Proud capital of a proud state, Shimla finds it hard to wear and official look, filled, as it is, with holiday crowds that come to savour the dilights of this year – round vacation spot. “Shimla station” the queen of the Indian hill stations at the attitude of 2076 m (6820ft) is nested solemnly in the forest of deodar and towering pine and green meads of asphodel, hyacinth and celandine. Shimla retains still, the glories of its perennial splendor. 

A beautiful site for construction of Shimla railway station on slopes was selected near the 1st permanent residence of Major Kennedy and among the trees of pine, Fir, Himalayan oak and carmine & rhododendron trees. A small but beautiful station building was constructed in the year 1903 under the supervision of the then chief engineer, Mr. H. S. Haringtom, and agent of the Kalka – Shimla railway. Walls of station building were made of wooden planks and battens and the sloppy roof was of GI sheets. ASM office, waiting rooms and one booking window was accommodated in the building. In 1921, new double storey station building with ASM office, ARME, waiting room, Telegraph office and platforms with small platform-shelter were constructed. Rickshaw shed and horse stand were also provided with the station building.

In 1944, due to heavy snowfall of about 12ft., the existing platform shelter was collapsed and consequently ne shed over the station building and platform was constructed under the supervision of late Mr. M. W. Bouldwin, the then AEN of KLK-SML section. On first floor, electric & station superintendent office, Pay office and two rest rooms were constructed. In the year development as modern station and the work of extension of platform shelter, tourist information office, railway telephone exchange, new retiring room, rebu9ilding of booking office, shifting of cash office from first floor were completed during 1988-89 & 89-90.

Now, on ground floor of this beautiful station building, specious and magnificent, waiting hall has been constructed, where the tourists can sit and also enjoy during snow fall and rainy season the booking-cum-reservation office, full covering of ramp connecting the booking office to the platforms, end to end platform shelter, excellent platform surfacing, modern water booths have been provided without affection the basic structure of the station building. The walls of the building are constructed with brick masonry in lime mortal plastered from outside as well as from inside. Station building has eight ordinary and two Deluxe well furnished retiring rooms each room has large size windows and ventilators for air circulation with beautiful view of valleys in front of it. It is sunny building facing towards south.

Shimla station is a magnificent and splendid building, which attracts tourist from many countries of the world. It really deserves to be described as a unique heritage building. 

Of all the stories told along the Kalka Shimla railway line, there is perhaps none as fascinating as that of Bhalku, who worked on the trac. The tale goes that he claimed that the trace the line should take, had been revealed to him by his devta, deity. Trailed by the engineers and thir theodolites and plane tables, he would march with a tall staff over the hilss and it is said that even H. S. Harington, agent of the Railway was in owe of Bhalku’s `supernatural’ powers and always deferred to him. The Kalka Shimla Railway Line is supposed to have been built on exactly the trace `revealed’ by Bhalku. His reputation went back to the time when the Hindustan Tibet Road was under construction in the 1950s. (Thes road was perhaps the first highway to be built after the Grand Trunk Road and is no , a century and a half old).

It was just over a hundred years ago, over terrain that seen little more than a plough turn it, came a series of steam driven pile drivers, shovels and elaborated tunneling equipment., one of the world’s most challenging engineering feats was in progress – the construction of the `Kalka Shimla Railway Line’. When complete, it would cover 96.54kms of mountainous track and raise from Kalka at a sultry 640 meters ot a far more cool and salubrious Shimla at 2060 meters. Initially, the gauge had been set at two feet, and on the recommendation of the military, this was expanded to the standard two feet six inches norm of hill railways. The ruling gradient of the track is one in thirty three. 

The idea of a rail link to Shimla had been presented as early as Noverber, 1847 by a correspondent of the Delhi Gazette – this was six years before the first train whistled through the Indian sub-continent running between Mumbai and Thane. Within two decades of this observation, Shimla had officially become the `summer capital’ of British India and a staggering one-fifth of the human race began being ruled for the better part of the year from this tiny town and the tenuous telegraph. The nineteenth century was at an end when work finally began on the line that would carry some of the most powerful people in this part of the world and add to the enduring romance of railway travel. 

It was on 9 November 1903 that the line was opened to traffic as a link from the Delhi-Ambala-Kalka branch of the East Indian Railway. The broad-gauge line and the puffing giants ended at Kalka and then, littler locomotives and `toy carriages’ took the thirty inch gauge. Initially, there were 107 tunnels and in 1930, as some of them were defunct, they were renumbered to 103. Today, there are a 102 but fro tradition’s sake, the line is still referred to have a 103-the figure it has had for most of its life’s there are eight hundred bridges and nine hundred curves and during its course through the picturesque countryside that characterizes the lower reaches ot the Himalaya, at times the line goes through a succession of reveres curves of over thirty-six meters radius.

It is perhaps, the tunnels and bridges that have given so much character to the line. All the tunnels were built between 1900 and 1903. The longest one is at Barog – and is over a kilometer long. An original alignment of the Barog tunnels was set about a kilometer above the existing one. Digging began from both sides of the hill and after a fair amount of burrowing had been done, it was realized that the ends would never meet. The engineer, a Col. S. Barog was fined one rupee for the wastage. Unable a stomach this, the story continues, he shot himself. The place and the station were then named after him. Today, above the station, in a thicket of oak and pine, the head of the old tunnel may still be seen.

The bridges alone the track resemble Roman aqueducts and the longest arch viaduct has an aggregated length of 2.8 kilometers. The water culverts are elaborately stone-worked and the line is protected by tall revetments. The track was built by a private company under the supervision of H. S. Harington Chief Engineer and agent of the Kalka Shimla Railway. The Railway was purchased by the state in 1906 and had cost Rs. 1.71,07,748 at the time of its construction. 

For what was one of the most expensive tracks to build, this line remains an expensive line to maintain. And even today, small stations along the Kalka Shimla line have mellifluous names like Koti, Kanoh, Solon and Barog. The tiny coaches of the toy train glide easily past ht trimmed hedges and gabled roofs. The ride itself is like the gently cadence of a softly changing melody and every turn in the hills adds a fresh stanza. In the background remain the lilt of the train’s motion and the refrain of the engine’s whistle. 

From bare brown hills mottled with bamboo, cactus and exposed boulders, the line enters the alpine reaches of the lower Himalay. Tall grasses sway, the pines tentatively and then determinedly apperar. The views expand, the ranges undulate and as a just reward for a long journey, the last few koklometers before Shimla are spent in lush forest of oak and rhododendron. 
Today, for all those with a little time on their side, this is still the finest way of savoring the journey to-or-from – Shimla. The little railcar is a delight, the Shivalik Express is designed for travelers who like their comforts and the regular passenger trains still have little lock-away compartments. And as the line prepares to enter a fresh phase of both history and travel, a whole series of events are planned for a memorable celebration.