The Legendary Meter Gauge in the Heart of India
One of the most beautiful sections of india and once a part of the erstwhile North South Meter gauge corridor, the Mhow- Patalpani- Kalakund section is a sight to behold. This monsoon we set out to explore the breathtaking beauty of this section not from the ease of a train travel or the comfort of a car chase but on foot trekking the section. The results were more than fruitful as we got some rare freight action and a part of history.
The afternoon passenger service towards Indore Meter Gauge Junction makes its way upwards the Kalakund-Patalpani Ghat amidst lush greenery, mountain ranges, trickling waterfalls and the Choral river. This image is the fruit of a long trek and hike by our
The freight service train on a maintenance job stops at a tunnel to put in some earth at a place where last year the tracks had been washed away (Trayambak Ojha)
As we get down at Kalakund and start our trek towards Patalpani, the first action starts with a banker an ex Sabarmati loco (Trayambak Ojha)
The action from Patalpani came sooner than we planned and the forest was the background for this sudden shot (Trayambak Ojha)
The next service from Khandwa sides trudges up the Ghats cautiously (Trayambak Ojha)
And banking the train is the same loco which had gone to the banking station Kalakund a while ago (Trayambak Ojha)
After another quick errand and a long wait the same loco runs down for another service. We are also climbing a tall hill for a panoramic view of the Choral Valley (Trayambak Ojha)
The Banker loco is pushing though lush greenery and high mountains towards Patalpani (Trayambak Ojha)
We return to Kalakund as the evening sets and we are greeted by a service & maintenance freight loco ready to climb up the ghats as the officials allot a 2 hour block for maintenance in the ghat section of Kalakund & Patalpani (Trayambak Ojha)
The most breathtaking view had as we hitched a ride in this unique and rare service (Trayambak Ojha)
Negotiation the tunnels and the viaducts the single loco was enjoying its ride loaded with sacks and gangmen (Trayambak Ojha)
As the loco chugs hard to set itself at the exact position where the workers could start the work a smokey atmosphere is setup (Trayambak Ojha)
After exiting a tunnel the train stop for work in a beautiful valley view (Trayambak Ojha)
We decided to climb a small rock cutting to view the train from another angle (Trayambak Ojha)
The service train restarts after the completion of the work and tries to makeup time for an early resumption of the section blocked due to this (Trayambak Ojha)
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(view all 12 comments)Thanks for sharing.