Around India In 80 Trains

We managed to miss the toy train once we reached Kalka but jumped on a bus up to the top of the hills. However, we booked our train tickets two days in advance to go down the hill and had no problem at all. India’s pretty little metre-gauge railway was built in 1903 when English ladies would take their leave of the heat and “summer” in Shimla, but it’s satisfying to see the train used by commuters and those selling their wares up and down the hillside, rather than functioning solely for camera-wielding tourists. Famous for its 102 tunnels, 87 bridges and 900 curves, it can keep restless kids busy with counting and cows are content to frequently linger on the track so the five and a half-hour journey passes pretty painlessly. On the way out of Shimla huge orchards bloom with thousands of delicate red flowers and thin trickles of water down ledges suggest that post-monsoon, waterfalls must be rife. The little train stops regularly en route and passengers can hop off to loiter on the tracks and enjoy a cup of tea, hot pakoras and a Punjabi snack of toast dipped in batter and deep-fried.