The 9th IRFCA Convention - UAM2014

Quick group photo as "IRFCA Express" is at a scheduled halt at Wellington enroute to Coonoor. (Aamod)

Another unique feature of Nilgiri Mountain Railway - there are kilometer markings and mile markings too! Seen here is mile post 2, between MTP and Kallar. (Akshay Marathe)

Morning passenger from Mettupalaym to Ooty labours up the steep slopes in the Nilgiri mountains a few kilometers before Coonoor surrounded by tea plantations. (Akshay Marathe)

An afternoon service from Ooty to Coonoor emerges from a tunnel headed by GOC YDM-4 #6414. Location is between Lovedale & Ketti. (Akshay Marathe)

Yours truly & Aamod Nerurkar set out to explore the summit of NMR, expecting to cover two trains. But we got one bonus "traffic" on the rails in the form of this feline! This cat was walking on the rail with utmost ease for quite some time.

Board indicating 1 in 12.5 gradient at Kallar, 7 kilometers from Mettupalayam. The rack and pinion system starts at this point. A video of train departing from Kallar can be [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oO5HQ_xi9M&list=PL5R_q1uVxBFZfd_C4Vi9CE-

Magnificent memento, in the form of a pencil sketch done by Sridhar Joshi's daughter's friend. It was presented to all the winners and guests at UAM-2014. Thanks to the Organizing committee for selecting my <a href="http://s77.photobucket.com/user

Doctor Vrijlesh saab pulls one on VSP in nawabi style after the results for IRFCAConv 2015 - HYB/SC/KCG were announced! (Pawan Koppa)

The foodie express led by HA-1 Gandhi chugs along! (Pawan Koppa)

A top view look at the UAM station from the lawns of the Monarch using some massive zoom :-) Thanks to Raghu Rao for giving us an idea to take this picture and pointing out the UAM station from far above! (Pawan Koppa)

Another look at the gathering beside the bonfire! (Pawan Koppa)

In the freezing Ooty winter cold, delegates gather around the bonfire to keep themselves warm! (Pawan Koppa)

The Bangalore gang - Abhilash Triambak, Sanket Malde and 2014 quiz winner Sant Kulk rack their brains and use the time on the return ride from ONR to MTP to solve the toughest IRFCA quiz till date! (Pawan Koppa)

Two YDM-4s and two steam locos strike a pose while railfans climb over the locos for the endless stream of pictures that were being taken. (Pawan Koppa)

The hardworking staff of the shed take a breather thanks to the big gang of railnuts who descended upon their workplace! (Pawan Koppa)

The LP and ALP finally get to lay hands on their prized possession - the steam loco :-) (Pawan Koppa)

Excited delegates all around and inside the loco, getting clicked and clicking away to glory! (Pawan Koppa)

And the esteemed OC themselves- L-R-Raymond Arogyaswami, Giriraj Bissa, Suresh Babu Paramsivan, Ravi, Sridhar Joshi, Krishnakumar Kannan, Gowri Sankar, Aravind, Sriram Karthik, Harish kumar, Vimalakar NC, Ashish Kuvelkar, Apurva Bahadur (Trayambak Ojha)

Dr Mulky & VSP acknowledge the tremendous work done by the Organizing committee of UAM2014 (Trayambak Ojha)

Awards of the Year are declared and Silhouette Image of Naveen Reddy wins it. However Naveen was not here to collect it and Harish Kumar came to o receive it from Apu on his behalf (Trayambak Ojha)

IRFCA Album of the Year collected four years in a row by the Quad Gang of L-R Harish, Raghu presented by Lalam Ben Hur & Naveen Reddy were missing in action (Trayambak Ojha)

Dr Manning came to present IRFCA Trip report of the year to the story of 10 rupee note by Ankur Naresh also missing in action (Trayambak Ojha)

Fransisco Bose grabbed the award for travelling the longest distances this year on Indian Railways presented by Giriraj (Trayambak Ojha)

Winner of the toughest Quiz till date, Santosh Kulkarni awarded by Dheeraj Sanghi (Trayambak Ojha)

The Team of the Next Year's organizers for Convention. It's going to be HYB 2015 represented by L-R- Vrijilesh Rai, Raghu, Ravi, VSP (Trayambak Ojha)

Day 2 Begins with the first session as the popular "Kaapi" with Kuvelkar and the surprise guest Khalid Kagzi who was firmly kept under wraps by Ashish (Trayambak Ojha)

Khalid and his family is presented with a Memento by Giriraj Bissa (Trayambak Ojha)