Darjeeling sprouts in Scotland - British salute shared heritage of hill railway, rename a station after hill town for two days

North Queensferry station in Scotland

Mrinalini Sharma, TT, Siliguri, Sept. 29: A railway station in Scotland became Darjeeling for two days, with fluttering prayer flags and Indian food stalls, because British Darjeeling Himalayan Railway fans wanted to promote a shared heritage between the hill locomotive and the island.

Those who took the train from North Queensferry station on September 19 and 20 may have been amused to see a yellow signboard reading "Darjeeling" on the platform.

The station, near Edinburgh, was transformed by the joint event of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society (DHRS), the UK-based association of hill rail enthusiasts, and the North Queensferry Heritage Trust, to celebrate the connection between Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) and the Scottish railway.

The toy trains that run in the hills and are a tourist draw are operated by the DHR.

The iconic Forth Bridge, to which North Queensferry is the northern gateway, and the DHR both have Unesco World Heritage status.

Inaugurated in 1890 by Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, the Forth Bridge of Scotland was the longest single-cantilever bridge in the world until the Quebec Bridge of Canada was completed in 1917.

Unesco accorded it World Heritage status in July this year.

"This year marks the 125th anniversary of the establishment of Forth Bridge and Unesco has accorded it World Heritage status. On September 19 and 20, a joint event was organised by the North Queensferry Heritage Trust and the DHRS to celebrate Indo-Scottish railway links, for both the DHR line and the iconic Forth Railway Bridge are Unesco World Heritage sites," Paul Whittle, the vice-president of the DHRS, wrote in an email to The Telegraph.

The DHR, which turned 134 years on August 23 this year, was accorded the heritage status by Unesco in 1999.

Another connection Whittle mentioned was that the hill railway's B-Class steam locomotives were built in Glasgow, Scotland. "There is another connection, and that is almost 20 of the famed B-Class steam locomotives of the DHR were built in Glasgow in Scotland," Whittle wrote.

This was the first event to promote the hill railway in Scotland.

To give the station a feel of Darjeeling, they strung together colourful prayer flags across North Queensferry station and put up the Darjeeling signage.

The railway society's members put on Indian attire and served Indian snacks to visitors.

An added attraction, Whittle wrote, was a rare opportunity granted by Network Rail, responsible for Britain's railway infrastructure, to visitors to ascend to the top of the Forth Bridge.