TUNNEL TALES
One of the most fascinating stories about the KSR relates to the construction of a tunnel near Barog. With a length of 1143.61 m, tunnel no. 33 at Barog is the longest tunnel—and the straightest stretch—on the line. The original plan was to dig a two-km-long tunnel and an engineer named Colonel S. Barog was commissioned for the task. The engineer, after whom the small town is named, began tunnelling from both ends only to find midway that he had made a gross error in calculating the alignment. This lapse attracted a fine of Re 1 from the government. Barog felt so humiliated that he first shot his dog and then himself. Locals believe Barog was buried somewhere near the incomplete tunnel, which can still be seen barely a km from the completed one.
The other story is about Baba Bhalku, a local saint who is believed to have led the British engineering team, marking out the points for laying tracks with a stick. Legend has it that it was with Bhalku’s help that Chief Engineer Harrington completed the tunnel in 1903.

PORTAL INTO THE PAST
The small stations on the route maintain Lost Property Registers, some of them a century old. The register at Sonwara station has an entry dated August 12, 1913 about a lost cap. The station at Barog still has antique clocks, locks and keys, date-punching machines and even antique cutlery from the British era. The Shimla railway station is home to the oldest steam engine operating on this line. Manufactured by the North British Locomotive Company, England, at a cost of Rs 30,000 and commissioned in 1906, KC 520 was withdrawn from service in 1971. It was restored in 2001 and is now used for short, chartered journeys. In fact, the entire KSR is a relic whose old world charm and lazy langour make the journey the destination.