A Tunnel, A Jungle, A River and A Massive Viaduct: The Alfred Viaduct
The Alfred Viaduct is constructed on the river Tawa a tributary of Narmada. It is situated very near to the foot of the Tawa Dam. It is a single line girder bridge with 6 massive pillars. India's oldest forest preserve, the Bori Reserve Forest, was established in 1865 along the Alfred Viaduct & the Tawa River and it lies between Itarsi and Jablpur section of WCR precisely near Bagra Tawa station. There is also a famous Dargah on the Jabalpur end of the viaduct which is frequented by many pilgrims. Six Rail Fans from Pune, Nasik Bhusawal and Delhi travelled treacherous terrains in a shaky auto from Itarsi and a long walk along with a boat ride including a dip in water as well to capture the Alfred Viaduct like never Before. All pictures are with due permissions from CPRO WCR.
Members included Sachin Buddhisagar, Anish Niranjan, Jattin Bhavsar, Trayambak Ojha, Raj Bhavsar, Sid Ganesh and we were accompanied by Railway staff SLI from BSL.
(Trayambak Ojha)
An unknown Express coming going towards Jabalpur. (Jattin Bhavsar)
A BTPN Rake hauled by an Itarsi jumbo rolls on the Alfred viaduct. Sachin and myself took a fragile boat howering around to capture this shot (Trayambak Ojha)
Sequence 1 of 3: ET Jumbo with a BTPN going towards Itarsi. (Jattin Bhavsar)
Sequence 2 of 3: The BTPN Consist. (Jattin Bhavsar)
Sequence 3 of 3: the Long BTPN Rake passes from viaduct. (Jattin Bhavsar)
Workers having a breather as train passes towards Jabalpur. (Jattin Bhavsar)
These frail boats with very underprivileged children make occasional appearances near the viaduct since their parents are poor and they have to earn their lively hood by fishing (Trayambak Ojha)
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A freighter goes in Bagratawa Tunnel like a snake getting inside its home in a dense Jungle. (Jattin Bhavsar)
An Itarsi Alco hauls an Express train towards Jabalpur over the Alfred Viaduct(Jattin Bhavsar)
A Passenger train from Jabaplur side melts into the dense Satpura forests after exiting the Alfred Viaduct (Jattin Bhavsar)
Another Express train towards Itarsi moves over the Alfred viaduct with a caution (Jattin Bhavsar)
Sanghamitra Express to Patna is captured perched on one of the pillars of the Alfred Viaduct (Jattin Bhavsar)
11067 LTT-FD Saket Express hauled by twin Itarsi alcos enters BagraTawa tunnel after the Alfred viaduct (Trayambak Ojha)
Passenger service towards ET enters at Tawa Bridge. Loco is GD WDM 3A # 16063 (Raj Bhavsar)
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Loaded BTPN Rake towards ET at Tawa Bridge. Loco is ET WDM 2 # 17819 JUMBO. (Raj Bhavsar)
2150 Patna Pune SF entering Tawa bridge.Loco is PUNE WDG 3A # 13558 SHAKTI (Trayambak Ojha)
2295 Sanghamitra Express to Patna rolls over the Alfred viaduct with 2 extra coaches one which can be seen in the pic and the other was an inspection saloon coach at the end. Hauled by a Gonda alco WDM3A (Trayambak Ojha)
This a very famous Dargah in the area and people have a legend that at midnight a tiger comes to this mosque to clean its footsteps with it's tails (Trayambak Ojha)
After a demanding and tiring work in the office these hard working gangmen and some villagers make headway back home towards Sonatali crossing the Alfred Viaduct (Trayambak Ojha)
A Re-built Katni WDM3A rumbles over the Alfred viaduct with an express in tow towards Jabalpur (Trayambak Ojha)
A Gonda WDM3A hauls an express train towards Jabalpur over the Tawa river bridge. ()
Mission accomplished! Team IRFCA- L-R, SLI from BSL, Jattin Bhavsar, Raj Bhavsar, Trayambak Ojha, Sachin Buddhisagar, Sid Ganesh, Anish Niranjan(Sachin Buddhisagar)
BGTA tunnel No 1 Sachin and Trayambak Ojha were waiting for train from the direction if inside the tunnel but were only greeted by Saket Express from the reverse direction. (Raj Bhavsar)
Recent comments
phenomenal effort put in guys.. keep it up
Posted by Shikhar Parjan on 2011 Aug 28 22:40:15 +0000
All you guys who went on this railfanning trip -
I can see that you had a great time at a wonderful spot. You have done well in capturing the mood of the location. Finally, thanks a lot for sharing the pics with us all.
Posted by S. Srinivas on 2011 Aug 21 04:45:32 +0000
Though I call Itarsi my home, I have the privilege of seeing this beautiful collection, all the way from New Zealand. Thanks to the team. Well done.
Posted by Shirish Paranjape on 2011 Aug 17 08:49:05 +0000