Allepey Port Revisited

A selection of pictures from the abandoned lines around Allepey Port

Date: 2007-04-26
Owner: Jimmy Jose
Size: 15 items
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The beach is a tourist attraction and people have no regard for the heritage. I would like to see a puny steam loco huffing and puffing in place of the Santro

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Intricate points wait forever for a train to roll over them

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Did this water tank quench thirst of the puny locos that once operated here, and the people dearest to them?

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What the scrap dealers forgot to take is a monument for us. Sleepers and remains of a trolley are the only remnant of the railway system, other than the rails.

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This was once the Traffic Controller's office. It was from here the "Station Master" controlled all the railway activity in the port

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This was the carriage workshop. I was unable to find not even a single carriage or remains of loco inside the shed and it is totally dilapidated filled with anti social elements

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Behind the trafic controllers office is this narrow gauge goods yard of yesteryears. Imagine the place bustling with activity fifty years ago!

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I found this line wandering far away, and ending in front of the Customs Superintendent's Office (there is still a lone customs officer posted here!). Maybe it carried trains taking customs babus of yesteryears for inspection on the piers

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Looking very unusual amongst the remains is this well kept building which is the remains of the signaling house. It was from here the ships communicated to the shore

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Breaking the sound of waves is Netravati Express heading to Mumbai. A canon guards the port from pirates while a part of fallen signaling mast wait to be torn apart

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King Balarama Varma I (Uthradam Thirunal) watches over the defunct port in a land he no longer rules. It was during his reign the port, as well as Quilon-Schencottah Railway line was built. I could not find any of his memorabilia on the Quilon-Schencott

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Modern phase of railway in Alleppey. The town has been renamed Allappuzha and so is the Railway Station. It falls in the eletrified route from Ernakulam Jn to Trivandrum. The rake on the left is Alleppey Chennai Exp. An Arakkonam Barbie doll takes res

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The pier of Alleppey port has been lying in disuse for almost a decade and is in a totally dilapidated condition, waiting to be swallowed by the sea. Once a thriving port, this pier had three narrow gauge lines running through it reaching to the ships th

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Another view of the pier that once supported the narrow gauge line and the lives of several thousand workers attatched to it. A few lakhs of rupees spent at the right time could have saved this important landmark from reaching such a fate. One could wal

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The narrow gauge lines are burried under the sands of time. From the pier, they ran to the warehouses situated far in the town.

Comments
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Thanks a lot. The port fell out of favor mainly because of three reasons: Development of nearby Cochin as a major port, development of communism amongst the workers led to increase of strikes and finally sea itself became a villian when a sand bar...
Posted by Jimmy Jose on 2007 Apr 27 03:13:40 +0100
Nice ones Jimmy. You changed your camera as well??? What did you do with your A95???
Posted by Siddhartha Ganesh on 2007 Apr 26 10:30:05 +0100