On the moss, through jurassic ferns and deep pine forests, along the mountain ridges, throught ripped clouds rides the the toy train from Shimla down to plains of Punjab and Haryana. Tiny cars, wooden doll-sized seats, one seat, aisle, two seats. Miniature diesel locomotive. Everytime the train stops, Indians get off and hang around. And when it starts going again, they all frantically run and jump on.
The track was laid by British (finished in 1903) to make the summer moving of the Raj capital from Delhi to Shimla faster. Engineers must have gone for a ride on rollercoaster in Disneland first: they designed and built railway 96 km long which drops almost two thousand meters. There are 900 bends, 800 bridges along the way (24 big ones), the longest is more than kilometer long. Same long is the longest of the 103 tunnels. The track is seriously steeps. The steepest in the world, in fact. If you believe the timetable, it takes six hours from Shimla to Kalka. Second class is Rs 17. Including the two hour delay.
Peace: Next to this train, the one from Pathankot to Jogindarnagar would look gigantic.
There are 24 big bridges on the track (total is 800).
There are 103 tunnels between Shimla and Kalka, the longest more than kilometer long
