The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, May 2015

Nick Fitzgerald writes:

I visited the DHR on 29th -31st May 2015 and travelled on the early morning up train from Kurseong to Darjeeling and then on the 13.20 “joy” train from Darjeeling to Ghum and back. The rest of my visit was conducted by car. Here’s a summary of what was where:

Siliguri Loco (Friday 29th 16.00)

B 791 Unserviceable. Appears to be in use as a parts donor to keep others running.

B 01 Appeared serviceable, not in steam. Carrying Nameplates “Tindharia”

B 805 Appeared serviceable, not in steam. Named “Soldat”

B 806 Appeared serviceable, not in steam

For completeness NDM6 602 was also on shed

Kurseong Trip Shed (Saturday 30th 06.00)

B 779 In steam, Carrying Nameplates “Himalayan Bird”

B 788 Appeared serviceable, not in steam.

For completeness NDM6 604 was also on shed and worked the 07.00 Up to Darjeeling

Darjeeling (Saturday 30th 10.00)

B 786 In steam, Carrying Nameplates “Mountaineer” Hauled Joy train at 13.20

B 792 In steam, Named “Hawkeye” Hauled Joy train at 10.40

B 780 Under repair (Injector)

B 802 Appeared serviceable, not in steam. Named “Victor”

For completeness NDM6 601 was at Darjeeling working the Diesel Joy trains

Ghum (Saturday 30th 14.30)

Baby Sivok In Ghum Museum, boiler backhead bare, not steamable (it was working in 2000) with all cab fittings removed.

Tindharia (Sunday 31st 10AM)

B 795 Awaiting repair, not in steam

B 782 Dismantled for POH

B 787 Derelict in Yard. This was the Oil fired loco rebuilt by GOC and is due rebuild as 02

Finally on return to Siliguri NDM6 605 was seen at Rangtong on the Jungle passenger.

I was not able to visit the site of the landslip above Tindharia, but below the works the railway is in place but NH55 is impassable for about 200 yards. Although a lot of material was on site for stabilising the rock faces etc, there did not appear to be any active work at the main landslip site. The works itself looks very precarious indeed, and even a couple of inches of further erosion of the rock face would cause collapse of part of the works.

The only loco missing which is listed on the IRFCA website (albeit from 2006, http://www.irfca.org/docs/locolists/dhr-locos-full.html) as being active on the Railway is 804. It was at Darjeeling in April 2014 (http://dhrs.org/page8.html), does anyone know where it is now? 

Loco 787 in the yard at Tindharia, hopefully will re-emerge one day as a coal fired B to be numbered 02

Loco 791 as a spares donor at Siliguri shed

Loco 01 Tindharia on shed at Siliguri with 806 behid

Baby Sivok, the OK 0-4-0 in Ghum museum.