Darjeeling Steam Engine Railway

Darjeeling Steam Engine Railway: The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) is exemplary illustration of a hill passenger Railway. Nearly 140 years old, it applied bold and ingenious engineering solutions to the problem of establishing rail link across a mountainous terrain. The Darjeeling line was built to a gauge of two feet (600mm) to enable the line to traverse the tightly twisting route up and down the hills. The Ghoom Station is the highest point reached by DHR (7,407ft) and from here the descent for four miles down a spur to Darjeeling Station (6,812ft). Most of the steam engines in these days have been replaced by diesel locomotives. Some old "iron horses" are still in use as DHR is a work of genius and technological achievement of 1881. As it was part of the Industrial revolution, DHR has been accorded a World Heritage Site on 2nd December 1999.