The Sambhar Salts Railway

Morning breaks over Sambhar Lake as a Sabarmati WDG4 named 'Kaushal' waits patiently for the starter. The wagons on the embankment above it belong to the Sambhar Salts Limited (SSL), which operates an extensive railway network of its own around the lake,

Further down the embankment, an MG loco belonging to SSL waits patiently with its train of wagons for the day's duty to begin.

The SSL premises next to the Sambhar Lake Railway Station. A gauntleted BG / MG track branching from the mainline has been laid to facilitate loading of freight trains from the factory.

The processing factory of SSL is right next to the Railway station. The viaduct in white is actually the unloading line for the NG network of the company.

The tracks run along the shores of the lake and branch out into an enormous private network which contains 45km of MG lines and 25km of NG lines.

An NG train laden with raw salt collected from the pans makes its way towards the unloading sidings in the factory.

As it does so, India's longest running passenger train; the Bhopal - Jodhpur passenger makes its way across the lake. It was headed by an offlink WDG4 from BGKT

At various points, the lines branch inward toward the salt pans where the raw salt is collected through evaporation of saline water.

The NG line going through the pans. The red colour of the water is due to the presence of algae. The line in view is permanently laid. However, temporary branches are laid from these lines running in to the pans which are currently in use.

A temporary line, complete with its own culvert branching in to the salt pan.

Wagons lined up along the pans awaiting the loading of raw salt.

The wagons are built on a metal chassis, but have a wooden body to reduce corrosion.

A worker loading the wagons. On an average, an NG wagon can take around 5-6 metric tons of salt.

Like any other network, the SSL Railways too face the odd glitch. Here, one of the NG wagons in a rake of empties has jumped track.

A team of SSL workers quickly arrive on the scene and lift the wagon with a crowbar to re-rail it.

The SSL Railways have two NG locomotives, one each by Suri & Nayar (SAN) and OEPL. The SAN loco is currently awaiting repairs, so the OEPL loco is doing all the hard work.

The loco waits patiently for its complement to be re-railed. Note the additional condenser fitted for radiator assembly, to facilitate working in the hot weather of Rajasthan.

With the wagon back on line, the little train graciously curves back in to duty.

The NG tracks allow almost 90 turning angles for the trains as they head toward the salt pans.

Once in the pan, the loco's job is to quickly arrange the empty wagons along the temporary lines and collect the loaded wagons for the journey back to the factory.

Without wasting even a minute, the little blue beast gets on the job pushing wagons in to the sidings.

Meanwhile, traffic on the mainline goes on as usual. This time, a Sabarmati WDG4 with a heavily loaded rake coal BOXNs comes in from the Merta Road side into Sambhar Lake.

The MG network of SSL extends much further. A line laid along an anicut on the lake goes all the way up to Gudha on the northern shores. However, poor maintenance means that loaded trains do not work on this section any more.

An MG rake belonging to SSL is being pushed towards the salt pans for collection. The coupling on the MG wagons is the same male - female combo as seen on mainline trains. However, the NG wagons have simple chain link coupling.

Once the MG rake has brought back its collection, it is unloaded in to the factory for processing.

The MG fleet at SSL is also 2 loco strong. One built by Ventra Locomotives and this one, most likely a TELCO product.

The Bikaner - Jaipur Intercity crosses the Sambhar Lake to enter the eponymous station. The train is hauled by an Abu Road WDM2 that was commissioned way back in Jun 1983 and is still going strong.