The Meter Gauge of Shekhawati, Rajasthan

After driving relentlessly for 2 hours we were finally able to see the first train of the day. A train from Churu was waiting patiently at Sikar Jn for its counterpart from Jaipur to arrive. Fog had marginally delayed both the trains. (Trayambak Ojha)

2 College going girls wrapped in woollens headed to their institutions while a dead YDM4 from Fulera waited for its time and the active YDM4 with payload seemed to be ready to dart even in adverse weather conditions (Trayambak Ojha)

While the weather tried to improve we were trying to take closeups of the good looking YDM4 from Phulera (Raj Upadhyaya)

The semaphores however were not in a great shape and this go green posture for the incoming train seemed to portray more of melancholy (Trayambak Ojha)

And then the surprise liveried YDM4 from Phulera made a hurried entry at Sikar as it was running late and was attempting to make up time (Trayambak Ojha)

This overhead tank and the Hindu temple seemed to perfectly complement the isolated YDM4 (Raj Upadhyaya)

The arrival of the passenger train to Churu from Jaipur Jn was acknowledged by the customary token exchange (Trayambak Ojha)

And after a brief halt the train to Churu departs (Trayambak Ojha)

The YDM4 has seen some glorious history of Meter Gauge and now soon it will be overtaken by the Broad Gauge which is venturing fast into the vast meter gauge network of Rajasthan as seen here work has progressed really fast (Raj Upadhyaya)

Just when the fog was enough a gust of wind also accompanied some sand and dropped the visibility to further lows (Raj Upadhyaya)

While incoming train revels in the reflections of the stationery YDM4 , the LP of the train readies to exchange token (Raj Upadhyaya)

Sikar Junction at Rush Hour! (Raj Upadhyaya)

It was time for the Jaipur bound train to depart from Sikar and people now hurry to catch the train (Trayambak Ojha)

A little puff of chug from the loco and it carefully negotiates the points to land on the mainline from loop (Trayambak Ojha)

Even the tree which has witnessed so much change around itself still sees itself attached to the tall standing semaphores (Raj Upadhyaya)

Its all green and the train departs to its destination (Raj Upadhyaya)

While the loco is based out of Phulera, the rake is based out of Mavli Jn. Non fall in this train's route! (Raj Upadhyaya)

After the action packed Sikar station we moved to desert locations at Fatehpur just short of Churu and it was a very long wait. Fog had cleared but had delayed the train dramatically. A free time calls for other subjects and birding on Railway tracks seem

Cattle are the only source of income in desert and some of them frantically try to search for something to eat totally ignoring the incoming train (Raj Upadhyaya)

With the final action for the day due to our next train onwards this location freshened up the day. A curving train in the desert is just what we desired after a tiring day (Trayambak Ojha)

The rake was pretty long and and he livery contrasted well with the dry and arid conditions (Trayambak Ojha)

A wider view of the desert and the cattle grazing unfazed by the YDM4 hauled train (Raj Upadhyaya)

These dried up babool trees which seem harmless still actually possess a lot of thorns. We attempted to climb one of them and after lots of cuts and bruises realised it to be dangerous (Raj Upadhyaya)

And we sign off from Rajasthan Meter Gauge to cover more next time (Raj Upadhyaya)