Fun and Games on the DHR

Today is the day that R has to pay for having fun yesterday. Her penance is a six hour twenty minute ride on a narrow gauge train. D being a decent sort has booked First Class so she shouldn't have much to complain about. It is another bright morning with blue sky overhead.  Our departure is scheduled for 10.15 a.m. so we can actually sample a hotel breakfast.

 The breakfast room does not benefit from an Italian heater and the coal fire in there is rather pitiful. We wrap up warm. R orders Aloo Paratha, D sticks to Masala Omlet. The Aloo (potato) and paratha (think tatty scone sans tatty) are separate which is new to us although artistically done. R is delighted to be served curd (yogurt) as a side dish until she tastes it and finds that it has been sweetened.  The omlet is OK while the beans, sausage and alleged hash browns should be glossed over. The tea and toast was first rate, with proper marmalade.

WARNING - From here onwards there is technical train stuff. Please do not hesitate to post seeking clarification if necessary. 

Check out is splendidly bureaucratic and helps the time pass. Using our local knowledge we set out down the vertiginous stairway towards the station. Todaythe Red Panda is running, albeit somewhat late. It consists of B-Class 779 Himalayan Bird and a single First Class coach with around three occupants, and it departs after the service train from Kurseong arrives. In theory our train leaves next but there is a lot of confused shunting and not much information.  People start climbing onto a set of coaches and D asks a man wearing a TTE badge (Travelling Ticket Examiner) which coach is F2. "Coaches not in yet" is the reply.

 A loco of appropriate type (NDM6) couples onto a set of three coaches, one second class and two FC (first class). D asks the occupants of the rear FC coach what number they think they are. F2 is the concensus,  our allocated seats are unoccupied so we move in with our bags. D has taken the precaution of booking a couple of spare seats so we have space for luggage. The coach is not full and the other FC coach is absolutely empty so nobody loses out. All of the FC seats face the rear of the train, not our preference but this turns out to be a stroke of luck. One of the seats on our reservation is a single seat by the doors and the guard's section. D makes sure that this is bagged and ushers R and the luggage further back in the coach. In due course the TTE boards and asks which coach this is.

We get under way only 30 minutes late and make good progress until about 5km out of Darjeeling. There is some sort of major traffic jam on the Hill Cart Road and the train is stuck in it. After a while we start to move but it is a surprise to hear a steam whistle as well as our diesel's hooter. Looking out of the window we see that our train has caught up with the Red Panda and is now pushing it up the gradient.  Although we are heading down from the mountains today the first part of the trip as far as Ghum is uphill, with gradients as steep as 1 in 18. 

Our loco seems to be coping with the extra load and all is well as far as the Batasia Loop. We are not scheduled to stop there but the Red Panda has 10 minutes for sightseers to see the monument and the view. We are stuck. Conversations are struck with some of our fellow passengers. There is one other Westerner,  a Romanian who tells us that he works for the German Government in Afghanistan as an advisor on Sharia law. He is hoping to get to Silguri in time to get a bus to the Nepal border. A couple from Kolkata with a three year old son are returning from a week in Sikkim and have a train to catch at New Jalpaiguri.

After a while we hear a steam whistle behind us. The mid-morning Joy Train is making good time up the hill. Our train deploys a man with a red flag who brings them to a halt a few yards behind us. A few minutes later we hear an NDM6 blowing its hooter coming up the climb. Our train is moved forward a hundred yards or so, still pushing the front steam train. The second steam train also shuffles forward to allow the latest addition to join us on the scenic section of the loop. We now have four trains nose to tail and a throng of excited sightseers. 

There is activity on our train. The coach brakes are screwed down tightly and the loco uncoupled. It then proceeds to push 779 and the Red Panda out of sight and presumably on to Ghum. Some of the passengers from our coach jump on board at the last minute and disappear,  never to be seen again. D continues sightseeing and conversing. R reads her book. Eventually our loco reappears and is re attached to the front of our coaches. Off we go with the steam hauled Joy train in fairly close pursuit. At Ghum the Red Panda is simmering in a loop as we pull into one of the two platforms. The Joy train is turned into the other platform. But wait. What to do with the fourth train that has now appeared at the station throat. Our train is moved up and the second diesel eased in behind it.

There is time for a chai before we depart, now an hour and a half late. Our coach now contains ourselves, the Romanian, the family from Kolkata and an Indian couple who have hardly said a word. There is also the guard, the TTE, a brakesman and a flagman. The interior brakesman rotates turns with a man who stands on a tiny platform on the outside of the coach in front and operates a foot brake. The front coach also has a brakesman and a flagman while the loco has a pilot and an assistant pilot. It's easy to see why Indian Railways are reputedly the world's third largest employer, after the NHS and the Chinese People's Army. D feels quite sorry for the guard who has to fill out various reports to do with today's occurrences. 

The train sets off down the hill, not too fast, as there are strict speed limits and the brakesman is kept occupied.  Soon we hear a steam whistle and the Red Panda closes up behind us. Apparently they have managed to sort out 779. D gets in plenty of door riding and hopefully some good video footage. It is a bit like something out of the Keystone Kops. At times the steam loco is only a few yards behind us then the gap is stretched for a while.  The Board of Trade would have had a fit. Our next stop is Sonada where 779 takes water and we leave the Red Panda behind.

Having completed his paperwork the guard becomes quite chatty, asking "Which country" and taking it from there. His English is basic but we get by. He is interested to know about railways in the UK and impressed that some trains run at up to 200 kph. He is less impressed by a photo of Morayshire, a 1929 built steam loco that runs on the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway.  "Maintenance very difficut" he opines. Most things on a B Class seem to get repaired with a hammer and/or a length of wire. He poses for a picture holding the Working Timetable for the area which he has been consulting frequently. 

We continue to descend and 779 catches up with us again and follows us quite closely all the way to Kurseong. Here the train runs along the main street and has to reverse into the station discommoding the maximum possible number of people.  They get a second dose as the Red Panda performs the same manoeuvre. The station comfort facilities are of a surprisingly high standard and very welcome. We leave quite smartly and then spend several minutes stopped next to the engine shed. The guard has been collecting overtime claim forms to distribute among the crew.

The section below Kurseong was all new to us as it was closed when we came in 2011 as a result of a landslide and had remained closed until a couple of months ago.  The Hill Cart Road had also been closed and although now repaired it is very quiet on this stretch as most traffic uses the new Rohini road. Between Kurseong and Tindharia there are 4 Z reverses which allow the train to gain/lose height more quickly in a given distance. The Romanian chap was astounded by this idea and it took a while to explain it. This section of .line crosses the site of the big landslide at Pagla Jorgha and there is still repair work going on.  The train moved very gingerly over the rebuilt track.

There was another halt at Tindharia where a vendor was selling black tea. This suited us and the guard but everyone else wanted milk tea which was not on offer. Last time here we had our photos taken (with the tour group) and a couple of days later it was on the front page of the local paper. Shortly after leaving Tindharia there was an emergency stop. Somebody had parked their car too close to the track. The offender was found and given a piece of the guard's mind before he moved his machine.

By the fifth Z reverse the Romanian chap was getting a bit impatient and asking where he could jump train and get a car into Siliguri. The chap from Kolkata was also getting anxious about his connection.  The final Z was carried out in darkness, using coloured torches rather than flags. We set off and the brakesman realised that the guard had been left behind. There was some difficulty communicating this to the loco but eventually it halted and waited for him to catch up. The rest of the crew considered this to be a matter for great merriment. The guard did not see the funny side at all.

At Sukna, the last stop before Siliguri,  the Kolkattans and the Romanian deboarded to seek taxis. The crew now significantly outnumbered passengers. We were back down on the plain and the train rolled along the roadside, headlamp blazing and hooter blowing continuously. There was a signal check for a few minutes outside Siliguri, where the NG line crosses the BG on a diamond. Then we were there, only two hours fifty minutes late.

We quickly find an auto to take us to our hotel. This ride is our first trip on an auto for 2016 and is sedate compared with some. 

The Cindrella Hotel is decked out in all of its wedding finery and there is clearly a big one on tonight. Our previous experience of an Indian wedding was also here,  five years ago, when we were invited in. Today we are happy just to watch from afar. As we try to check in the drums outside the front door reach a crescendo, marking the arrival of the groom. No white horse for this one. The lobby is full of ladies in spectacular saris and smartly dressed staff. We are easily the scruffiest people around. 

Our room is a pleasant enough twin opposite the room where the bride appears to be getting ready. We quickly shower and change before heading to the restaurant.  The Cindrella is Pure Veg - not a problem. We have mushrooms and peas in a spicy sauce, spicy dal and Kashmiri pulao rice. Do pineapples really grow in Kashmir? A couple of beers go down well and we retire. There is a band going full tilt and we wonder if we will get any sleep at all when suddenly the music stops. We take the precaution of donning earplugs and sleep well.