December 9, 2017

My TripAdvisor Review No.264: Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Ooty.

Ride in a Toy Train - Amazing Experience.

Though we had driven to Ooty by car, we decided to take this joy ride in the Nilgiri Mountain Railway just for the thrill and fun we used to experience as children.

We parked our car in the station parking lot, and paid Rs.50 as parking charges. The train tickets were much cheaper at Rs.10 per head from Udagamandalam (Ooty) to Coonoor. Since it was a week day in the off-season we got seats easily in the general compartment. We had to stand in a queue till the train pulled in to the station, and everyone got into the bogies in a very orderly manner.

The engine pulling the train between Ooty and Coonoor is powered by diesel. I believe there is a steam locomotive pulling the train between Coonoor and Mettupalayam, and it takes 4 hours for the train to complete the journey from Mettupalayam to Ooty. Reserved tickets can be booked in advance for the train on the IRCTC website. Our journey started from Ooty at 12.15 pm and took just over an hour to reach Coonoor. In between we stopped for a few minutes at some pretty little stations namely; Lovedale, Ketti, Aravankadu and Wellington before reaching Coonoor.

We enjoyed the mountain scenery along the way, with many villages tucked away between the eucalyptus trees, tea estates, fields and forests. We passed through a number of tunnels with the kids in the train screaming to hear their own echoes, and we passed over some narrow bridges.

It was indeed an enjoyable and memorable train ride, albeit only for an hour. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway was added by UNESCO to the World Heritage Site known as “Mountain Railways of India” in July 2005.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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