Train ride to Conoor

On friday morning we left our hotel in Coimbatore at 5:00 in the morning to reach Mettupalayam, the station where we caught the Nilgri Express. We had reserved tickets on first class and since there was only one cart in first class it was a wise decision. I was able to book the tickets through the Internet, &and they were delivered to me in the office, and sure enough in Mettupalayam we found our names on a printout outside the cart. The train is pushed by a steam engine and as one can see the operator is standing with bare feets on the coals. Travelling in India with a train is anyway an expereince but this train is even mor special.A steam engines pushes the train up and in addition it is partly a rack railway, meaning it uses gears. The first clas cart is also at the front end of the train, so you can even look forward and not be covreed in smoke.
The train ride take 3 1/2 hours for 25 km, so you can easily plug flowers during the ride. In adiditon we had four stops on the way, first for the engine to pick up water, as you can see on the picture and second to give the passengers and the operators a rest. The ride is really beautiful and I can highly recommend it. You have a wonderful view, you ride through vast lush tea plantages and jungles - it defintely was worth the effort.