Golden Rock & Gopuram Roll

A view of Chennai Port from the Beach station

The Bangalore Shatabdi pulls out of Chennai Central - view from the RRI Cabin

A brightly painted WDM-7 relocated from Ernakulam is on shunting duty at Chennai Central - view from the Power Cabin

Some MG coaches in the south can be found in BG livery

A typical early morning scene between Tirutturaipundi and Karaikkudi - station buildings are at the end of the platform

Station staff load a parcel into the SLR of a passenger train

Karaikkudi Jn. Trees are a feature of most South Indian stations, provided they are neither big nor terribly important.

Signal cabins & station buildings on this branch line were built in the traditional architectural style

When the line nears the coast before Mandapam Camp, windmills make an appearance

6701 Express approaches the Pamban Channel

Remnants of the first bridge destroyed by the 1964 cyclone continue to serve as a breakwater for the new bridge

The elegant Indira Gandhi Setu completed in 1988 dominates the much older rail viaduct

One bridge with two speed restrictions - must be unique. This is the drawbridge, the main bridge has a PSR of 25 kph

The ultimate ignominy as the road bridge simply soars over the railway

The abandoned alignment from Pamban to Dhanushkodi proves useful for a tractor

6701 finally draws into Rameshwaram station, which is surprisingly bigger than ecpected.

Cyclone destroyed track near the old Rameshwaram Road station

The road to Dhanushkodi is technically a national highway! Allegedly, it uses the old railway alignment.

Empty shells are all that remain at Dhanushkodi - this water tank is the only discernible railway remnant.

A view of the church and station from Dhanushkodi's beach

Not a single structure was left undamged in the '64 cyclone, not even the large buildings in the diatance

Looking south from the old town towards land's end. Palk Bay is just visible to the left, showing how narrow the promontory is today.

Looking north towards the station and the cove that provides a safe harbour to the small boats of the fishermen who live amidst the ruins

Samudra Sangam or Land's End at Dhanushkodi. Sri Lanka is just over the horizon.

The cenotaph for the cyclone victims at Munramchattram

Sunset at Munramchattram