Tale of a tunnel and a viaduct

The main entrance of Sengottai Railway station (Naveen)

The schedule of MG services between Sengottai and Punalur in 2010 (Harish Kumar)

The evening service from Punalur pulls into Sengottai behind GOC YDM-4 #6401. This loco is now active on the Niligiri Mountain Railways (Naveen)

The passenger switches track to arrive on PF-5, 14 minutes ahead of schedule. On PF-3 was the evening passenger to Punalur. The BG rake in the picture is of Sengottai - Chennai Egmore Pothigai Express on PF-2 (Naveen)

The men-in-charge make routine checks before the departure (Naveen)

The token ring that stood the time, facilitating train movements between Sengottai and Bhagavathipuram (Naveen)

Waiting for the go ahead from Guard! (Naveen)

Sengottai Railway station at night. The BG side to the left and the MG to the right (Naveen)

The next morning, on 31st March 2010, we were on the platform to see the eastern sky crack opening with pretty hue, even as the first passenger service to Punalur get ready for its scheduled departure at 06:15 hours. (Naveen)

The signal turns Amber as we get ready to ride on board the morning passenger to Punalur (Naveen)

Bhagavathipuram is one of the prettiest railway stations in India. To the left hand side, was a 21+ coach rake. Wonder where these coaches would have ended up. (Naveen)

Kalthuruthy, yet another close-to-nature station enroute (Naveen)

We arrive at Punalur right on time and the loco YDM-4 #6401, does a quick turn around and gets ready for the return service to Sengottai, scheduled to depart at 08:45 hrs (Naveen)

Riding across the Western Ghats and through the Tenmala reserve forest (Naveen)

We reach Edamann at 09:10 hrs and had an extended halt here (Naveen)

Kilometers away, at the same time, the Podhigai Express from Chennai Egmore has arrived at Sengottai. The loco, WDP-4 #20034, reverses and gets coupled back to the rake (Harish Kumar)

While on the MG side, the second MG service to Punalur also gets ready for the departure with YDM-4 #6310 (Harish Kumar)

The MG side of Sengottai had two active platforms and three yard lines with few spare coaches, tool vans and cranes. (Harish Kumar)

Up ahead is the mighty Podhigai Hills and the Tenmala reserve forest (Harish Kumar)

At 09:45 hrs, we move ahead (Harish Kumar)

...and ride past the diesel shed at the far west of the station (Harish Kumar)

And arrive at the first passenger halt, Bhagavathipuram. The natural canopy of Bhagavathipuram made a pretty sight. Sadly, none of these magnificent trees are expected to survive during the BG invasion. (Harish Kumar)

YDM-4 #6310 huffs, puffs, chugs and accelerates hard as the train climbs up the Pothigai hills (Harish Kumar)

While inside the coach, the atmosphere is calm and pleasant. (Harish Kumar)

We move in to one of the longest tunnels in Southern India (Harish Kumar)

While at Aryankavu, the Sengottai bound passenger has already arrived and waiting for the Punalur bound passenger to cross. (Naveen)

at 10:21 hours, the Punalur bound passenger hauled by YDM-4 #6310 arrives at Aryankavu (Naveen)