Ride to Makali Ghats

Pictures taken in and around Makali ghats from 2 separate days.

      Beautiful view from the Hebbal - Yelahanka flyover. This location is just before Yelahanka..

     Pic 1/2 MLY WDM3A twins with Yesvantpur - Gorakpur Weekly Express near Makalidurga.

       Pic 1/2 MLY WDM3A twins with Yesvantpur - Gorakpur Weekly Express near Makalidurga.

       UBL WDP4 with Bagalkot - Mysore Basava Express exits out of Makalidurga station..

               ED WDM3D with Mumbai - Nagercoil Express over a bridge, Makalidurga..

                                                              The EYE Contact

                                                   One of my Partner's in Crime

                          Guntakal WDG3A with Gorakhpur - Yesvantpur Express, Makalidurga.

                                                               Odd one out. :)

                      spot choosen to capture the late running Rajdhani Express, Gauribidnaur.

                                                  Clouds add so much to this picture.

                                                       One more beautiful cloud formation.

                GY WDM3D with Yesvantpur - Machilipatnam Kondavedu Express, Thoindebhavi.

                                            The Long walk back home after collecting water...

                     GTL WDG3A with Vijaywada - Bangalore Cantt Passenger, Thondebhavi.

                                Sunset indicating the end of the road trip to capture train..

Hope you enjoyed the video and Pics.. :)

Do post your comments and suggestions below.

First Day First Show : Palani - Pollachi Broad Gauge

5 years ago, Palghat / Podanur - Dindigul meter gauge line was closed for gauge conversion. 3 years later the strech between Dindigul and Palani opened. 

9th January 2015 saw the opening of Palani - Pollachi section. I tired my best to cover the event. Pictures and video from the event can be seen below.

    02651 Palani - Pollachi Express with GOC WDM2A #16885 waits to start its journey from Palani.

   The first train on this route 06769 Pollachi - Palani Passenger with ED WDM3D #11103 arrives Palani.

          All the Level Crossing's along the route had people waiting for watch the train pass by..

                              The Old meter gauge alignment over the Amaravathi river..

                                            

                                        Kids going to school were seen through out this stretch..

                                               The crowd at Udumalaipettai Station.

                         The Express to Pollachi gets ready to depart from Udumalaipettai..

                  Things get back to normal once the train started to move out of sight....

   The second train from Palani, 06709 Palani - Pollachi passenger with ED WDM2 #18787 enters Udumalaipettai.

                                                      Same train view towards Palani.

                                                   

         Common scene along the route, Look at the size difference. Onboard the Passenger to Pollachi,

                                                                         Wind Power..

             ED WDM2 undergoing Loco reversal to take the Passenger back to Palani. 

               Line on the right will go to Podanur and the one on the left to Palghat Town.

                                     View of Pollachi station from Palghat Line..

                                    RAJARAJAN, the meter gauge crane at Pollachi.

                                     The meter gauge remains at Pollachi Junction..

                                   Mechanical & Muscular power at work, Pollachi.

     The Evening Express and the Passenger taking a break before starting their journey back to Palani.

                                                     Resting time for men and the machine...

              The Curious young girl walking towards Pollachi station to have a look at the trains..

                                    Udumalaipettai had the biggest crowd for the day..

                                     Most of the people had come just to watch the train..

                                           The sad state of meter gauge era at Palani..

Hope you all enjoyed the video and the pictures. Do post your comments and suggestions below.

Journey behind a Steam Loco....

                                                           STEAM LOCO SHED, METTUPALAYAM

Some things in life are priceless and i would put this journey in that list. The last time i heard a steam whistle was way back in 2003 during the 150th Celebration of Indian railways. well, i am going to tell you about my experience on Nilgiri mountain railway behind a steam Loco so here it goes.

6:15 am - Home signal cleared and we started moving towards Metupalayam station. My eyes started searching for the meter gauge tracks and the train. The Steam beauty along with the train was ready on the platform. I was bit disappointed as i had wished to see the loco coupling process. Nevertheless seeing a live steam loco after a long time was a blessing. I started roaming around the station and i 

ended up next to the steam loco shed, only one loco was present. Exactly an hour after i arrived at Mettupalayam, we departed towards Ooty with a short whistle by the Steam loco. As we started gaining some speed, a cow made us to stop all of a sudden. As we slowly neared the cow, the cow started moving along the tracks causing further delay. After 2 minutes of walking next to tracks the cow finally decided to change its course allowing us to pick up speed again. The station on the route, Kallar was reached. The Loco started drinking its water while passengers started their photo shoots.The rack and pinon system starts from here which helps the train have a extra grip as it starts to climb the hills. I will let the videos and pictures speak for the rest of the trip. It was just music for the ears as the steam loco chugged up the grade. Coonor was reached 15 minutes before time.
There is traction change here from Steam to Diesel.

                                                                                                                                                                     

                                       

To be continued....

Wiki info - Nilgiri Mountain Railway 

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (Tamil: நீலகிரி மலை ரயில்) is a railway in Tamil Nadu, India, built by the British in 1908,^[1] and was initially operated by the Madras Railway. The railway still relies on its fleet of steam locomotives.^[2] NMR comes under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Salem Division. In July 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the World Heritage Site of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the site then became known as "Mountain Railways of India." After it satisfied the necessary criteria, thus forcing abandonment of the modernisation plans. For the past several years diesel locomotives have taken over from steam on the section between Coonoor and Udhagamandalam. Local people and tourists have led a demand for steam locos to once again haul this section.

  

3 New trains for Bengaluru.....

Novemeber 1st, a special day for the people of Karnataka and railways decided to gift the state 6 new trains. I decided to cover the inuagural runs from Yesvantpur. 3 new trains were to be inugurated from Yesvantpur.

1. Yesvantpur - Nelamangala Passenger
2. Yesvantpur - Hosur Passenger ( It was already running as a special )
3. Bengaluru - Tumakuru Passneger ( It was already running as a special express )

Started from home around 8:00 AM to Bengaluru city to have a glimpse of the decorated Loco for Tumakuru Passenger. On reaching the station, there were no signs of the loco and it was also confirmed by fellow rail fan Nihkil who was waiting for me. We took Bengaluru Tumakuru Passenger that departs at 09:20 AM to Yesvantpur to have a look at the siutation there. On reaching we got to meet the unique WAP1 named Jawahar. Then from the yard side we saw a decorated train coming towards platform 6. It was the loco and the 2 DEMU's for the inaugural runs. After inspecting the decorated DEMU, we went towards the Loco to be surprised again. The rake of Bengaluru - Tumakuru was already coupled to the loco and we were also informed that all the trains will start from Platform 6. We then went around clicking pictures and by 12, Nelamanga DEMU was given clearance and we departed Yesvantpur. After getting down at Soldevanahalli and waving good bye to DEMU, we waited for Bengaluru - Tumakuru inugural passenger. The train finally came after 20 minutes at Full MPS and it went out of sight in no time. It was time for home. Pictures and Video from the event an be seen below. Do leave your comments and suggestions below..

VIDEO

                           

PICTURES 

                                                       The Decorated Loco and the DEMU rakes..

                                                                      Happy Faces.. :)

                                                            AJJ WAP1 named Jawahar..

                                          Nelamangala DEMU gets ready to depart from Soldevanahalli..

                                   Rakes of Yesvantpur - Solapur Express and Yesvantpur - Miraj Special..

                                                                               Face to Face..

Hope you all liked it.. :)