A day out: Darjeeling “Toy Train”

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

Spent a few hours at Darjeeling railway station and loco shed today.

I took lots of photos but this forum software is doing its best to prevent me uploading them. Thumbnails are so small I can’t see what picture I am selecting  and it is incorrectly saying many of them are MP4 videos when I  fact they are jpegs. Pretty hopeless really. I will try to upload on different posts and see if that helps.

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[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

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[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

I’m going on a 2 hour “joy ride” on it in a few days time so no doubt will get more action shots.

I took the full Monty 9-hour 80 kilometre ride, pulled by a diesel yesterday. Tortuous climb to 7,000 feet. Must have been epic in steam days.

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

There was a full size steam loco at the station at the bottom, New Jalpaiguri. No clue given as to what it is.

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

A bit of technical background on the Himalayan  Darjeeling Toy Train. So called because of the 2-foot gauge rails. Although the railway was built in the 1800s, the engines I saw had 1903 on them.  They were built in UK by either Sharp Stewart & Co or the North British Locomotive Company, as 0-4-0 ST B Class.

They are a bit unusual in having both the riveted saddle tank and the coal tender on top of the boiler , forward of the cab. Coal comes down a chute on the left of the boiler , where it is shovelled with a tiny shovel into the firebox. I’ve never seen that set up before, but I’m no loco expert. Or even close to it.. Apparently, one was converted to oil fired but was not a success so was converted back to coal.

It would be an interesting one to model. I wonder if anyone has ever done that?

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

[David AmbroseParticipant @davidambrose86182]

Readily available as a 16mm model from Roundhouse Engineering, with several other locos from the line.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Excellent! Thankyou!

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

[old foolParticipant @old-fool]

Hi Cedric, Well impressed with your selection of photo’s. I saw a documentery on telly about the “Toy Trains” of India and was well impressed. I do wish TV programmers would realise some of us are interested in the “oily bits” and not just in weather the station master had a promotion. If I were a modelmaker that would be something that got me going. Indian railways always have a sort of scruffy well used  look. But none-the-less keep being repaired by people who can only be desribed as “A*+” engineers

Thanks Cedric. Bob

[Brian Baker 2Participant @brianbaker2]

Greetings Cedric, I find these locos quaint and very interesting.

I have a chassis nearly complete for the 3.5 inch one if you fancy completing it!

Regards

Brian B

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Great photos thanks for sharing

H

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

Darjeeling got hammered by high wind and hailstorms the past two days. No electricity, no internet. Guesthouse had no lights and no hot water. The things we go through to ride on steam trains.

Was a good ride though, starting through crowded city streets and markets with not an inch to spare, and turning around at Ghum, India’s highest station.

They coupled the engine on backwards for the 1:20 uphill run. Apparently to keep the gauge glasses at the uphill endof the boiler so firebox crown could be kept wet but not flooded so as to maintain the steam space over the main heat source “to give more power “. So the view through the front window of my carriage was of the firebox and headlight. Rather dull. On the downhill run, the engine was set in the forward manner, but coupled to the other carriage, so I missed seeing the driver in action. Still a great ride though.

Champion of the day was the fireman/trimmer who squatted on top of the coal tender all the way, smashing up lumps of coal with a hammer and feeding them down the chute to the driver. What a job!

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

These detail photos will be really great for modellers. Something for us all to bear in mind when visiting less frequented places.

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

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