Stuart
I don't claim to be an expert but having been once I am now hooked. Wife and I both wanted to see India and I particularly wanted to see the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway so we did a deal. 2 weeks culture and 2 weeks railway.
We booked the DHR bit as part of an organised tour with Darjeeling Tours and it worked really well as we got steam charters on the bit of the line that has not seen a regular train for months, tours of the workshops, a special dining charter and loads of other stuff that couldn't have been done as a solo traveller. They also organised non railway stuff to help keep the girls happy - elephant rides, a dawn safari, temple trips etc.
They do other trips beside Darjeeling and stuff that is much less rail centred.
We did our own thing for a week before the organised tour and a week after including a rail tour of Rajasthan, a trip to see the Taj Mahal, a couple of days in Calcutta where there is an unmodernised 50's tram system.
India is absolutely fabulous. Trains are a cheap way to get around even if you travel first class like we did. WE are going back in 3 weeks time for 5 weeks.
I didn't do the trip on the attached link as we had already booked for our own but this gives a flavour of getting around India by train. It doesn't have to be done like this.
http://gcirc.wordpress.com/
I have signed up for the European equivalent - solo. Wife says she is too well to attend.
Please get back if you want more info.
