DHR 778
| Darjeeling Himalayan Railway 19 (All-India No. 778) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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No. 778 hauling a train on the Ffestiniog Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DHR Locomotive number 778 was built for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Nicknamed the "Toy Train", the railway is a 2 ft (610 mm) gauge narrow-gauge railway from Siliguri to Darjeeling in West Bengal, run by the Indian Railways.
DHR 778 is a 0-4-0ST B Class, a design built between 1889 and 1927. A total of 34 were built. By 2005 only 12 remained on the railway and in use (or under repair). The B class locomotives were designed by Sharp Stewart & Co. of Glasgow and built by them, their successors North British Locomotive Company (NBL, Glasgow), and three each by Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW, Philadelphia, USA), and the DHR works at Tindharia.
Number 778 (originally No.19) was built in 1889 by Sharp Stewart & Co at the Atlas Works in Glasgow. It is the only DHR locomotive that has been taken out of India. After many years out of use at the Hesston Steam Museum, it was sold to enthusiast Adrian Shooter in the United Kingdom and restored to working order. As of 2009, it is based on Beeches Light Railway, a private railway in Oxfordshire, and has also run on the Ffestiniog Railway, the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway and the Launceston Steam Railway.
In 2013, locomotive 778 ran as a part of Indian Extravaganza Fest in the serene county of Bedfordshire in East England.[1]
References
- Hughes, Hugh & Jux, Frank (1980). Steam Locomotives in India. Part 1 – Narrow Gauge. Harrow, Middlesex: Continental Railway Circle. pp. 69, 79, 87. ISBN 0-9503469-5-0.