A more leisurely start today as we need to pack for our move from Siliguri(408') to Darjeeling. We travel by a fleet of 4x4s which drive in convoy through the murderous Siliguri traffic. After a few miles we start to climb out of the plain and up into the mountains. The road twists, turns and climbs steeply admist the pot-holes. At one point a bunch of locals are charging a toll, allegdly for the road maintenance fund. The views are spectacular and vertiginous.
At Kurseong (4864') we rejoin the Hill Cart Road and the railway. There is intense activity at the shed as they prepare no.786, Ajax (built 1904 in Glasgow) for our train. Kurseong is a busy little town, but the first place in India that we have seen many flies. We play safe and have bags of crisps for lunch.
As we stroll along the main street a strident hooter announces the arrival of the diesel hauled service train from Darjeeling. Kurseong station is actually a spur off the main line which means that all trains have to reverse, either in or out. With the service train out of the way, and the parked vans cleared off the line from the shed our loco was coupled up to our two coach train and reversed us out into the High Street. We set off in grand style, whistle shrieking. The concensus was that 786 was in better shape than 788 had been yesterday, with fewer obvious steam leaks.
It is indicative of how hard these locos work that we had three water stops in a 30km trip. One of these was at Sonada station, on the street right in the middle of the town. D was taking photos when a voice shouted "Look, it's Dave Watson" It was the GCIRC guys on their return jeep journey from Darjeeling after they had been on the train to Ghum, India's highest railway station (7404'). What a small world. It was soon our turn to visit Ghum, the summit of the line, where there were spectacular views across the valley to Darjeeling. The line descends so steeply into Darjeeling that there is a 15 kph speed limit and a brakeman stationed on each coach.
We pull into the station where the cars await and then drive off to the Windamere Hotel. The town is built along the sides of a steep ridge and the Windamere is right at at the top. We are served an old fashioned afternoon tea in an old fashioned parlour before being shown to our room in the Betty Tumility annexe. As we unpack a man appears to light our coal fire, which is soon blazing merrily. Dinner is quite formal and rather oddly has two main courses, one British and one Indian. The food is good and the evening flies by before we return home to our real fire.
A more leisurely start today as we need to pack for our move from Siliguri(408') to Darjeeling. We travel by a fleet of 4x4s which drive in convoy through the murderous Siliguri traffic. After a few miles we start to climb out of the plain and up into the mountains. The road twists, turns and climbs steeply admist the pot-holes. At one point a bunch of locals are charging a toll, allegdly for the road maintenance fund. The views are spectacular and vertiginous. 
At Kurseong (4864') we rejoin the Hill Cart Road and the railway. There is intense activity at the shed as they prepare no.786, Ajax (built 1904 in Glasgow) for our train. Kurseong is a busy little town, but the first place in India that we have seen many flies. We play safe and have bags of crisps for lunch.
As we stroll along the main street a strident hooter announces the arrival of the diesel hauled service train from Darjeeling. Kurseong station is actually a spur off the main line which means that all trains have to reverse, either in or out. With the service train out of the way, and the parked vans cleared off the line from the shed our loco was coupled up to our two coach train and reversed us out into the High Street. We set off in grand style, whistle shrieking. The concensus was that 786 was in better shape than 788 had been yesterday, with fewer obvious steam leaks. 
It is indicative of how hard these locos work that we had three water stops in a 30km trip. One of these was at Sonada station, on the street right in the middle of the town. D was taking photos when a voice shouted "Look, it's Dave Watson" It was the GCIRC guys on their return jeep journey from Darjeeling after they had been on the train to Ghum, India's highest railway station (7404'). What a small world. It was soon our turn to visit Ghum, the summit of the line, where there were spectacular views across the valley to Darjeeling. The line descends so steeply into Darjeeling that there is a 15 kph speed limit and a brakeman stationed on each coach.
We pull into the station where the cars await and then drive off to the Windamere Hotel. The town is built along the sides of a steep ridge and the Windamere is right at at the top. We are served an old fashioned afternoon tea in an old fashioned parlour before being shown to our room in the Betty Tumility annexe. As we unpack a man appears to light our coal fire, which is soon blazing merrily. Dinner is quite formal and rather oddly has two main courses, one British and one Indian. The food is good and the evening flies by before we return home to our real fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment