The Train That Was Never in a Hurry
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway has been climbing the same 88 kilometres since 1881, coiling up from New Jalpaiguri through Ghum and into Darjeeling at a speed that a determined cyclist could match on a flat road. The steam engine, still coal-fired on the heritage loop runs, breathes in a way diesel never does. You hear it working. You feel it deciding. At Batasia Loop, where the track spirals back on itself so the train can gain elevation without a gradient that would break the engine, you look out and see the track you were on four minutes ago sitting below you like a memory.
