The Kalka–Shimla Railway is a two-foot-six-inch narrow gauge line that climbs about ninety-six kilometres from the plains at Kalka to Shimla, the old summer capital of British India. It opened in 1903, was built to carry officials and their luggage up to the hills away from the heat, and it does the job by means of an extraordinary number of tunnels, around a hundred, plus hundreds of bridges and arched viaducts. The longest tunnel, at Barog, is more than a kilometre long, and the story of the engineer who miscalculated the alignment and was fined a rupee is a local legend. UNESCO added the line to the World Heritage List in 2008.
Kalka itself is a busy small town at the foot of the Shivalik hills, and the railway station is the place where the toy train, as everyone calls it, waits at its platform in blue and cream, with a small engine. Parwanoo and Kasauli, close by, are hill stations in their own right, Kasauli with its old cantonment, its church and its quiet pine forests. Behind it all the Himalayan foothills begin, and the air cools quickly as you rise.
The road to Shimla follows the same route, NH5 through Parwanoo and Solan, and in recent years it has been widened, with long tunnels and cuts through the hills. The riding is a grind of hairpins, with heavy truck traffic and buses, though it can be rewarding to watch the toy train cross a viaduct beside the road. Monsoon landslides regularly close parts of it, and in July and August heavy rain has destroyed sections, so check conditions. In winter, black ice and snow appear above Solan, and in the evenings fog rolls in.
There is no shortage of services, with fuel stations in Kalka, Parwanoo and all along the highway, and dhabas that serve parathas, dal and sweet tea to truckers and tourists. Kalka is a good place to fill up, because climbing is thirsty work for an engine, and the bike will appreciate the break. If you can, time your ride to coincide with a train departure, and watch the little locomotive gather itself and puff out of the station.