Jaunt on the Satpuras

4 railfans (Benhur, Naveen, Harish and Raghu) set out on a 3 day ride on the Narrow Gauge line between Jabalpur and Nagpur covering all the 4 lines in the route.

Our humble attempt to share the sights and delights we experience during the recent trip to Central India and to those line where the trains never rip the tracks… but a gentle gallop through one of the finest landscape in the country… the lines that were built in total harmony with the nature... yes, it is those lovely NG lines between Nagpur and Jabalpur, which have celebrated their centennial not long ago.

Date: 2010-11-22
Owner: Gallery Administrator
Size: 72 items
053N-loco-mfr

Line switched and the loco moves in. (Naveen)

054B-Beast-in-bush

No. Not a beast from the Kanha National Park! That's the very loco that brought us into Mandla Fort - ZDM-4A #227 (Benhur)

055H-MandlaFort

Mandla Fort station has two platforms, and has a computerized reservation counter and no more card tickets. (Harish Kumar)

056H-Mandla-Fort-night

After spending the evening at the Narmada Ghats, we returned to Mandla Fort station for the 19.45 hrs 6NM. Had enough time to try our hands on taking night shots and gulping in the famous NG tea, which was served in a crockery set. (Harish Kumar)

057H-ZDM3B-175-MFR

It’s the same loco that doing the duty for the evening passenger as well. The loco reversal was swift, and minutes later we were ready. The train was sparsely crowded. Once inside the coach, lights were switched off and it was a homegrown solution for esc

059H-Balaghat-bound-Satpura-exp-arrives-NIR

Day 3 – 0002 Balaghat bound Satpura Express arrives bang on time at Nainpur behind ZDM-4A #227. (Harish Kumar)

060B-Waterfilling-Nir

An experienced hand! The overhead tanks of the Satpura Express are being filled with water. (Benhur)

060N-TokenExchange-padriganj

Satpura Express skips Padriganj: 0001/02 is indeed the “prestigious” train between Jabalpur and Balaghat, with a first class coach in the consist, and enjoys sectional preference, which we witnessed firsthand. (Naveen)

062B-Naveen-enjoying-the-exp-ride

Soon after Charegaon we were belting at a healthy 40+ kmph away towards Balaghat. Naveen enjoying the high speed run. (Benhur)

064N-business-time-charegaon

The brief halt outside Nagarwar helped some quick business. Also note the gradient behind. (Naveen)

065B-Dussera-celeb-nagarwara

Dussera celebration at Nagarwara. (Benhur)

065H-crossingnagarwara

At Nagarwara, we crossed the Jabalpur bound 1BJ passenger hauled by ZDM-4A #232. (Harish Kumar)

066B-loco-reversal-with-bang

Folks at BTC celebrating Dusherra with the religious flavor, and the railway men did give a cracking and boisterous tribute for our loco, which was decoupled and moving light. (Benhur)

067H-BG-NG-Balaghat

The BG platform has the high-level platform that too at a higher topography. It is so high that one may be tempted to just hop on to the top of NG rake. Standing on the BG side for its 13.00 hours departure was 4 BGSE – BTC-Gondia. This is a nice connecti

068N-scissor-cross-balaghat

The light loco that brought in the 0002 Satpura Express cautiously negotiates the Scissors crossing – Balaghat Junction. (Naveen)

Comments
(view all 15 comments)
Brilliant Album, I'm also planning to explore this route somewhere in January 2011, too charmed by your album...:-):-):-)
Posted by Kaushik Dharwadkar on 2010 Nov 28 17:21:23 +0000
The scenes shown here (in the photographs) are from a fairy land or from a fairy tale !!!

Thanks to the four railfans for doing this trip on NG and sharing the photographs - which should find a place in FIRST CLASS.
Posted by S. Srinivas on 2010 Nov 28 05:32:52 +0000
Brilliant album.....!
Posted by Chaitanya Gokhale on 2010 Nov 27 08:35:03 +0000