How long was the train ride?

  4. Darjeeling Second Flush Tea says

    May 19, 2011 at 6:00 pm

     The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is one of the most well known hill railways in the world…and a delight it is!! 

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