A'udhu billahi mina sh-shaytaanir-rajeem! Bismillah...

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Toy train ride with Nilgiri Mountain railway

An incredibly late post is finally up, yay!

During our Ooty trip in last April, we had an exhilarating ride over Niligiri mountains on Ooty's popular toy train. This historic railway line has been operating since 1899 (founded during British rule in India) and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India. 

These rare locomotive steam trains run from Ooty to Mettupalayam, covering 46 Kms and passing through 200 curves, 250 bridges ( including about 30 viaducts ) and 16 tunnels. Blame on lack of time, we had chosen to travel till Coonoor from Ooty (Udagamandalam), which is around 26km. We had booked our tickets well in advance over IRCTC website. It's very difficult to get tickets during peak time especially around summer vacation in India.

Here is the photo journal.... Needless to say, we had best time watching the breathtaking wonders of nature by enjoying the Nilgiris morning breeze patting over us. 



We parked the car at Ooty railway station.... Little Ms. is ready to pose anytime!

Panoramic view of Ooty railway station...
Waiting for much anticipated toy train... she was truly restless. Did you notice the track? This is much smaller in width than usual tracks. 


Finally, the train has arrived... the steam engine. 
All excited....

Curious... at times!
Enjoying every bit of the ride... 

Breathtaking landscape...
Did you notice the smoke....?


The village life in and around Ooty...



Tea plantations....


The first station: Lovedale 







One among 16 tunnels in this rail line...



The next station....

Here is the green signal to continue our journey....

Yet another station....



One of many viaducts in the route...


Next station - did you notice that "Bitish touch" in station names....

The locals.... this photo reminds me of the dream trip I want to make through Indian villages - from north to south and east to west!! (iA) 


Finally, our destination... Coonoor! 


Sounds like we're back in 19th century... lol!









If you ever visit Ooty, never miss this rarest toy train trip... You'll never regret taking a ride on it!

11 comments:

  1. Breathtaking lansdcape indeed! What a lovely trip =) #magicmoments

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  2. What a great adventure. My now teenage son was such a fan of trains when he was small

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  3. This looks beautiful, what stunning scenery. And it really does look like you had a brilliant time, great photos x #MagicMoments

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  4. wow what a fantastic looking train ride - the photos are stunning! #magicmoments

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  5. Liya looks like she had an fab time! Amazing scenery!

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  6. Absolutely stunning photos #countrykids

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  7. Ohhh I'm getting wanderlust now after seeing all your lovely pictures! What a fab day Liya had! #countrykids

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  8. I was fascinared with your photos, what a wonderful way to capture your journey and share it here. It looks so intresting and different from a train ride here in England. I would love to tke my children along that same route. Thankyou for linking up with me on Country Kids.

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  9. Wow amazing scenery and fab pictures, Liya looked like she had a great time x

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  10. Aww! Looks like you have been having a great time! Lovley photos!

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  11. Wow, looks like an awesome trip. I hope we can take our kids on a train ride sometime. He loves trains.

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