It was a cool, miserable, and misty start to our day trip on The Nilgiri Mountain Railway, which is a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge railway, from Ooty to Mettupalayam and the steepest in the whole of Asia.
Feeling extremely proud as the whole thing was built by the British back in 1908.
Unable to pre-book our tickets, so we arrived at the station early to allow us to get the general issue tickets, which we did.
We boarded the train and waited for the 1400 hrs departure. The first section of the descent was through the forest and wasn’t anything spectacular. Arriving at Coonoor station, the locomotive was changed for a diesel/steam unit for the steep descent down the mountain.
Between Coonoor and Mettupalayam the line uses a rack and pinion system to climb/descend the steep gradient. This is the only rack and pinion railway in India.
Off we set into the mist that was shrouding Coonoor. Luckily it cleared quite quickly as we descended down the mountain. Passing amazing scenery over deep gorges on bridges that the train was just balanced on. Through tunnels cut out of the rock, all designed and engineered by the British.
The train halted at the Hill Grove stop to take on water. Taking the opportunity to alight the train and stretch our legs, keeping a watchful eye on the monkeys hanging around.
Once the locomotive was filled with water. A blast on the whistle and everyone climbed aboard for the final descent. Or so we thought……….
About half a mile out of the station, we drew to a halt and just sat there. A flurry of activity by the train crew meant only one thing. Great British Engineering had failed.
A crew member walked alongside the carriages announcing that there was “engine failure”.
A number of passengers got off the train and hung around talking and waiting for some information. A blast on the whistle and everyone got back on board only to find we were going back up the line to Hill Grove. That’s the wrong way…
When the train finally limped back into the station, Guy swears that he saw a smug looking monkey, strutting down the platform, tossing and catching a nut & bolt in the air as he did so! 🐵
Anyhow, fortunately for everyone, there was another locomotive in the station. That was going to be utilised to take the train down the rest of the descent.
Tania took this opportunity to nip to the toilet but, so did the rest of the women on the train. As the queue reduced and it got to her turn, the whistle blew and she had to rush back before she had the opportunity to spend a penny.
By this time, we had been hanging around for a couple of hours. As we left the station, it was starting to get dark, so the last hour and a quarter of the journey all we could see out of the window was our own reflection.
As we were so late arriving at Mettupalayam, we had to rush to get the onward train to Coimbatore. We weren’t the only foreigners doing this, a couple of Welsh lads, Peter and Paul from Cardiff, along with an Israeli couple and a Dutch couple. Guy rushed off to get the tickets, backpack still on and had to run back to get the train just as it was leaving.
We all sat together in the disabled carriage at the rear of the train swapping stories throughout the 40-minute journey then went our separate ways on arrival at Coimbatore.