Visual Treat At Ooty

The Ooty railway station will witness a grandeur on October 15, with a rare heritage photo exhibition on trains and tracks from across the world, to mark the 100th year of the extension of the Nilgiris Mountain Railways (NMR) till Ooty. The NMR, which ran between Mettupalayam and Coonoor, was extended to Ooty on October 15, 1908. While the Mettupalayam-Coonoor track was completed in 1898 at a cost of Rs 38 lakh, the Coonoor-Ooty line was finished at a cost of Rs 32 lakh in 1908.

Treasurer of the centenary celebration committee, N Chandrasekar, has called upon people to submit heritage photographs on railways, to be displayed at the Ooty railway station on October 15. The best photographs will receive prizes, he said and added that the photos may be submitted at Hotel Durga at Charing Cross.

The Nilgiris Documentation Centre had already collected many rare photos. The Rigi railway system invented by Nicholas Riggenbach in 1871 (seen in this picture) was first attempted to be introduced on the Nilgiris ghat railway section, but it had to be given up due to the heavy costs. Director of the NDC, D Venugopal, says, “The amount of importance given to the Darjeeling Mountain Railway is not granted to the NMR.” “The architect of the NMR was Captain J L L Morant. Richard Wooley launched a new establishment named Nilgiri Railway Company in 1885. The local contractors were T S Chinnaswamy and HJ Bellie Gowder,” said Venugopal.

Faced with mounting losses, the toy train almost came to an end in the late 1960s, with the Railway Board announcing the closure of the NMR in 1968. The then PWD Minister M Karunanidhi took up the issue with the Centre. Hence, the NMR escaped the Railway Board’s axe. President of centenary celebration committee, Natraj, said an awareness rally would be taken out in Ooty on October 13. Railway Minister R Velu and State Khadi Board Minister K Ramachandran would participate.

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