IN 1997, on occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Pakistan’s independence, various activities were organized. Among them was an invitation to the Royal Aero Club of the UK, composed of members of the British royalty, who flew in their private aircraft to Pakistan from London. The highlight of their tour was a trip on the historic Khyber Steam Safari. This scribe had the opportunity to accompany the members of British Royalty on this epoch-making visit at the invitation of Air Marshal Sir Ian Macfadyen, who had become my close friend during my posting to Riyadh in 1991 where he was the head of the British Armed Forces stationed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Khyber Steam Safari comprised travel into a two bogies train, hauled by two vintage 1920 steam engines (HGS 2-8-OS), built by the Valcon Foundry Kingston and Company, the United Kingdom, from Peshawar Railway Station to Landi Kotal near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, through the famous Khyber Pass.
The railway line from Peshawar to Landi Kotal was laid in the 1920s by the British in order to build up their forces along Afghanistan to thwart any possible Russian aggression. The railway line passed through one of the most difficult mountainous areas of the world, for which the British constructed 34 tunnels and 92 bridges and culverts. The gradient of the railway line at times became so steep that the train had to be hauled by means of the famous Shagai Spur, a section of the track shaped like a ‘W’ with two reversing stations. The turns were so difficult and straining, that the two engines, one from the front and the other from the rear had to pull and push the train labouring with all their power, lest the train start to ‘stall’ and roll backwards.
The Khyber Steam Safari was described by Time Magazine as “a journey into time and history”. Our journey commenced from the Peshawar Railway Station and meandered through the steep and picturesque landscape of Frontier Region, through the fabled Khyber Pass. A remarkable aspect was that the double gauge railway track crossed the runway used by Peshawar airport and Pakistan Air Force aircraft. After travelling through 42 kilometres of breathtaking mountainous region of the legendary Khyber Pass, the visitors alighted at Michni Frontier Constabulary Post, from where they could view Torkham, the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A sumptuous traditional lunch was hosted at the Khyber Rifles Mess, followed by performance of Pashtun Khattak dance, mesmerising the visitors. Many old British Army officers found it amusing to see the old photographs hung on walls in the corridors of the mess and reminisced memories of the days when they served here. The members of the Royal Aero Club included a grand nephew of Sir Winston Churchill. He was thrilled to visit the Churchill Picket, which is a hilltop post, which gained prominence when Lieutenant Winston Churchill, accompanying the Malakand Field Force in 1895, spent a week defending it against a local tribesman (Lashkar) during the Siege of Malakand and has a stone frieze commemorating the historical prominence. The Khyber Steam Safari left an indelible impression on all the visitors.
The advent of terrorism brought a halt to the Khyber Steam Safari but in 2015, the Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa took control of the former Khyber Steam Safari and renamed it to Khyber Train Safari. However, the route now takes the train between Peshawar and Attock Khurd. Meanwhile, a Safari tourist train from Rawalpindi to Attock Khurd was inaugurated to attract tourists and promote the culture and scenic beauty of the Potohar region. The basic aim to run the train service, which was initially launched in 2021, is to invite tourists from the country and abroad and experience travelling through the scenic landscape of Potohar consisting of Margalla Hills, Sangjani tunnel and minor and major bridges of Chablal, Haro, Ghazi Barotha and Attock Khurd. The train passes through the old iron girder bridge which is the most important strategic and commercial crossing on the Indus between Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan Railways has also constructed a Railway Heritage Museum, which was established in 2003. It consists of three halls containing more than 150 historical artefacts reflecting the British Raj and almost 100 years of undivided Indian history of railways. In the Golra Sharif museum’s big yard, cranes, locomotives, trolleys, engines, tracks, saloons and coaches are impressively portraying the actual railway scenery back to the era of various phases. The open yard displays a wide array of relics which have become extinct on the railway lines around the world. The steam and electric locomotives, a German postal car, a saloon car used by the last British Viceroy to India, Lord Mountbatten, as well as—Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of Pakistan—and another 1888 saloon car belonging to the Maharaja of Jodhpur, made at the Ajmer Sharif Carriage Workshop from the Jodhpur railways given as a wedding present to his daughter are a few examples.
Sadly, the new Train Safari is a far cry from the Khyber Steam Safari. A trip last week revealed ordinary train bogies which had dirty windows deterring the tourists from properly viewing the picturesque view of the terrain. A magic show and a lone male singer rendering popular tunes adds to the entertainment but the stop at Attock where lunch is served, has vast room for improvement. The Shamianas were unkempt and garbage left behind by tourists adds to the woes, painting a pathetic picture. Stray cattle comprising cows and goats were freely helping themselves to leftovers, bothering the visitors. Rides on camels and horses do attract children but need better management. The road on the Historic Attock Bridge is in a state of disrepair. If Pakistan Railways aims to attract more tourists, especially foreigners, they need to refurbish the train bogeys, clean up the surrounding and serve lunch closer to the river in a clean and tidy environment, only then it can make us proud of the heritage.
—The writer, Retired Group Captain of PAF, is author of several books on China.
