Pic # 31: Details of the Budni area and the hill feature which we trekked.

Pic#32: We reached BNI once again. As this WAG7 led passenger waited on the loop, an express with WAP4 #22296 of Kanpur came screaming down the ghats! Meanwhile the tanker rake in which we had come down also started its climb on the ghats with the G5 bank

Pic#33: Done with our brunches we started our trek towards the tunnel. At this point one can see the down line turning sharply towards the left for climbing the hills via the loop and the up loop coming down from the ghats

Pic#34: A brake in time saves 9! Smoke emerges from the bake shoes of the WAG5s as they quickly brake from high speed to make a stop at the BNI station while a BOXN coal rake waits for them.

Pic#35: Coal rake pic 1 of 4. We track this coal rake with 4 WAG5s to see the time taken to reach the tunnel. This series has been taken standing right near the Budni station which is about 1.58 kms (in line of sight) from the tunnel. Here it is approachi

Pic#36: Coal Rake pic 2 of 4: The rear end of the rake reaches the curve.

Pic#37: Coal Rake pic 3 of 4: The lead WAG5s emerge from the tunnel.

Pic#38: Coal Rake pic 4 of 4: The WAG5s make their way through the dense forest of the hills.

Pic#39: We continue our trek towards the loop and reach the first level of height of the tracks. These friendly gang men were on their way to the loop to replace a piece of track. They cautioned us of an approaching train.

Pic#40: It turned out to be this SRC (Satraganchi) WAP4 #22500 with a passenger rake. Amazingly the echo of these locos can be heard distinctly (twice obviously!) in the silence of the natural environment.

Pic# 41: We decided to avoid the loop first on and catch some action from the tunnel directly. So we climbed on to the second level of track and reached almost in front of the tunnel. Here is Nishant exploring the height of the track. Sharp turning radius

Pic# 42: A view from the top looking on to the open fields.

Pic#43: Our patience started getting challenged with time as no train passed us by for more than 30 minutes. Here is the Budni tunnel and its details in the inset. Meanwhile the gangmen too climbed up to this level and had a break for lunch.

Pic #44: We now had a challenge of crossing the tunnel and reaching the other side to the loop. So with some advice from the gangmen we thought of crossing it over the top. But to no avail. The ventilation shafts and slippery edges of the top made sure we

Pic#45: The insides of the tunnel were surprisingly clean and well lit too.