The forgotten railways of Pune’s backyard.

A smaller version of the classic three arch bridge near the tunnel's exit. Here is a satellite image of this bridge.

The top surface of this bridge. The flat surface has eroded away with age, leaving only a narrow strip on top.

The heat of the afternoon was rising, the sound was the overwhelming creaking of the summer crickets in the windless day - something I associate with panic filled moments. But nothing untoward occurred - we kept trekking on the MG permanent way, with zest

A typical view of the area, the tall mountains and the cutting through which the MG train ran many years back.

Even the wicked have to rest sometimes. From the left, John, Bharath, Ashish and Apurva. We had to balance our rest period with a rising sun that was narrowing the small area of shadow in which we sat. We also had a date with the 1610 Up passenger that w

The trek continues, while our window to reach to the next station to meet our return train was reducing. This is the remotest that we have been away from the actual railway line on a railway oriented trek.

Apart from the stone bridges, this is another style of small culverts. These too are in a remarkably good shape after so many years of disuse. The are many vertical columns of concrete joint at the bottom for form a 'UUUU' shaped structure.

We reach the second tunnel of our trek. Some of these cutting and tunnel entrances have been blocked by a layer of bramble, to prevent cattle from straying into them.

The second tunnel is full of water - in the peak of summer ! Although this is a dry area of Pune district, we found running streams on top of the mountain with living fish in them. Here is a satellite...

We quit our trek at this point and begin our climb on top of the mountain to get a fix on where we were.

A view from the top of the mountain looking towards Phursungi, the MG alignment can be seen snaking in the middle. The black top mound on the left would be above the second tunnel. This pic goes to show the dry, waterless area of the Purandar taluka throu

This is still a railway oriented trek. The GPS determined, that The Alandi is some 2 Kms that way. The total distance walked on this trek should be around 10 Kms.

Back to the BG - these are the proximity sensors for the axle counter at Alandi.

The Phursungi end non-platform loop starter at Alandi at has been mounted on the older semaphore pole.

As we wait for our return link to arrive, the 2630 Nizamuddin - Bangalore Karanataka Sampark Kranti Express arrives behind KJM's WDG 3A # 13053 in charge. The next time we visit this station, the Niele's ball token would be replaced by panel interlocking.

John holds up the 'Mashal', the flaming torch used by the khalasi to illuminate the exchange of the ball token during dark hours. The can of kerosene in which the unlit torch resides can be seen on the ground.

Finally our ride to Pune arrives at Alandi. This is Pune's WDM 2 # 17162 hauls in the 1610 Up passenger. The second loco is the WDG 3A (also from Pune)# 14811 which is being hauled dead.