Indian Hill Railways

Presenter: David Peel

Our meeting on 20 October saw David Peel take us to India for a tour of its hill railways, though mountain railways would be a more accurate description as they all reach elevations of several thousand feet. Arriving in India at Amritsar the Golden Temple was visited before we moved on to the 2ft 6in gauge Kala – Shimla Railway built in 1898 to connect Shimla, the summer capital of India during the Raj, with the rest of the Indian rail system. We then enjoyed the delightful Darjeeling Himalayan Railway over 1000 miles to the east of Shimla. This is a 2 foot gauge line with its headquarters at Kuerscong. Frequent stops to refill the locomotives with water were made as the train progressed up the mountain to the foothills of the Himalayas gaining height by a series of loops and zig zags. The final railway visited was the metre gauge Nilgiri Mountain Railway in the south of the country which runs between Ooty (Udhagamandalam) and Mettupalayam. This uses the rack and pinion system between Mettupalayum and Coonoor using Swiss built steam locomotives.

Our thanks to David for an interesting evening with slides that illustrated the railways, history, scenery, and culture of the areas visited.