Spice of Life: Off beaten track, romancing toy train journey to Shimla

The train meanders along at a leisurely pace, offering a mesmerising view of the hills. The sweet scent of pine wafts along as quaint hamlets and terrace farms make for an idyllic landscape

The woods are lovely, dark and deep….

The Kalka-Shimla toy train meanders along at a leisurely pace, offering a mesmerising view of the hills. (HT File)

A journey in the hills evokes a spirit of joy and a rush of adrenaline. The romanticism is enhanced if it’s a toy train journey.

Though I’ve travelled to Shimla umpteen times, the wish to do a toy train journey was an unfulfilled one. So, this wedding anniversary, we decided to celebrate by taking the toy train to the Queen of the Hills.

Though I had watched numerous YouTube videos, there were still some unanswered questions. For instance, about the overnight parking facility at Kalka railway station, as the train departs at 7am. To be on the safe side, we travelled to Kalka by car the previous evening and boarded the train the next morning after an overnight stay. We discovered there is plenty of parking space at Kalka station and one can park the car for more than 24 hours, of course at the owner’s risk.

The reasonably maintained station was abuzz with excited passengers, all probably first-time travellers on the route. The train started dot on time. The vistadome has wide glass openable windows and huge glass-roofed panels that afford a spectacular view of the blue skies and hide and seek play of floating clouds.

The train meanders along at a leisurely pace, offering a mesmerising view of the hills. The sweet scent of pine wafts along. Quaint hamlets and terrace farms make for an idyllic landscape. Every km of the journey leads into a tunnel, there are 100 of them on the 96-km route. The journey was made lively by the chitchat, laughter and singing of youngsters, who would scream in a crescendo as the train approached a tunnel.

The toy train took us back to childhood. It was fun to read the names of all 20 small stations en route though the train stopped only at Barog for precisely eight minutes. Passengers scampered down to buy hot tea and snacks before we chugged on to Shimla.

The beauty of Shimla is thankfully unspoilt. The freshly painted pedestrian walks and murals on the walls along roads are fresh additions. As we sauntered along, I was reminded of the magical song, “Tu kahan yeh bata is nasheeli raat mein” from the 1963 film, Tere Ghar Ke Samne, and was trying to pinpoint the location where it was shot somewhere in Lakkar Bazaar.

It is to the credit of the railways that the heritage aspect of Shimla station has been preserved. Prominent signboards reveal an awe-inspiring history of the place.

Our return journey was equally exciting. The descent offers a bird’s eye view of the newly widened highway, which spirals along the rail track. The quaint journey is fun and a welcome change from the long traffic jams of road travel.

A few additions to the train, such as upgrading its first-class seats, introducing an LCD display of the heritage route and some music, would go a long way in attracting more tourists and making their visit memorable. drashachd@gmail.com

(The writer is a Chandigarh-based opthalamologist .)