[BITList] The DHR - The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

[John Feltham]

http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/7378/


"It is still an experience like no other narrow gauge steam railway  
when you travel on the DHR. For the first 18 km in the plains from New  
Jalpaiguri to Sukna the train goes at a gentle 16-20 km per hour and  
you hardly hear the engine puff along. As soon as Sukna station is  
passed the train begins to climb and the tiny engine is transformed  
into a big hearted one! The engineer opens the regulator to 85%-100%  
of the 160psi boiler pressure! As a result the smoke rises vertically  
from the chimney and the sound of the pistons becomes a tremendous  
hammering as if the loco was suddenly ten times bigger. Believe me  
none of the steam engines in restored UK steam railways sounds that  
wonderful! The DHR operates entirely by adhesion and goes at a max of  
16 km per hour uphill. The slowness of the journey and the loud piston  
thrashing do not permit much conversation in the coaches but the  
fabulous views more than compensate. To date the mechanical components  
are kept in first class order because anything less than that would  
not permit the successful working of trains."




ooroo

Bad typists of the word, untie.




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