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Kangra Valley Railway
The Kangra Valley Railway, popularly known as the Kangra Toy Train is a narrow gauge line (2 ft 6 inches) in the sub-Himalayan region covering a distance of 163 kilometers (101 miles) connecting Pathankot with Joginder Nagar. It lies in the Firozpur Division of the Northern Railway Zone.
History
The Kangra Valley Railway is one of the five Indian Mountain Railways built in the late nineteenth and twentieth century during the British Raj. In 1844, Sir John Lawrence, the Viceroy of India, had proposed the idea of phased plan named as ‘Hill Railway’, for establishing geographically and culturally rich stations across the country. The Kangra Valley was one of the locations in the rugged terrain of the Dhauladhar Mountains. The Kangra Valley Railway was planned in May 1926 and commissioned in 1929 and is still in operation.
About the Kangra Toy Train
The railway winds its way through a labyrinth of picture postcard perfect hills and vales as it chugs up from Pathankot to Joginder Nagar. The Kangra Valley Railway has been planned and structured to give a panoramic view of majestic grandeur of snow-clad Himalayas, the deep Kangra chasm or the Ban Ganga Gorge to the traveler who is given a chance to slowly imbibe the scenic beauty at leisure. There are no shortcuts to shorten the journey by means of tunnels of sharp gradients or dizzy curves. There are 971 uniquely designed bridges and only two tunnels out of which one is only 250 ft. and the other 1000 ft. The most beautiful stretch is the 18 miles from Mangwal to Kangra, when the 15000-16000 ft. Himalayan peaks are hardly 10 miles away. One can also see the ruins of the Kangra Fort on this journey. From here on the line runs parallel to the Dhauladhar range .
Ahju station at 1,210 meters (3,970 ft) is the highest point on this line. The steel arch bridge over the Reond nalah and the girder bridge over the Banganga River are unique bridges. There are gentle slopes with only a few steep gradients.
World Heritage Site
The Kangra Valley Railway has been declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This is the third Indian Mountain Railway to be thus honored, the other two being Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and the Kalka Shimla Railway. The Kangra Valley Railway is an early, and an outstanding, example of a hill passenger railway that is still fully operational.. Opened in 1926, it applied bold and ingenious engineering solutions, to the problem of establishing an effective rail link across a mountainous terrain of great beauty and also, it is a living example of the engineering enterprise of the 19th century. The Government of India and the Indian Railways take great pains to preserve this engineering marvel with all its aspects; the rail tracks, the rolling stock and the diesel locomotives in their original form. The locomotives are maintained at the Locomotive shed at Pathankot.