Sri Lanka, April 18 -- The golden era of the Ceylon railway is considered to be from 1858 to 1927. The history of our railways is deeply connected to the vintage tea industry. Tea was first grown commercially in Ceylon by a Scotsman named James Taylor, on a coffee estate called Loolecondera (Kandy) in 1867. Taylor was encouraged by the dynamic Dr.Thwaites, Director of the Royal Botanical Garden at Peradeniya. He planted 20 acres of tea grown from seed imported from India. In response to requests to open up plantations, the government sold virgin crown land around Kandapola to pioneer planters in the 1870s.

The narrow gauge railways were used in three sections of Ceylon where sharp curves were available due to the geography of the region....