The Nepal Railway lines were shut down a few years ago, and have only just reopened. Now they use modern medium speed DMUs from India though, running on India's standard Broad Gauge.
Thank you for the lovely filming. It bought back some great memories of my trip to the Nepal, Janakpur & Jaynager Railway, and Darjelling Himilain Railway in December 1984, on a Dorridge Travel Tour with the late Hugh Ballantyne.
I was on that Tour too, with Hugh. Have some great atmospheric video but still have to digitise it all. Still on Betamax but plays wonderfully after 37 years of being watched…
except darjeeling / shimla kalka almost all such lines have been converted under unigauge project Darjeeeling/shimla got saved by state govt as tourist toy trains otherwise IR was ready to pull plug
Thanks PC for having uploaded such a rare and old fashioned means of trnsportation yet this was an awsome sight that our grand children might not see anymore in years to come.
except darjeeling / shimla kalka almost all such lines have been converted under unigauge project Darjeeeling/shimla got saved by state govt as tourist toy trains otherwise IR was ready to pull plug
@@rajuseth1683 I realize that this footage is a bit older by this point. But it still makes me happy to see that narrow gauge railways were used into this century :)
thanks for these clips, i would like to inform that the govt has set up a coal museum ( first of its kind in india) at Margherita ( 24 km from Tipong Colliery). The museum opened in 2012 and houses some of the oldest W G Bagnall steam locomotives which includes DAVID ( 1851 ), HASSAN ( 1897 ) , JOHN ( 1924 ) and SHELLY ( 1930 ). Apart from that artifacts from the WWII are also on display i. e. bomb shells, pictures of the construction of the Stilwell road ( the road the Americans build as a supply route for the Chinese fighting the Japanese), construction of the WWII Ledo. airstrip etc. In fact, the oldest loco DAVID still fires up like the old days, last saw it on video from 2018 when some japanese tourists visited it. A must visit site for the History and Steam loco buffs.
We have the remnants of a industrial narrow gauge line a few miles from me, and some remnants of one in a steel plant down the road and in the city next door. Neither of em operate anymore and they are forgotten by all but the few
Having worked for The United States Sugar Company, it blows my mind how they harvest and transport the sugar cane. I also find it interesting that they don’t burn the fields before harvest. If anyone asks, this is a common practice in the States and doesn’t hurt the sugar product while reducing transportation costs.
Great video, it's a pity that model manufacturers don't do Indian 009 it will be great for UK modellers wanting something different,and could open up the Indian model seane.
The Darjeeling toy train goes at truly breakneck speed. The dog is mighty impressed @ 19:10. The engine driver of the sugar cane express is the hero of the village boys for blowing the whistle continuously. All boys fantasy doing it sometime in their lives.
Hi,if anyone knows about the music thats starts with the darjeeling himalayan scene,if one can kindly inform about the name and artist .it,s that i really enjoy listenning to it,thanks you.
According to the arrival and departure stamps in my passport, I arrived in India 22 Nov 2005 and departed 11 Dec 2005. I spent about 5 days in Calcutta shooting the trams so between 28 Nov and 10 Dec. This was a Farrail tour. Thanks for the kind words!
@@nickmiller76 that is exchanged with station master if train has to skip the station It also means the train driver says all is ok down the line & station master is saying all clear ahead
In the mean time, in Europe the "environmentalist" elite travels in overpriced trains or electric cars, while most of the rest drives often rather gas guzzling but more affordable cars.
@@rajuseth1683 There are no steam engines operating in India now. A few operate in certain pockets which are declared as UNESCO heritage sites. The engines are no longer manufactured, so parts have to be fabricated for them. It will be cheaper and more efficient to operate them by diesel locos, but the railways continue to operate the few steam locos on these heritage sites because they are tourist attractions. People travel hundreds of miles to experience the novelty.
I used to produce railroad videos. Sold the business in 2014. When I did a full length video on the Darjeeling (steam to the top of the world) I bought a royalty free dvd of Nepalese/Indian music. It went to the buyer with all the rest of the stuff, masters etc. I wish I could tell you the name of the music, but I no longer have the dvd and don’t remember who I bought it from. Half the time I can’t remember why I’ve gone in to the kitchen. Sorry.
Thanks for replying. After some research I found out the music theme from a Nepalese band, it's called life and peace. I appreciate your reply, thanks so much again.
Tipong and the cane mill trains were "real" The Darjeeling is the Darjeeling, regular trains were running. Regular trains on the Nepal Rly were running. Ours may have had the steam loco substituted for a diesel, or it may have been a special. Long time ago, Rob, I really don't remember. (Half the time I can't remember why I've gone into the kitchen!)
The passengers I can see on this amazing video actually don't look like the way I picture a railway enthusiast tourist... maybe I am missing something.
Tipong colliery still runs the 1851 made WG Bagnall ( of Stafford ) steam loco DAVID. You can search for latest clips of that loco. A clip from 2018 is available. It's properly taken care of and fires up just like the old days.
Here's the clip m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-O1wPn_BjKFY.html&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fkaziranganationalparkassam.in%2F&feature=emb_logo
I think this was filmed in 1990.All the bullock carts have been replaced by tractor trailers. India is the largest producer of tractors in the world. And the steam trains are gone. Coal is valuable. India now has to import coal from Australia and Indonesia.
Probably haven't visited Indian country side extensively. Still now bullock carts are in use though not as 10 to 15 yrs back. India has a large coal reserve but coal is imported for power-plants which needs high quality of coal with low ash content. Thanks to Mr Crook for this docu for his love towards our country, it's content, photography & editing.
The engine and bonnet are surely from a tractor, a Fordson to be precise. The chassis is an old Planet diesel chassis, on the cab front is the angle iron on which the original bonnet was fitted and the axle bearings with reaction rods is very typical for any planet diesel. As the Planet company ceased to exist spare parts were difficult to find, so it was swapped to a tractor engine where (refurbished) spares are more readily available, even for old types like the Fordson.
railways started mostly as freight service by different companies run by different owners Later passenger service rolled out & in a 5car long train 4 were reserved for british,so passenger to carriage ratio was ... "god F the queen,queen F india" Later govt of india nationalize many small big rail companies setup by british bizmen & Indian Railways was formed They conducted there study & found with this broken system they cant connect india,so they launched project uni-gauge to convert all tracks into one standard gauge,one signalling system,one type of locos etc.TIll then india had people to carriage ratio quite bad,so people use to buy ticket & had no choice but to travel on roof.The train was running at 20kmph-30kmph so if you run fast you can catch it again(in case you fall,small injuries) By 1980s IR started with electrification job & more coaches were produced so climbing on top became old thing,now no one does it,also speed is like 130 so if you fall you are dead. And if you think india still runs on steam,then NO,only few lines in name of tourism has been saved all of them has been converted india even changed lines of nepal,bangladesh & everyone around us to make sure we have uniform system
sir nepal has upgraded tracks along with india HSR is joke unless you have public to use it,not everyone can afford it & no govt with bad finance can do that
You're wrong my dear crook- Peter Cook. Tipong is located in the North Eastern Indian state of Assam which had a Godly kindness to the wretched settlers from Nepal, in keeping with colonial British policies. Am I glad that your nation's prime minister is novel and so is many in the parliament and academecia, and no matter how much the Anglosaxon heart burn - your finer psychological well-being is no longer relevant now
I live in the United States. My nation doesn’t have a prime minister. When we were in Tipong we were warned to stay in groups because of the smugglers coming over the border from Burma.
