The Quaint Narrow Gauge of the Central Plateaus

The sun is having a delayed rise due to a cloudy morning as the NG train to depart from Telibandha arrives from Raipur maintenance shed with the trackside way used by daily commuters. (Trayambak Ojha)

At the LC just before the Telibandha station the Khalasi gets down to close the gate and regulate the rake and the road traffic (Trayambak Ojha)

Another of the staff manually close this huge door (Trayambak Ojha)

Once the gate is secured the train is escorted with caution into the station (Trayambak Ojha)

The train came in with an additional loco as 2 rakes enter combined. One will head towards Rajim & one towards Dhamtari (Trayambak Ojha)

So after an elaborate halt the train is ready to depart towards Dhamtari as the first service is for there. (Trayambak Ojha)

The loco is being uncoupled from the reverse side for shunting. The spirit of these men is is what keep these out of focus of the management NG/MG trains running for common people at a fraction of the costs. (Trayambak Ojha)

We move to the most busy junction of this section- Abhanpure, where the lines to Dhamtari & Rajim bifurcate. (Trayambak Ojha)

The huge trees and the wild flowers have a unique charm and the service from Abhanpur gets ready to depart. (Trayambak Ojha)

Galloping the rural Raipur, the train arrives at Abhanpur, but being in a faster car we were ready to greet it with our lenses. The staff however exchanges some documentation with the LP here. (Trayambak Ojha)

This train curves into the third loop at Abhanpur and will be ready to depart for Dhamtari in some time (Trayambak Ojha)

2 NG trains standing together at a Junction. The only other station I can imagine it to be is Nainpur which will soon be history but probably this place will remain for sometime. (Trayambak Ojha)

As the clouds become darker the service from Dhantari arrives in the horizon as the staff prepares the tracks and ready to exhchange similar socuments (Trayambak Ojha)

The train towards Raipur arrives super packed with people clinging on every inch of space. The staff holds up a green flag to suggest all is set ahead for its entry into the platform. (Trayambak Ojha)

And the customary exhchange of the caution orders. (Trayambak Ojha)

Just to give an idea of the occupancy of the train. (Trayambak Ojha)

3 trains standing together a Junction of Narrow Gauge traction. (Trayambak Ojha)

The officer going service of the morning towards Raipur get a nod to go ahead of all the trains after a brief halt. (Trayambak Ojha)

Next inline to depart was the service towards Dhamtari. (Trayambak Ojha)

Its almost a parallel departure as due to delay in the departure of the service towards Raipur, the train to Dhamtari departs first. (Trayambak Ojha)

Finally the train to Rajum curves out of Abhanpur Jn almost to 90 degrees. (Trayambak Ojha)

The grey clouds and slight rain caused the shooting a bit challenging but it was manageable (Trayambak Ojha)

The defunct Semaphore and the compressed NG train. (Trayambak Ojha)

We shifted out action at Rajim where the light was kinder to us and we reached just in time before the arrival of the service from Abhanpur. (Trayambak Ojha)

Most of the Crossings are Manual and the Khalasi has to get down close the gate, wave the train green and then again open the gate. This is pretty common across all NG sections of IR. (Trayambak Ojha)

And here it arrives at Rajim. (Trayambak Ojha)

The shunting process is also completely manual as the Khalasi has to change the tracks himself. (Trayambak Ojha)