Evergreen Nilgiri Mountain Railways

It's a cool winter morning in the month of November, and we are at Mettupalayam (MTP), to watch the little passenger train to Udagamandalam depart. The charm of the little one made us to rejig our motorcycle trip, and we decided to follow the passenger tr

The X-37389 in the picture is one of the oldest X-Class locomotive, which was brought into operation in the year 1925. Also stabled at the steam shed is X-37391. (Naveen)

Steam shed at Mettupalayam. (Benhur)

While the passenger to Udhagamandalam is getting ready, the late running Nilgiri Express from Chennai arrives with ED - WDM-2 #16803. (Naveen)

The cute steam engine - cynosure of all eyes.

The crew exchange pleasantries as they get ready for the long uphill haul

All clear and the passenger bound to Udagamandalam rolls out of Mettupalayam with the X class locomotive #37386. (Benhur)

And the train clears the points and joins the main line. (Naveen)

The passenger train crosses the rail bridge across River Bharani, just outside Mettupalayam town. (Benhur)

The guard trying to shoo away a grazing bovine (Naveen)

By now, the crew has become familiar with us. Here the guard acknowledges the rail fans by switching on the headlight, as the train advances towards Kallar. (Benhur)

Kallar, about 9 kilometers from Mettupalayam is the starting point of rack section of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway. The rack section ends at Coonoor 21 kms away, after a climb to 5500 ft elevation. The ruling gradient of 1 in 12.5 begins right away from K

The passenger clears the tunnel number 1 and proceeds across the Kallar bridge. (Raghu Jayaraman)

And the tiny passenger train slowly clears the bridge and powers up to take on the steep gradient. (Harish Kumar)

The gradient gets steeper, just after the bridge and the loco works very hard to push up the tiny load and disappears into the jungle of Kallar. (Raghu Jayaraman)

Trackmen working on this line frequently face grave danger from wild animals, even risking their life. Here a plaque in remember of a brave soul! (Harish Kumar)

The steam loco works hard as it pushes into Runneymede station. (Benhur)

The passenger arrives at Runneymede... note the end of rack, as the station is level. (Naveen)

and expertly positions herself for the water filling at Runneymed. (Benhur)

Water being filled into the boiler of the loco. (Naveen)

After a much needed halt, the passenger proceeds to rise up to the mighty Nilgiris. (Benhur)

Next up, we meet the passenger slowly making its way up near Kaateri Village. Note the 1 in 12.5 gradient mark to the left of the picture. (Harish Kumar)

The passenger slowly pulls past the erstwhile Kaateri road railway station. Trains used to stop here until 1982. (Raghu Jayaraman)

The three-coach tiny train climbs rapidly towards Coonoor. (Raghu Jayaraman)

The passenger train is about to reach Coonoor station well ahead of scheduled time. The arrival at Coonoor also marks the end of rack and pinion system. (Harish Kumar)

Time to say bye to the steam loco: The loco decouples from the 3 coach rake and moves to the shed for a well-deserved rest. (Harish Kumar)

At Coonoor, two more coaches were attached to accommodate more passengers / tourists between Coonoor and Udhagamandalam. Now another little master, a YDM-4 class loco from Golden Rock takes charge of the passenger towards Udhagamandalam. (Naveen)