Young girls teach their young brother the marvelous yet free art of railfanning. For how many more days will these girls show their little brother these trains? By the time the broad gauge trains arrive, he maybe showing his little sibling trains. He m

Pic 1 of 4: We approach Kuri Station through a plantain plantation. The new broad gauge alignment is through the other side of the plantation. You can see the new station being built in the background

Pic 2 of 4: We close in on Kuri station. The new station is on the right or left??

Pic 3 of 4: The new Kuri station is on the right side of the MG tracks! One of the two places where the MG alignment cuts the BG. There were protests by locals that the MG services can be maintained till a week before BG starts. Now I know why

Pic 4 of 4: The new BG alignment takes a much shorter route and joins the MG. The MG has traveled more than 3 km to reach this point from where the series of pictures started but BG maybe just half a kilometer

Past meets future. Sleeprs required for Gauge conversion are stacked while this lower quadrant semaphores show us te way. These semaphores become history when the new sleepers are laid in place!

Our next halt is Auvaneeswaram. This man is a porter but not in his uniform. What lies ahead for him after the line is shut? The old balance is built by Pooley and Co, Liverpool. It has even seers on it's scales

Railfans Antony and Sreeram take a much needed walk here

One of the famous 's' curves in the stretch that will become history with gauge conversion. The kilometer marker is 722 kilometer to Chennai Egmore

What lies ahead of Manian, the food vendor from Punalur who supplies food in Punalur-Kollam stretch?? He is a licensed vendor and will have to relocate his family now

Punalur was once a point where banker locomotives were attached for the steep climb up the ghat section ahead. This is the remains of the trip shed for these steam bankers

Punalurprepares for it's future role as a change over point between BG and MG. The BG platforms are being built on the left while MG platforms on the route ahead to Sengottai are where we are now

An old water tank at Punalur built by Soth Indian Railway in 1901

Punalur once had a large goods shed. These suicidal hooper wagons bringing ballast for gauge conversion are the only goods train here now

This board showing distance in Miles would have been a terror once to the steam engines and their drivers. No present for noting the blooper