Take a Ride on One of India's Legendary Mountain Railways | National Geographic

less than 1m read

·Nov 11, 2024

[Music] The rugged mountainous terrain of India contains unmatched adventure. Their three historic railways are grouped into a single World Heritage site known as the Mountain Railways of India. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, and the Kalka Shimla Railway are a Holy Trinity for train aficionados. But they're more than just relics of British colonization; all three are still fully operational today, and a ride on any of them reveals the incredible engineering that connected these rugged locales.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, often called the toy train because of its diminutive size, opened in 1881. The serpentine track gained serious altitude by employing an endless series of switchbacks, hairpin turns, and bridges. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway spans 29 miles of mountainous terrain in Tamil Nadu state. This steam-driven line climbs through southern jungles, rising towards its terminus at Ooty, Mandalam.

The Kalka-Shimla Railway line climbs close to a mile high, taking passengers through 102 tunnels and across 864 bridges. If the journey is as important as the destination, then the Mountain Railways of India are an essential travel experience. There are intriguing stops along each of these lines, leaving it up to the traveler to decide how long to linger along this iconic route. [Music]

It Takes a Village | Port Protection

Why Science Says It's Good for Kids to Lie | National Geographic

View All

Dr. David Anderson on supporting children's mental health during a crisis | Homeroom with Sal

From Khan Academy: Welcome to the Daily Homeroom live stream! For those of y’all that this is your first time, this is really just a way for us to stay connected during school closures. Obviously, Khan Academy has many resources for students, teachers, a…

How Philosophers Handle Rejection (Diogenes, Schopenhauer, Epictetus & Zhuangzi)

Living in absolute poverty, the great cynic philosopher Diogenes slept in public places and begged for food. One day, he begged in front of a statue. When someone asked him why he did so, Diogenes answered: “To get practice in being refused.” For a beggar…

Ruchi Sanghvi Speaks at Female Founders Conference 2015

Good afternoon everyone! I’m so excited to be here today. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to such a large audience of female entrepreneurs and technologists before. This, I think, we need to give ourselves a huge round of applause! Woo! I’m so inspired by …

3d curl intuition, part 1

Hello everyone. So, I’m going to start talking about three-dimensional curl, and to do that, I’m going to start off by taking the two-dimensional example that I very first used when I was introducing the intuition. You know, I talked about fluid flow, and…

Can YOU Fix Climate Change?

Never before in human history have we been richer, more advanced or powerful. And yet we feel overwhelmed in the face of rapid climate change. It seems simple on the surface. Greenhouse gases trap energy from the Sun and transfer it to our atmosphere. Thi…

Devil's Club Harvest | Port Protection

On smokes, we’re cutting through here. Timby Porter is scouring the woods looking for devil’s club, a plant with pain-killing properties. I hear noises over there, but a sound in the bush ahead has brought her hunt to an anxious halt. “Smokey, you hear b…

Take a Ride on One of India's Legendary Mountain Railways | National Geographic

More Articles