THE LOOP, AGONY POINT, DARJEELING RAILWAY

The following images are from the book "King's Empire" published in 2 volumes the early 1900s. The photographs were taken at the height of the British Empire. The books are available in higher resolution for download as PDF ebooks at www.ozebook.com

THE LOOP, AGONY POINT, DARJEELING RAILWAY. The Darjeeling and Himalayan Railway is a very remarkable piece of engineering. The little line, of which a portion is here shown, climbs to an elevation of 7,300 feet, and places Darjeeling within forty-eight hours of Calcutta. The gauge of this tiny railway is only two feet, but the sturdy little engines are capable of dragging considerable loads up very steep inclines. It may well be that the shock produced on the mind of a nervous passenger travelling round the extraordinary curve shown in the picture, and finding himself looking into the rear part of the train in which he is travelling, justifies the title of this startling freak of railway engineering. (Page 13.)