Tamil Nadu Express - எங்கள் உயிர் துடிப்பு - Vijay Baradwaj

40454 WDP-4D Krishnarajapuram (KJM) prepares to depart punny 5 coacher load of 06489/Dn. Mangaluru Central - Subhramanya.Rd Special Exp (सुब्रह्मण्य रोड़ स्पेशल एक्सप्रेस)

Date :- 26th June 2023

#mangaluru ...
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#ShiradiGhat
Reminiscing the now (temporarily) closed ghat section.
Pic 1 : Some concrete structure visible behind the foliage below a river.
Pic 2 and few other pics : Perpetually mist covered dense forest.
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3 : Since seeing the wiki page click here I wanted to capture that forest bridge, and I did :)
Pic 12, 14 : Lot of such fast flowing muddy rivers which originate on these mountains. Lot of projects going on, these streams and rivers are drying up in the summer in recent years due to deforestation.
Pic 13 - 26 : SBHR.
The greenish low level PF 2 - 3.
PF 1 work is on.
KSRTC buses waiting for the train. just outside the station.
Antyodaya coach.
Freights with their bankers all set to climb to SKLR.
A view of the SBHR running room, which won the award as best running room of SWR. I think they are the ones ensuring food supply for the workers stationed in the ghats - /blog/post/3677629
Whereas, its SKLR which has the machinery to clear the ghats, like right now due to landslides /blog/post/3682994
Pics 27 - 35 : View of the DD coach.
A seat for the physically challenged with braille indication.
Knurled handlebars for better grip inside the coach and while climbing.
Some snacks - Crunchy Maddur vade and crispy Uddina vade with red chutney.

#ShiradiGhat
Located at 889 m above MSL, this is where the ghat section begins. It took 2 Hrs 45 mins to climb down 55 Kms. It has 57 tunnels in the span of some 45 Kms. Finally climbing down to 114 m.
Ticket is inflated by 55 Kms.
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Hassan itself the wooded area begins and this is the last town before the forest. The Hassan - Sakleshpura stretch has low MPS 30 / 50 . The entire journey is a "once in a lifetime" experience. It is literally true too. Its a painfully slow journey.
BAW - NMGA and SBGA - HAS - SKLR are slow in the region of 40.
SKLR - SBHR is 20.
All the time is made up on HAS - NMGA section.
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The station is located just after Hemavathi river. The entrance is a long curve twisting in and out and reaches the PF - Pic 1.
After reaching it undergoes an elaborate inspection of each coach undercarriage. One person had some red device which he inspected the coach with. The brakers are attached. The blue Godfather colour like WDG4 12115 can be seen in the lead. After some good 25 min it rolls out and then brakes to test I think. Then again it starts and again inspection - roll-out inspection - is done, as can be seen in one pic. And before Donigal one brake testing is done before the side catching. A dangerous ghat so ... so many inspections.
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A DTS is on the right and an another workshop can be seen on the left with a tractor on a flatbed to used for any work in the ghat. Many relief vans too.
The pipeline is covered with some rubber like substance. And all the rails and signal posts are coated with a yellow brownish coating - anti-rust I guess.
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The crowd was heavy since both Shiradi ghat and Bisle ghat were closed. So bus travellers were forced to use this train.
The name of this ghat is Subrahmanya ghat. Shiradi is the name of the village at the bottom of NH75, so the road is called Shiradi Ghat. Bisle Ghat is another road. This line is between both, but commonly called Shiradi ghat.
The rake is mixed with DD GEN, ordinary GEN, Antyodaya and blue LHB.
EOG is ordinary and Duronto liveried.

#ShiradiGhat
The best station on this route for railfanning. And the only one that can be tried and accessed.
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This station comes first after the descend from Sakleshpura begins. There are a few LCs but all are from the private estates and not for public. But you can try by getting down on NH75 and asking around and approaching the station...
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by mud path.
Once here, this is the image ----- a waterfall in front of the PF and an estate behind the falls with a small temple. On the other side is just mountains and forest - a heaven to just be there and wait for the freights or the lonely passenger to cross.
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The only catch siding of the ghat is before this station. Just before the catch siding, the train halts for a few minutes and they check brakes and then start rolling down..... The tunnels and major bridges begin after this.

Approaching #ShiradiGhat
Wish I lived here 😍
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A typical western ghat picturesque home surrounded by plantation (here arecanut) with a small pond. This type of house is typically seen in Malnad and coastal Karnataka.
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Pic taken after Ballupete.
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Other related post : /blog/post/3677629
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