The Shimla Railcar

Kalka to Shimla

India's Kalka to Shimla narrow-gauge railway is known for dramatic views of the Himalayan foothills and surrounding villages.

There's no better way of seeing this incredible engineering marvel than from the driver's viewpoint.

We ride aboard a specially chartered railcar to capture some great images of the line. Our journey is not for the faint-hearted, as for mile after mile we traverse narrow ledges carved out of the hillside.

The scenery is spectacular. Rising over four and a half thousand feet with a punishing ruling gradient of 1 in 33, we encounter a number of spirals that were necessary to lift the line over otherwise insurmountable obstacles. The 2ft 6in or 762mm gauge line has 102 tunnels and no less than 969 bridges and culverts throughout the line's 60 miles running to the former British Raj summer capital of Simla (as it was originally called).

There are 18 classic stations on the route, all with British-built lower-quadrant semaphore signals, controlled by Neal's single line token-block system.