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]

Why Does Your Company Deserve More Money? by Michael Seibel

Should You Go To University?

View All

Are Psychedelics Microdosing The NEXT BIG Investment? - Why I'm Investing...| Kevin O'Leary

Hi everybody. As you know, I’ve been talking about microdosing psychedelics as a medicine for about a year now. I’ve been intrigued by this new development because it has the potential to become groundbreaking medicine. We don’t know that yet. So many com…

Identifying centripetal force for ball on string | AP Physics 1 | Khan Academy

What we’re going to do in this video is try to look at as many scenarios as we can where an object is exhibiting uniform circular motion. It’s traveling around in a circle at a constant speed, and what we want to do is think about why it’s staying on the …

15 Things That Make You IRREPLACEABLE

In a world of constant change and competition, standing out and becoming irreplaceable is a goal many of us look for. Whether it’s at our workplace, within our personal relationships, or in broader social circles, certain qualities and behaviors can help …

The Launch of ExoMars | MARS

I’ve been thinking about exom for more than 16 years. So, that’s it over there, right? Serious, guys. What we’re doing is really rather difficult. A lot of things have to go right. One minute, one minute, one minute. Building the instruments is hard, and…

Hitching a ride with the Gabra tribe's camel train | Primal Survivor: Extreme African Safari

But just as I was giving up hope, on the horizon… Thank God. Honestly. Thank God. HAZEN: There they are. I got them. It’s the camel train. (camel bellows) (man shouting) HAZEN: Yes! HAZEN: So, this is the camel train, look at how… It’s amazing. Wow, I …

We Did The Math - You Are Dead!

Absolutely everything you think about yourself and the universe could be an illusion. As far as you know, you are real and exist in a universe that was born 14 billion years ago and that gave rise to galaxies, stars, the Earth, and finally you. Except, ma…

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

More Articles