Sunday, February 27, 2011

Nilgiri Mountain Railway - Mountain Railway of India

Mettupalayam-Ooty-Coonor
Coonoor is on the corner of the Nilgiri plateau and about 6,000 meters above sea level. Coonoor was the terminus for the Nilgiri from the last 8 years. The government made the expansion of Coonoor to Ootacamund and this line became functional on 15 September 1908. This line is widely used and many passengers and can travel easily through it.

Main Feature

Single rack of the system was the most important feature of this line. He was quoted in the report of Sir Guilford Molesworth s L.: "The engine that runs on Abt system has two distinct functions: first drive by the union as normal crazy and the second is the haulage pinion.

There are 4 out some of brakes including 2 hand brakes work by friction and the other 2 that act by activating the free air exhaust and air compression engine slows progress. The former are used to maneuver, while the latter are used to descend vertical gradients. One of the hand brakes are supposed to act on the tires that are put on wheels in the usual way and the second which acts on the grooved surface of the pinion shaft. This can be used anywhere where you put the grid down. The brake system Nilgiri locomotives is very complicated, even after hundreds of years as it was in 1886.

It takes 17 hours to reach Chennai by train Metupalaiyam. The expenses of this trip is around Rs 20 first class. Left more than 33 miles can be vertical mountain climbing another 20 rupees. For this, the tongas can be taken and heavy luggage can be sent by a bullock cart. The best choice here was to take a horse and make arrangements for the baggage that can be made by individual companies baggage.

The current scenario
At the present time, Ootacamund travelers leaving the station in Chennai at 9.00 pm and reach Mettupalaiyam at 7.10 am, having completed a 10 hour trip. There is no cross-platform to join the meter-gauge train leaving the station at 7.25 am. The train arrives at Udagamandalam am to 11.40 am The Nilgiri Railway (NMR) is one of the achievements of engineers.

1 comment:

  1. Nice post. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway that chugs at about 10.4 km per hour is made for those who are not in a hurry. Perhaps, the slowest train in the whole of India, it connects Ooty to Mettupalayam, which lies at the foothills of the Nilgiris. It's one of the rare trains which still runs on locomotive engines built by Swiss Locomotive Works. Check out all mountain railways in India also.

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