(From top) The famous narrow gauge train at Darjeeling station; the train at Matheran

Once upon a time rail travel had a touch of romance attached to it. There were those black, hulking steam monsters with their grubby drivers chugging from one end of the country to another.

Today, diesel locomotives and electrically-powered trains have taken half the fun out of rail travel. But get off the plains and there are a few places where the railways are at their romantic best. Whether its Shimla, Darjeeling, Ooty or Matheran, travelling on these slow-moving toy trains can be quite an experience.

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Let’s get one thing straight first. You don’t travel by this train if you are in a hurry. The journey from Coimbatore to Ooty takes about two-and-a-half hours by bus even if the road is a winding ghat with 26 hairpin bends. By train, starting from Mettupalayam, it’s an almost five-hour haul ? and there are no bathrooms on the train. But the slow ascent through the hills is breathtaking and the fresh, mountain air as you leave the plains behind can be positively heady.

The train’s so slow that at some places you can step off and get back on again ? and, indeed, people do it all the time. At Kallar barely a few miles out of Mettupalayam you can buy exotic fruits that are grown at the government fruit farm.

The Nilgiri railway has a long and glorious history. It was opened on June 15, 1899 and it has 16 tunnels and 31 major bridges as it climbs from a height of 326m in Mettupalayam to a height of 2193m at Ooty. The carriages, with their famous blue and cream coaches offer 1st and 2nd class travel. The first class coach has a glass front that makes for spectacular views.

Other special features of the Nilgiri railway is that it has the steepest track gradients in Asia and uses a rack and pinion system to climb up these parts.

Once you’ve come in past the tea gardens to bustling Coonoor, one big change takes place ? the steam locomotive retires to the yard and a diesel engine takes over for the remaining 13km journey to Ooty or Udhagamandalam. Now the train slowly goes past the armaments factory at Aravankadu and crosses through stations like Ketti and Lovedale before reaching its final destination.

If you choose to travel first class, the ticket is only Rs 142. For chair car, you need to shell out Rs 26 while the cheapest ticket available costs Rs 11 for general class.

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

A trip to Darjeeling would be incomplete without a ride on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR). The train pulls out of New Jalpaiguri station at 9am and chugs through Siliguri, Tindharia, Kurseong and Ghum. Along the way, passengers can gaze at the tea gardens and, of course, the magnificent Himalayas. The train finally pulls into Darjeeling at 5.55pm. Ghum is the world’s highest narrow-gauge rail station.

Rail enthusiasts should keep an eye open for the fact that the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway not only huffs and puffs its way on loops, but is the only railway that works on Z reversal theory. “This means it climbs up a slope, reverses and then proceeds forward at a higher level, having gained more height, making a Z in the process,” says Sandeep Mehra, Director of the National Rail Museum in Delhi.

This principle was the brainchild of Franklin Prestage, an agent of the Eastern Bengal Railway, 1878 who proposed a two-metre hill tramway to Darjeeling. The three loops are called Chunbhati, Agony Point and Batasia. The most popular is the Batasia loop where passengers usually like to jump out of the train, stroll around and board the train again.

The track and the road travel alongside each other, it even passes through bazaars slowly moving past stalls, which makes it convenient for passengers to make purchases from the train itself.

Shorter trips between Ghum and Darjeeling are also run, known as the Joy Train services intended for tourists. These always run on steam, while the other services are sometimes steam-hauled and sometimes diesel-hauled. The DHR holiday special is run on all days of the week as DHR Safari special and the fare is Rs 240. On the DHR if you want to travel first class, you have to shell out Rs 247, Rs 42 for chair car and only Rs 27 for general class. There are six Z stations and 150 curves on the route. So it’s that time of the year to take a break from the fast- paced life and make the best of the nine-hour haul. You might prefer something quicker the second time, but at least once, it’s a great trip.

Kalka Shimla Hill Railway

Imagine the thrill of crossing multi-tier, multi-arch masonry bridges with about 103 tunnels heading to the once summer capital of India, Shimla. The Kalka Shimla Hill Railway begins its journey from Kalka and crosses Barog, Dharampore, Taksai, Gamma, Solan heading towards its ultimate destination. “The multi-arch bridges the train crosses add to the scenic beauty and is popular with tourists from India and abroad,” says Mehra.

It’s a six-hour haul amidst greenery and with cool mountain breezes to welcome you to the hills. You can take the normal multi-coach train or the single car train, with a glass roof that gives you a perfect view of the beauty around. The entire route was initially built to 2-ft gauge and later regauged to 2’6”.

Matheran Hill Railway

The Matheran Hill Railway chugs its way along a curvy 21-km hill railway track to Matheran, a secluded hill station 171km from Mumbai. Connecting Neral on the plains to Matheran, the Matheran Hill Railway’s old steam locomotive occasionally stops on the way to oblige snap-happy tourists. You can also charter the train if you wish. The two-ft gauge line opened to traffic in 1907, begins from Neral on the Mumbai-Pune line and takes about 90 minutes to reach Matheran. The best part about being in Matheran: you won’t spot much vehicular traffic.

You can get to Neral by local train from Mumbai-Pune. But during the monsoon, the service is restricted to one train a day and is occasionally cancelled due to heavy rains and landslides. You can travel either first class for Rs 165 or ordinary class for Rs 23. This toy train runs only between sunrise and sunset. The charter can cost between Rs 30,000 and Rs 50,000 and needs to be booked six months in advance.

My favourite holiday

Nayanika Chatterjee,
model and grooming expert

Holidays became a thing from the distant past for me after my daughter was born. But the one holiday that stands out in my memory is a holiday in Spain that I took about seven or eight years ago. Yes, it’s been that long!

I went on the holiday with my entire family — my parents, my brother and his wife. We travelled all over Europe and then went on to Spain. There, we stayed at my great-aunt’s house. It was an idyllic little retreat, perched on a mountain top, overlooking the sea. We got to have the best of both worlds. The view was stunning and having the whole family around was the best part. We had such incredible fun.

While that trip had to be one of the very best I’ve ever had, coming a close second was a vacation in Goa that I took with my husband (then my boyfriend) about six years ago. Now Goa is all about having fun, so I needn’t say any more.

We are waiting for our daughter, Nayantara to grow a bit older till we give into the travel bug again. The only things that border on a holiday nowadays are my quick trips to
Calcutta, which keep me happy being emotionally essential.

Route map

As soccer fever hots up with the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, fans can prepare for loads of promotions and freebies built around the sporting gala. Here’s one that’s just got in: Marriott International has partnered with Emirates Airline on a considerable number of promotions in the coming weeks. So if you are an Emirates Skywards Gold or Silver member who has also been staying at the Marriott hotels, you may just win yourself some coveted tickets (on the airline or to a match) during June 9 - July 9, 2006. As an official partner of the event, the airline is offering 200 match tickets to lucky winners staying at any of the 104 participating Marriott Hotel worldwide (in India, Marriott hotels in Delhi, Mumbai and Goa are the ones to head for). Thirty tickets to key Emirates gateway cities are also up for grabs for the winners of these promotions. Even if you don’t win a ticket during the promotion, each guest at a participating Marriott hotel will be presented FIFA goodies and will have access to the hotel’s Executive Lounge where special screening areas have been demarcated for the matches