On the Nilgiri Blue Mountain Railway from Ooty to Mettupalayam

9th January, 2019 – A Railway Journey

We had a quietish morning other than trying to find a pharmacy that might be able to recommend something to deal with my cough, which had been spectacularly bad during the night, keeping us both awake. Pandi, our driver, very kindly drove us around town until we found one where the pharmacist spoke good English and where we ended up (after a Google search) with what I think are antihistamine tablets. Whatever they are, they worked like magic you will be relieved to know. I certainly was and it probably saved me from having to sleep on the balcony!

We were booked on the 1400 hours train from Ooty to Mettupalayam, a journey of 46 kms that passes through 16 tunnels, 11 stations and over 19 bridges and takes about 4.5 hours. My mental arithmetic reckoned at one point that we were only going at 12 kph or 7.5 mph!

The line was built between 1890 and 1908 and is unique in India for using the so-called Swiss rack system whereby special bars are set between the track rails to form a ladder, The train’s driving wheels have cogs of teeth attached which engage like a zip mechanism. Because of this novel design, only the original locomotives can still run on the steepest (1:12.5) gradients – which means we had a steam engine!!! Very exciting.

The stations are delightful too, starting at Ooty itself, where we arrived in good time (Panji was most insistent as he had to sort out our ticket), which meant I was able to do a little exploring….

There was a bit of a wait, but Pandi was not going before making sure we got safely on board. Some coped with the wait better than others.

And then the moment arrived – but not the steam engine. First we had a Diesel engine, which is swapped for steam later on in the trip. We settled into our seats with a pretty full carriage of very jolly fellow travellers and with a loud toot on the whistle, we were off.

Off we chugged through the outskirts of Ooty and on o our first stop, the name of which escapes me, but rather pretty it was too.

There was also some lovely scenery to gaze upon as we trundled along.

We then arrived at the station where they uncouple the Diesel locomotive and attach the steam one.

The photo below gives you an idea of the pretty savage free-for-all development that has happened.

More tea plantations and a fair amount of leaning out of the train to get that perfect photo. You can just see Val further down the carriage in one of the pics below.

Just to prove how steep it was….

We had another stop, this time for refreshments to the delight of the local monkeys who very considerately tidied up afterwards.

A few final photos and then this blog, which has taken considerably longer than the train, can be posted. I should do a separate blog on getting Val’s laptop to access the internet!!

Pandi was waiting for us with the car and we drove about an hour to our overnight in a very nice business hotel in Coimbatore, known locally as the ‘Manchester of India’ due to the many cotton industries here. Not much else to recommend it….

By the way, I am now so far behind, I will only be able to catch up in Thailand. You have Madurai, Trichy, Tanjore, Pondicherry Chimdambaran, Mahabalapuram and Chenai to look forward to.

Happy Birthday, James for tomorrow!!!