Imaging the landscape experience of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Abstract

The history of development of hill stations in India during colonial period dates back to the nineteenth century, when due to establishment of Railways, British sought to inhabit these cooler areas in the harsh summer. Situated in the Eastern Himalayan belt, a similar hill station, Darjeeling gained popularity both in India and abroad as a tourist destination. is was facilitated by the commencement of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway between Siliguri, in the plains of Bengal to the hills of Darjeeling. Although intended to support the thriving Tea industry, the DHR soon became one of the most celebrated and acclaimed train journeys in the world. e toy train chugs along the hill side o ering a variety of landscape experiences taking the passenger from the heat of the plains to the bracing mountain air. But in the post-independent scenario, it witnessed many challenges. With change in ownership, faster and e cient modes of transport and the recurring landslides, the toy train became less preferred and insolvent. e land-use changes altered the landscape experience that the DHR once boasted. With lesser travellers and obsolete engineering structure, the railway seems to have lost its value, and association with the community. e places and landmarks that narrated the glorious past of the railway were soon forgotten, and the need to conserve the heritage was realised. In 1999, the DHR was declared as a World Heritage Site due to its significance as a hill passenger railway and an example of the engineering excellence of nineteenth century and the socio-economic development that it brought into the Darjeeling region. While the conservation of the railway and its engineering aspect is important the landscape, the larger setting which determines the travel experience plays a signi cant role as well. • e study aims to re-establish the nostalgia associated with DHR through landscape intervention. • It explores the historic, aesthetic and socio-culture values etched with the train with an objective to restore them. • It examines how the DHR takes the traveller through a variety of landscape experiences in a series of notable sights; study of vehicular mediation of landscape. e study draws on a range of published and private accounts, government and railway company records, newspaper articles, travel guidebooks and DHR Co. publications in order to reconstruct the past experiences of the seven-hour journey. While land use along the route changed during the span of around 130 years , the route, stations, and ‘landscape corridor’ remained largely the same, providing a unique opportunity for comparison among accounts and over the time. Concentrating on the representational aspects of the journey, the analysis constitute rst the historical investigation and second the author’s own experience riding the railway. e study also aims in reconsidering the signi cant lost possibility or opportunity in revitalizing the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.