Indian Magic 2020

This trip was to visit three hill railways in India and I had planned and booked it for about a year before I set out. By now (11th March 2020) the corona virus CO-VID 19 had been declared a pandemic but India was still accepting tourists and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice was still that we could go, so we went. 

It was over a year before that Doreen suggested that perhaps I might like to go somewhere on my own for a change, possibly she wanted rid of me, possibly not. So I started researching the hill railways especially the three that the BBC had covered in a short series: Darjeeling, Shimla and Ooty. I found plenty of Indian trips that visited them in passing but railways were not the central theme of their offerings. Then I found the 'Indian Magic!' itinerary offered by Darjeeling Tours, this ticked all the boxes and I was hooked. In brief there was a tram ride in Kolkata, lots of rides on The Darjeeling Himalayan railway, a trip up the Shimla hill railway from Kalka and an optional excursion to Ooty to ride on the rack railway and in between we would be visiting various railway museums and oh yes the Taj Mahal.

On March 11th 2020 I entered terminal 3 at Heathrow and immediately spotted Monica and Martin who were also on the trip. Darjeeling Tours gave you distinctive yellow baggage labels which mark you out. I also found Derek with his  rucksack at the departure gate. After the flight via Dubai and filling in the health screening questionaire we all met up at the concourse of Kolkata. Derek couldn't answer one of the questions, he has no mobile phone nor does he possess any screens at home, sounds like nirvana. I should mention that as we travelled we heard that India was closing its borders to tourists in a day or so. We thought that Peter Jordan from Darjeeling Tours, who had been our point of contact thus far, and who was planning to join us at Siliguri, was going to miss this deadline. Most importantly we met Jagdeep Patel who was our tour manager and guide for the trip, and who worked tirelessly under what became difficult circumstances to meet our needs and aspirations. 

In the foreground is Jagdeeps assistant, for several days I failed to catch his name but I now understand it is Partha but it also might be Roy!

Schindlers Lift.

So we then had our first taste of Indian traffic as we made our way through the sprawl of Kolkata from the airport to our hotel (The Peerless). Tuk Tuks, more properly called auto-rickshaws, coaches, motor scooters and other vehicles jockeyed for position all around us on our journey which took about three quarters of an hour and upped my heart rate a notch or two.  I sat next to Glen and Peter and chatted away. As well as giving out water Jagdeep gave us each a facemask. Check-in at the hotel included having our temperature checked. On our way to our rooms, in the annex, I noticed that the name of the lift manufacturer was Schindler. In another aside, if from your room if you wanted to go to the restaurant and you wanted to avoid the main entrance, with its x-ray machine and temperature screening, you could go down to the 5th floor, cross over on the skywalk (a bridge) and enter the main building. This became the third floor in that building, a fact that wasn't important until I attempted the return trip and couldn't find which floor in the main building the skywalk was on. Looking out of my seventh floor window I saw that there was a family living on the roof of the bulding next door.

That afternoon I took a stroll on the nearby streets and I braved the nearby dual carriageway. First crossing at a pedestrian crossing where no one stopped for you, and where you just dodged the traffic as best you could. By and large everyone swerved around you with much honking of horns. I later crossed it again in a different spot judging that there was a gap. The one thing that I took from this was that the drivers and riders used their horns continuously and in the resultant cacophony you couldn't make out if one or more of the horns was directed at you. All around the streets there were stalls selling a variety of things but I resisted making any purchases and had to confess I was a little apprehensive by the crush of bodies and expected to be mugged at any moment especially when I was approached by people offering to take me to the 'best' shop. One of the buildings was a tower block and I saw an advert for fish pedicures but on looking could only see large Koi Carp. Not sure I like the idea of fish scavanging hard skin from my feet but certainly dont want Koi doing it.

The highlight of the next day was to be a tram ride. For this another guide was added to herd us along, as far as I know no one remembers his name, if indeed they heard it because he was very quietly spoken and the background noise drowned him out or perhaps my ears had shut down.

The tram was very old. When we first got in the overhead fans were running, the driver started reversing and the power went off and the fans stopped. Chris and Margaret used the time to start a mobile photo duel, no contest, Chris had the latest 'pro' version of the apple phone. Not envious really. A short while later a large recovery vehicle came up to us nudged us rearward, none too gently, and power was restored. You know the song 'ding ding ding went the trolley' well the dinging on this tram was worked by the driver stamping on the floor button with his right heel.

A word about the dogs we saw, most were in surprisingly good condition, people didn't pay them much heed and I didn't see any cruelty.

Some Photos of our tram and a bookshop. 

Our trip was on a chartered tram from the terminus at Esplanade to the Shyambazar terminus and return. At one point there was bookshop after bookshop on both sides of the road, often a bookshop would only cater for one part of one college subject. This road had two universities and at least five colleges, clearly in Kolkata, at least, education is very important. A few hundred yards from the Shyambazar terminus there was a large roundabout and I (bravely) crossed each joining road until I was back to my starting point. One thing had been emphasised, only drink bottled water and check the seal. At one of the corners there was a shop where they were putting sealed caps on bottled water, however it looked like the water might have come from an ordinary tap!

After our return to the tram depot where we saw this little beauty (below) we set out on a walk to some of the sights in old Kolkata, some buildings from the time of the British Rule.

This took in St Johns Cathedral (now downgraded to a church and there we saw monuments to various dignitaries and a monument to those who died in the infamous black hole of Calcutta:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hole_of_Calcutta 

Those that read the wiki will note that there is some doubt about the historical accuracy of the tale.  In the grounds of the church we saw these little critturs which some amongst us identified as chipmunks: 

However since returning to the UK I have seen pictures of the Indian Palm Squirrel and I feel it might have been those. Our destination then was the railway station at Howrah on the other side of the river and we crossed by a ferry. This had to  get away hurriedly from the quayside as a tidal bore was coming up the Hooghly river. We rode it out midstream before returning for the rest of the passengers eventually getting to the other bank and entering the railway station. After a lunch break we walked to the museum which frankly was a disappointment. Our return to the hotel was in a fleet of yellow taxies which after crossing the famous Howrah bridge gave no quarter, scything through trafic and pedestrians alike with much horn blowing. There was also a muslim parade going on which at times restricted full flow on the road. 

Jagdeep had organised a meal in a local restaurant and I sat with Linda and Paul who were very concerned that my dinner, ordered at the same time as theirs failed to arrive. When it did arrive it was very nice and so was the company, we were certainly able to converse better than we had in our shared taxi earlier. Looking out of the hotel window early next morning I saw people walking with huge packs on their backs as they went to set up their stalls. 

There's only one 'e' in Cindrella  

Our home for the next three nights was the Cindrella hotel in Siliguri. About that name, well the hotel logo is a fairytale coach so clearly it is supposed to be 'Cinderella' not that that bothered us, its just odd that's all. Roughly twenty of us got here following an AirIndia flight from Kolkata to Badogra and then a ride in what seemed to be a rather battered bus with our luggage strapped on top. Yes, the coach was a bit battered inside and out, but it and its sister coach served us well. We thought the traffic in Kolkata anarchic but nothing like Siliguri in the evening rush, it wasn't planned that way but the two hour delay at Kolkata airport hadn't been planned either. Hey presto Peter 'Fuzz' Jordan popped up, he had taken an earlier flight from UK and after a few words from him he handed over to Jagdeep. Each evening we got a briefing about the following day and any of it's changes. We were due to go to a tea plantation but we couldn't as they were on strike. Each time there had to be changes there was an apology and something else was substituted and I believe we all were satisfied with each new plan.

The people who had taken the train from Kolkata got a rather better deal than the fliers. The train wasn't the one listed, with its accompanying warning of it sometimes running several hours late, no, this was a 'new' train, much faster and apparently they were fed all the way. 

The meals in the hotel were all vegetarian and of a high standard, I didn't hear many complaints, certainly I had none. There was one niggle though, they didn't seem to have a way of easily reconciling drinks orders with room numbers, each of us had to undergo some sort of mini audit in order to achieve it. I'm nit picking but also coffee and tea seemed to take a long time to arrive, noticeably at breakfast when we were under time pressure.

Instead of the tea plantation we drove to the coronation bridge, walked over it, and then we drove to a viewpoint to look back at the bridge:

Looking back through my photos I liked this one (below) of us in disarray at the viewpoint and then of us a little later at the next stop, a chai shack, when suddenly a train came by and you could tell the real train afficionados, whereas I focused on the advert for a piles clinic, (Monday and Thursday only). We then drove back to Siliguri junction and our rendezvous with a hill railway. 

The Darjeeling hill railway Day 1

We now started one of the main parts of our trip, it is almost impossible nowadays to do the whole journey, steam hauled, in a single day but we had three bites of the cherry. We first got to see the preparation of our engine number 782 'Mountaineer' at the Siliguri engine shed. 

This was for our Sunday afternoon/evening dining train from Siliguri to Rangtong. The map below, like the others later, has been scanned in from my copy of A visitor's guide, Darjeeling's Wonderful Railway (DHRS) Actually purchased in Darjeeling. I will also confess that not all the photos are mine, The one above for example came from Kjeld, one of our group. 

The group was divided into two, with half of us in the dining car, changing places at Sukna.   Our meal was provided by the hotel. For some reason probably to do with bylaws or health and safety the beer we drank was served up in mugs and Jagdeep saw to it that we were topped up throughout. 

I was in the group that started in the Dining car. It is flat to Sunak but after changing coaches we started going up in the dark. It was quite exciting with lots of sparks and embers from the engine going into the night sky. The route closely follows the hill cart road and two small buses kept with us. Clearly in places the engine was struggling and we came to a dead stop at least twice before arriving at Rangtong we then got into the buses and returned to the hotel.  I think its safe to say that we all enjoyed ourselves and many had phone envy seeing what pictures Chris's iPhone could produce. 

The Darjeeling Hill Railway Day 2

An early start saw us on the buses again going from our hotel to New Jalpaiguri station where we were due to take a steam hauled train to Tindharia. Instead of immediately joining the train we were told there would be a delay of a couple of hours and the first parts of the journey to Siliguri would be on a diesel! This gave us a chance to explore the station and as the next photo shows the two gauges in the station (there used to be a metre gauge as well). 

At the station we became aware of a number of people taking videos and photos of us and I was told about the production of a dvd about the line and that the director was Peter Middleton who would be accompanying us and that a camera would be fitted to the front of the engine to record a 'drivers eye' view. Other photographers would also be producng material. I now have a copy of the first dvd which covers day two and this has helped jog my memory about aspects of the trip.

A couple of hours later a 2' gauge diesel pulled some empty coaches onto our platform. Up to then the only thing we had seen on the narrow gauge lines was the odd cow. On the main line several long freight trains passed.

Once the train leaves the station there is another hold up as it has to cross two broadgauge tracks some distance apart before crossing the Mahananda river. At some point in this stretch we were again stopped and adjacent to some shacks some of us saw and all heard a chicken being despatched, just by one of our open windows. It was quickly plucked and cut into portions the whole operation taking just a few minutes. We then transferred to the steam pulled charter train, whilst our original train went on to Darjeeling. It was the same locomotive as yesterday and in no better fettle. 

It had been arranged that, if you wished, you could travel by coach along the adjacent road stopping for photoshoots, many of my photos from inside the train depicted members of our party on the road taking pictures of the train I was on, this, although this boring photo of Simon and Kjeld looking at us, at least shows the nature of the road to Sukna.

From then on the road often switched sides with the rail and steadily climbed, we stopped for water several times and once at least running repairs were carried out. There was much interest from the passengers and much use of hammers. we also noticed that in places the trackbed was a little suspect.

This was the area of previous loops that are no longer there but soon we would be encountering the loops and Z reverses in the steeper section before Tindharia. These structures enable much height to be gained in a short space.There is much confusion about the loops in particular, instead of being named for their location they are numbered. Various parts of the line have been washed away by the monsoons and some of the loops have been removed altogether and others extensively reconfigured with renumbering afterwards. Use of out of date sources by authors have resulted in the positions of the various loops being inaccurately described or numbered. So about a km before Rangtong we passed the site of the first loop that had been reconfigured in 1883 and then totally destroyed in 1991. After Rangtong we came across the first reversing z, arrowed below at the bottom right hand corner. It actually replaces the old number two loop which was roughly in the same place.

The start of the diagonal part of the Z 

Towards the end of the diagonal part of the Z

This reversing loop gains more height than any of the others. In the background of the second photo you can see a water truck which accompanied us and gave us water top-ups away from fixed water points. Following the reverse Z number 1 we soon arrived at what is now the first loop at Chunbati. The following drawing is from another of my books "Going Loopy' purchased from DHRS upon my return to UK to help me make some sense of the various descriptions I had of the line. I didn't take photographs of this loop I just watched and tried to work out what was happening. I have got a video of this loop taken from several points trackside but it seems quite different from an on-train viewpoint.

Reverses 2 and 3 soon followed then the approach to Tindharia. We knew that the line had been extensively damaged in 2011 and 2012 and the major landslip in 2011 was followed by the destruction of the back wall of the works in 2012.

This view shows the extent of the landslip. The light material at the bottom of the slip is the reinforcing which at the moment extends probably 2/3 of the way up to the line the buildings at the top are what remains of the works. I reckon at the time of the photo we were about 25 to 30 minutes from the station which lies beyond the works at a higher level. Looking back at the map, the yellow dot is the works and the red square the station. By the time we got to the station our coaches were ready to speed us back to Siliguri. Considering we had taken all day to get here the hour or so to get back seemed bizarre.

The Darjeeling Hill Railway Day 3

The plan was to take land cruiser type vehicles back to Tindharia and the train on to Darljeeling. We were requested only to take what we needed for the two nights that we would be in Darjeeling and The Cindrella would store the remainder. Next morning we quickly returned to where we left the train yesterday afternoon at km 29-5/15 I didn't mention before that there are km posts measured from Siliguri junction with the fractions divided up into 15ths. Of course it was the same engine that hadn't done too well on the last two days. I have to say it wasn't any better today. The train pulled into the station and at once they started a small repair. The mist had lifted since yesterday and it was a fine day.

Shortly after leaving Tindharia station I think I caught sight of the Works far below. We did another Z reverse and then Loop 2 Agony point, this is a very tight loop, radius only 44 feet. We stopped for water from our accompanying water truck at km 33-9/15th so only just over 4km into todays run. Then the last two reverses, five and six, either side of Gayabari. Once reverse six has been crossed the  track takes a smoother route. True there were still some tight curves and steep gradients to come but nothing as complex as that section from Rangtong to Gayabari. 

Monsoons caused a huge landslip at lower Pagla Jhora in 2010 which closed the line here until 2015, they still haven't resurfaced the hill cart road at this point. We stopped again for water. This is around two hours from today's start (at perhaps around 38Km) which would mean that we were making less than 5km/hr overall!

We have been climbing hard from Tindharia at 2822ft to Mahanadi 4120ft. Looking at the map you can see the huge apparent detour to Mahandi and then more or less reversing our course, when we get to Upper Pagla Jhora you can see the height gained. We were also near the source of the Mahanda river which we crossed in Siliguri near the start of our journey. About an hour later we were doing what we had joked about, ie walking, as the engine couldn't manage over what seemed an innocuous gradient. The walk was only for a few hundred yards but not everyone was up for it. 

There was good news, we were going to have a new train from Kurseong which was by now less than an hour away. 

We had been advised about the excellent Samosas available at Kurseong and so an excited queue formed, (it had been quite a while since breakfast). Kurseong (4864ft) would have been worth more in the way of exploration but too soon we were on our way.  We were now in quite modern looking coaches and being pulled by 804 Valiant or Queen of the Hills a mere stripling at only 94 years old (782 was 121 years old).

804 Valiant pictured at Ghum station

The remainder of the journey seemed to speed by, but in reality we had about 3½ more hours to run and it was dusk before we alighted at Darjeeling. Although there were curves aplenty, without reverses and loops it was a little less exciting. What there was instead was an almost continuous strip development alongside the road and railway and much more road traffic. There is a new road between Sukna and Kurseong (the Rohini Road) and most traffic uses that, but from Kurseong to Darjeeling there is only one road and a lot of it is shared by the DHR. One place that had perhaps the most severe curves on the line was near Gorabari at Chatakpur which leads to the town of Sonada 6552ft. 

Plenty of curves

Plenty of houses

We reached the summit of the line at Ghum, 7407ft, where we would be returning to tomorrow and went through the town to Batasia loop, again we would be stopping there tomorrow.

Day 3 continued, Darjeellng

The land cruisers picked us up at the station and took us to the Windemere Hotel This is a quaint old hotel from the British Raj period and basically a collection of houses and bungalows as the next two photographs show. 

My room

My room was charming, a fire had been lit and a servant checked that all was well and offered hot water bottles etc.  The ensuite bathroom had many original fittings and a note to say that the bath tub had been donated by a local convent/school (attended by legendary film actress Vivien Leigh). Later we all gathered for the evening meal. The dining room was quite splendid with the waiters wearing national costume and with a good selection of dishes, some Nepalese. The next day I took this photograph of the outside of the dining room. 

Some of us got up early to see the sun rise illuminating Kanchenjunga, the worlds third highest mountain, but as the following photo shows there was too much early morning mist.

Chris and Sandi, Margaret

By now we were becoming aware that Covid was going to cut our trip short, after breakfast one of our number had to leave the hotel to start on his journey to Melborne before Australia locked down, and we had already heard that we weren't going to be able to visit the Taj Mahal, however todays plan was still ok. We started by walking down through the town to the railway station and spending time there just soaking up the atmosphere. Darjeeling is a tourist attraction and many people just do what we are about to do and go on a reteurn trip up to Ghum.

Then we got onto our chartered coach and we climbed out of Darjeeling via the Batasia loop to Ghum. Yesterday we hadn't stopped at Batasia but today we stopped and were able to walk around. The centre now contains a Gurka memorial its purpose however is to gain/lose a lot of height in a small area. From Darjeeling you first of all loop around the outside before going under a bridge to get to the inner loop at the the level of the memorial garden. Then you cross over the outer loop to continue the climb to Ghom.

At Ghom alongside the station is the former goods yard containing coaches and rolling stock and I spent some time looking at these outdoor exhibits before climbing up onto the overbridge where I could see our loco being serviced. The overbridge also served as the entrance to the museum which had many items of interest.

The weighbridge is unusual, it came from Sukna where it was used to control the weight of vehicles using the hill cart road. By restricting the amount and weight of freight using the hill cart road it also  served to protect the freight services of the railway. I now understand that in an effort to conserve it at Ghoom it was broken enroute. 

Leaving Ghom it is about a 5 minute run to the Batasia loop. This is the view crossing the outer loop before arriving at the memorial gardens.

The trip down to Darjeeling follows the road closely and gives another chance to see the traffic vying for position, once at Darjeeling we had plenty of time to look for souvenirs as we climbed the steep hill to our hotel. We now knew that our trip was being cut short and had to we decide if we were going back to Siliguri by coach or diesel train. (I opted for the coach).

Return to Siliguri 

The next morning we were free to explore Darjeeling, I bought  some tea and a couple of books and explored the market area behind the hotel. Like in Kolkata stall holders brought their goods to market on their backs. I was hoping for something specifically from the area but it was mostly chinese imports I couldn't find anything I liked from over the border in Nepal either.

I spent some time walking up from the market square (Upper Toong Soong Road) amongst the bamboo scaffolding on a precipitous road scarcely wide enough for an auto rickshaw, this would eventually lead to a Sherpa Monastry and every connecting road seemed to plunge downwards.

Too soon it was time to climb aboard our coach and head for Siliguri, again I think I chose the wrong option as the diesel hauled train might have given me a sense of the whole journey. It was interesting however to go on the one way system  at Kurseong and thereafter go on the Rohini Road. It started off in a steep descent and I have since read it had also been subject to landslip. As we got to the flat plain  there were many vehicles bound for Kurseong and beyond in a traffic jam. The lockdown was starting in earnest. We then spent our last night in the Cindrella hotel.

Dehli

Next day took us via Bodogra airport to Dehli, and from there to the Trident Hotel Gurgaon. This was a magnificent place, the next photo shows the view from my room, I've never stayed in anywhere quite so posh

You will appreciate that a lot of hard work was being done behind the scenes to get us out of India whilst also giving us a good time in the hours we had left. Thinking back, even though it was clear that a lot might go wrong with our repatriation, I don't think I was alarmed because I had confidence in those that were organising things. Our last day in India involved a coach tour of New and Old Dehli. 

New Dehli was not what I was expecting, broad boulevards impressive buildings and a modern metro system (we saw the elevated part). Then we turned into old Dehli.

One anomoly was that the six people whose UK destination was  Birmingham had to catch a flight to Dubai before those with other destinations, and then they would catch a flight from Dubai after the rest of us departed from there. Simply put 'The Birmingham Six' would spend a really long time in Dubai. So after driving around some of the sights like India Gate and the Parliament Building we stopped to let the Birmingham six swap to a small coach to go to the airport.

We would follow in the early evening for what was to be a fairly straightforward return to Heathrow on the day lockdown started in UK although disconcerted to see everone packed together to go through immigration. The hotels in India had better covid screening. Later we were glad to hear that Chris and Sandi both made it OK to the USA after only Sandi had a confirmed onward flight. three weeks or so later it was confirmed that none of us or our Indian guides had caught Covid.

I am rebooked to go back on the same itinery in January 2022.