Barog is a cute little place immerging as a major holiday attraction to spend a day in. It is a small village in Solan district in the Himachal Pradesh. Set in the mountains Barog is just 60km from Chandigarh on the Kalka-Shimla highway. It used to be an important stop in the early decades of the century when the Kalka-Shimla toy train stopped here for an hour while the sahibs and memsahibs enjoyed a lavish lunch.
The station, one of the prettiest on the line with its hanging baskets of pink geraniums. Barog was settled in the early 20th century during the building of the narrow gauge Kalka-Shimla Railway. It is named after Barog, an engineer involved in building the railway track in 1903. Barog, the engineer, was responsible for designing a tunnel near the railway station. He commenced digging the tunnel from both sides of the mountain, which is quite common as it speeds up construction.
However, he made mistakes in his calculation and while constructing the tunnel, it was found that the two ends of the tunnel did not meet. Barog was fined an amount of 1 Rupee by the British government. Unable to withstand the humiliation, Barog committed suicide. He was buried near the incomplete tunnel.
The area came to be known as Barog after him. Soon another tunnel was built by H.S. Harrington, Chief Engineer in Railways at that time. This tunnel is the longest of the 103 operational tunnels on the route of the Shimla-Kalka Railway, which is 1143.61m long. Barog station is immediately after the tunnel. Barog tunnel is the straightest tunnel in the World. Trains take about 3 minutes to cross this tunnel, running at 25 kilometres per hour.
Height 1680 m. On the Kalka-Shimla highway, Barog has grown from a mere stopover to a full-fledged destination. Surrounded by pine and oak forests, Barog has a commanding setting. The Choor Chandni-which poetically translates as the ‘mountain of the silver bangle‘ is clearly visible from Barog-and when moonlight washes down its snow covered slopes, it seems as though thousands of icy, silver bangles are sliding down in the night.
Barog was settled in the early 20th century during the building of the narrow gauge Kalka-Shimla Railway. lt is named after Colonel Barog, an engineer involved in building the railway track in 1903. Surrounded by pine woods and views of the valley, Barog makes a conveniently accessible destination from the Delhi-Punjab-Harayana region or as a travel stopover to or from Shimla. lt is also a convenient weekend getaway.
