darjeeling’s ‘B’ line

Darjeeling’s ‘B’ Class; when they were dreamt up in industrial Victorian Britain they were the close contemporaries of engines like ‘J36’ Maude, or ‘Y7s’, the Adams ‘O2s’, or ‘Lanky’ 2-4-2Ts. Just a tiny pinprick on the order books, one reason they have survived so long is because they were ideal for the job. For while the ‘B’ Class is celebrated, who really remembers the DHR’s ‘A’, ‘C’, or ‘D’ classes? Developed by Sharp Stewart, and built by that company and its successor North British - but also with three from Baldwin and another trio assembled in the DHR’s own Tindharia Works, the ‘B’ Class eventually ran to 34 engines. That doesn’t include No. 01, originally No. 1001, which was constructed at India’s Golden Rock Works and delivered to the railway in 2007. That locomotive, one of three intended new-builds incorporating some old parts, was initially devised as an oil-burner but subsequently converted to run on coal. An ingenious, rugged design that incorporates both saddle and well tanks above a short wheelbase four-wheeled bottom end, the ‘Bs’ have saturated boilers, and two outside cylinders. The crew includes not only driver and fireman, but a coal breaker who sits atop the coal bunker in front of the cab, and two people to sand the track from the front of the engine by hand. Traditionally, re-railing poles are carried along the top of the saddle tank and bunker, in case of derailment. The wonderful survival of these engines means you can still enjoy the products of a place that built swathes of locomotives for Britain and around the world - and where the last of the original ‘Bs’ was posed alongside an also-new No. 6100 Royal Scot in 1927. The famous blue livery has now been carried for the best part of 60 years, since the DHR was brought under India’s Northeast Frontier Railway. Before that the 0-4-0ST/WTs carried the North Eastern Railway’s red, and in pre-independence days the standard livery was DHR dark green. Not including No. 01, there are currently some dozen ‘Bs’ at the DHR - including two Sharp Stewart machines (Nos. 779 and 780) from 1893. Others are preserved and two from the original 1889 batch survive - No. 777 is on display at Delhi’s National Rail Museum, while No. 19 (778) is at Adrian Shooter’s Beeches Light Railway in Oxfordshire. Although not the only diesels to have run on the line (the first appeared during the war years), a pair of ‘NDM6’ locomotives arrived in 2000 and these have since been joined by four more. Regular through-trains between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling are diesel-hauled.