With an uncommon feel of being in someone else territory, we rode across the Gir forest. The land of great Asiatic Lion, whose foot prints extends far from the core jungle of Gir. Along the border of the Gir National Park is the ever so charming meter gauge railway, that still maintain harmony with the jungle and its habitat. Here are some pictures from the many routes, culture and people we discovered during the journey.
At Una, the passenger train almost empties out, with Raghu and Harish being few of the last passengers on the last leg. (Harish Kumar)
With the level crossing closed, the gates man signals proceed towards the next and the terminal station, Delwada. (Harish Kumar)
The loco takes a breather, after reaching the destination (Raghu Jayaraman)
The beautiful british era station building still stands strong and proud. (Harish Kumar)
YDM-4 #6692 reverses one more time. This time at Delvada for the return service to Junagadh scheduled for departure at 14:25 (Harish Kumar)
In case, if you are wondering what is this not so significant picture doing here, this actually indicates the road that leads to Delvada station. The little board to the right corner of the picture indicates in Gujarati on the direction to reach the railw
Afternoon, Naveen and Ben had to abandon their plan to visit Prachi Road station and Kodinar due to heavy downpour, and we chose to call it a day. We converged at Diu for a well-deserved rest (Naveen)
Second day of our jaunt on MG continues, with plans to cover MG actions at Jamvala, Sasan Gir, Amreli, and Khijadiya Junction. Accordingly we split into two teams. A young boy gingerly takes his cycle on the bridge over River Shingoda. (Benher)
Dhasa bound passenger leaps out of the jungle behind as it slows down for the scheduled halt at Jamwala (Benher)
Sabarmati YDM-4 #6257 with the Delvada bound passenger over river Jamjir (Benher)
After a relaxed evening at a resort in Diu, we returned back to meet the trains the next morning. First meeting on this day is the Delvada bound train crossing the arch bridge across Shingoda river near Jamwala. (Naveen)
Now on the Talala - Visavadar section, Dhasa bound passenger is about to enter Gir forest, between Chitrawad and Sasan Gir (Harish Kumar)
Trains have PSR of 45 KMPH and when we reach the Level crossing, the gate was closed and the train arrived a little later. (Harish Kumar)
Dhasa bound passenger powered by YDM-4 #6394 waits at Sasan Gir for the crossing with Dhasa - Veraval Passenger (Harish Kumar)
(Raghu Jayaraman)