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Monday, 16 February
Meet at Heathrow Terminal 3 at 18.00, and check in for the Jet Airways flight at 21.05 to…
Included: flight, meals on flight. Not included: travel to Heathrow, incidentals
Tuesday, 17 February
…Bombay, arriving at 11.35. We’ll be met and taken to our hotel, where our rooms will be ready. After a short break to freshen up, we take the local bus up to the Nehru Science Centre, where one of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway line’s ‘C’ class 4-6-0 locomotives is on display, together with a large display of early cars – many of them British. We’ll have a reasonably early night, ready for an early start tomorrow
Included: meals on flight, coach transfer, bus rides, admission, accommodation. Not included: other meals and incidentals.
Wednesday, 18 February
An early start - there’s a ten minute walk to Bombay’s historic CST (Victoria Terminus – India’s answer to St Pancras) for the 06.45 express out to Neral, with breakfast on the train – the omelette’s not bad! At Neral, we change onto the 2ft 0in gauge Matheran Railway for our steam charter trip up to Matheran. The loco should be ex-Darjeeling ‘B’ class 794. There should be time for lunch in Matheran – an interesting town with no cars - before we return, arriving back in Bombay on one of their ubiquitous suburban electric units. (If you prefer, you may spend the day exploring Bombay)
Included: Early tea, rail travel, charter train, accommodation. Not included: other meals and incidentals.
Thursday, 19 February
We’ll take a city tour of Bombay, with all the highlights including one of the two Darjeeling Railway ‘Pacifics’, a look at the incredible Victoria Terminus (India’s architectural answer to St Pancras) and Elephanta Island with its historic and religious caves (and its ‘boat train’!). Alternatively, there are a couple of derelict steam rollers in Gujarat. One of the rollers is an Aveling & Porter, the other a locally-assembled Tata-Marshall. It’s a long day by rail with an early start and a late finish.
Included: breakfast, city tour, rail transport (if specified in advance), accommodation. Not included: other meals, local transport and incidentals
Friday, 20 February
After an early breakfast, we leave the hotel at 07.30 for the airport to catch the 10.10 Jet Airways flight from Bombay to Calcutta arriving at 12.40. We’ll be met and taken into the city for a visit to the excellent new Railway Museum at Howrah. This will be followed by a trip on the amazing Calcutta trams with our private charter – an excellent introduction to the City: you’re in there, up close, but you don’t have to fight your way through the crowds on the pavement.
Included: breakfast, coach transfers, flight, meal on flight, museum visit, tram ride, accommodation. Not included: other meals and incidentals
Saturday, 21 February
A choice today: take a Calcutta tour of various museums, one with interesting industrial archeological items plus a steam locomotive and a couple of steam rollers plus a river cruise on the Hooghly, a tributary of the famous River Ganges with all its religious connotations - or you can travel out to ride the narrow gauge train between Shantipur and Krishnanagar – there are several timing options for this, depending on how keen you are (and how early you’re willing to get out of bed!)
Included: breakfast, transfers, museums and rail transport (if specified in advance), accommodation. Not included: other meals, other local transport and incidentals
Sunday, 22 February
We take the coach to Calcutta’s Sealdah station to catch the 09.00 train to New Jalpaiguri. Watch the scenery change from Calcutta’s grimy urban city-scape through the suburbs, following the Ganga River up to Malda, and then the lush Bengali countryside, until we arrive in New Jalpaiguri at 19.00. Then it’s a short drive to the Cindrella Hotel, where a good vegetarian dinner awaits us.
Included: breakfast, coach transfers, rail travel, packed lunch on train, dinner, accommodation. Not included: other meals, incidentals
Monday, 23 February
We return to New Jalpaiguri station to catch the (diesel-hauled) Darjeeling Himalayan Railway service train through the town to Siliguri Junction, where we disembark to catch our DHR steam charter. This takes us through the tea gardens to Sukna; then the climb starts through the jungle and along the mountainside to Tindharia, where we will visit the DHR’s workshops. Road and rail run close together – there will be a bus running just in front of the train for the photographers with plenty of chances to transfer between train and bus. We then return by bus to the Cindrella for the night.
Included: breakfast, coach transfers, rail travel, workshop visit, dinner, accommodation. Not included: other meals, incidentals.
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