William Cope – Mountain: Darjeeling

Review by Paul Anderson •

In 1971, singer-songwriter Steve Goodman penned the song “City of New Orleans,” which poetically captures a ride on the Illinois Central Railroad southbound out of Chicago. Wrapped up in the lyrics are images of Americana and the local landscape as the train “Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.” Much more than the train itself, this song captured the soul of that rail line and the society it served. The first two lines of the refrain tell it all:

Good morning, America, how are you?

So don’t you know me I’m your native son

Much in that same vein, but in a different medium, photographer William Cope has published a series of photobooks called The Rail Way that capture the cultural essence of four rail lines, one in Australia and three in India. They tell interesting stories about unique and colorful railways that had their beginnings in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, and were still in operation when these photographs were taken in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The titles of the books are Cement, Mountain: Matheran, Mountain: Darjeeling, and Mountain: Ootacamund.

Each book is, in effect, a brief historical survey. All have photographs of a rail line, surrounding scenery, rail cars, locomotives, railroad workers, passengers and civilians. The images are accompanied by substantial text that discuss the line’s historical importance and impact.

The subject of this review is the book Mountain: Darjeeling. This book concerns the 49.7-mile rail journey from Calcutta (Kolkata) to the Himalayan mountain village of Darjeeling at 6,812 feet above sea level. The line’s highest point is Ghum, at 7,407 feet. The train departs Calcutta at 7:00 pm and arrives at Darjeeling at 2:15 pm the following day. It is primarily a passenger train, taking people out of the big city into the high mountains.

This book opens with a 4-page essay that emphasizes the challenge of a railway journey up into the mountains on a means of conveyance optimized for more horizontal travel. It reflects on the colonial past of India, and discusses how this railway would have served the British elite.

Twenty six photographs follow, which were taken in January 1977 and January 1981. More numerous than the photographs in Mountain: Matheran, they emphasize the beautiful landscapes of the Himalayan foothills and the colorful villages through which the train travels. The train tracks thread their way through the mountainous terrain and through the photographs, which have been nicely composed to emphasize the tortuous rail line. They tell a story all their own.

The book concludes with a 4-page essay that describes the specifics of the line from Kolkata to Darjeeling. The essay includes numerous quotes from Mark Twain, who took this rail line in 1896 while touring India in preparation for his upcoming book Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World. Twain’s observations are a nice addition to the text. There are also interesting references to the origins of Darjeeling tea and the role that that commodity has played in the area. This portion of the photobook reads like a travel guide to the Darjeeling area, which nicely complements the photography.

This book, although very modest in size and appearance, is quite an interesting combination of text and photographs. It describes a piece of world history where the installation of a railway line significantly impacted culture, community, political structure, and economic development.

Two other books in this series by William Cope have been reviewed in PhotoBook Journal. They are Cement and Mountain: Matheran. The book Mountain: Ootacamund was not available for review.

This book will be of interest to railway buffs, railroad historians, and those who enjoy photographing trains.

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Articles and photographs published in the PhotoBook Journal may not be reproduced without the permission of the PhotoBook Journal staff and the photographer(s). All images, texts, and designs are under copyright by the authors and publishers.

Paul Anderson is a photographer/digital artist, working in Hermosa Beach, CA

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William Cope – Mountain: Darjeeling

Photographer: William Cope (born in Australia, currently resides in Champaign, Illinois)

Essays: A general essay on the nature of these city-to-mountain railways, and a second essay about the specific route of the train to Darjeeling.

Text: Hindi and English

Perfect Bound, 8 inches by 8 inches, 67 pages, 26 photographs, a limited edition of 100 that are numbered and signed. Includes notes and a list of photographs.

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