December 22, 2017

My TripAdvisor Review No.269: Heritage Train, Coonoor.

Better Than A Roller-Coaster Ride.

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) is a metre gauge toy train which snakes its way up the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu, South India, from Mettupalayam at the base to Udagamandalam (Ooty) at the top of the hills. The NMR has now been added to UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mountain Railways of India.

Coonoor Station is situated between Mettupalayam and Ooty. If you are staying in Coonoor you can travel in either direction, but there is a different type of engine for both. From Mettupalayam to Coonoor there is an oil fired steam locomotive, and for Coonoor to Ooty there is a diesel locomotive. The steam train is of course a better alternative for a joy ride, but if you want to enjoy a shorter ride then do the trip from Coonoor to Ooty.

We purchased the general class tickets which cost only Rs.10 to go from Coonoor to Ooty. There was an orderly queue to get in to the compartment. The early birds get the prime window seats. The train departed at 4 pm and reached Ooty at 5.15 pm. Tickets can also be booked on the IRCTC website in advance.

We enjoyed the mountain scenery along the way, passing through a number of tunnels and over some narrow bridges. In between we halted for a few minutes at some quaint stations like Wellington, Aravankadu, Ketti and Lovedale.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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