The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway by Waverley Road resident Richard Wallace is intended as a history and travel guide to the railway line that was opened in 1881 and is now a UNESCO world heritage site.

The narrow guage railway took two years to build and rises 7,000ft in 55 miles. Although built on a tiny budget, it has survived almost 130 years of use, wars and monsoon weather, with some engines from the 1890s still working today.

Mr Wallace said: "It is a massive achievement. To build it in those days in terrain that was very hostile was incredible.

"And today you can get on a train your great-grandfather might have ridden in in 1889. It is not far removed from that."

The railway was the first modern means of reaching Darjeeling, which is close to the border of Nepal and China. It enabled food and the area's famous tea to be transported more quickly, and was also seen as an important strategic link for the British Army.

The railway's most intensive period of use was during the Second World War, when Darjeeling was a rest and recuperation area for Allied soldiers.

By the 1990s it was falling into disrepair and Indian Railways was considering closing the line, but it was saved by the efforts of the Friends of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

Having visited Calcutta while working for the London underground in the 1980s, Mr Wallace was one of the founder members of the group, now the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society.

The organisation set out to preserve the line and promote tourism and conservation. In 1999 Mr Wallace wrote a first edition as a history. He says the new edition is the book he always meant to write. Originally a London bus driver, the Waverley Road resident admits he would never have predicted the course his life would take.

But after seeing views of the Himalayas, the Kent-born writer says he fell in love with the "mystic East", and with the history of a remnant of the British Empire that is still in use today. Mr Wallace has since travelled in Pakistan and India, but still enjoys returning to the giddy ascents and zig zags leading up to Darjeeling.

He said: "If the mists clear you are confronted by a magical grandstand of mountains, but they are different every time you look at them."

Mr Wallace's book is available from the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society priced £8.95. www.dhrs.org