English: Dandot railway station in 1990

Technically Khewra is not the end of the track. The track continues a further 3km to Dandot. But here the real mountains begin. On the slopes (directly behind the tender) the road can be seen. The railway runs through a cutting - somewhere in the middle of the picture in the background. The route through this cutting has probably been hit several times by landslides, so it is official closed now.

The white deposits on the ground are not remnants of snow or ice (although it was quite chilly outside), but salt. The salt is mined in the mountains here and loaded on to the railway.

24 January 1996

Khewra station, derailment

The driver can be persuaded, however, to cautiously enter the closed section to Dandot -- with just our passenger coaches, leaving the goods wagons behind. (In British railfanning slang such ventures are called "Rare Track Bashing".)

However, uncoupling and shunting the wagons is not done cautiously at all. Speeding on the rough loop track leads to this derailment. In view of the mishap, the driver now has very serious reservations about further movement, and after some back and forth the action to Dandot is called off. Meanwhile, it is also almost dark.

Instead we head back to Malakwal again, and the freight cars including the derailed ones remain back in Khewra.