Mesmerizing Monsoon Rail travel to "HEAVEN ON EARTHS" Dudhsagar waterfall.

                                      The  dream of visiting Dudhsagar in monsoons had pierced in my mind when I and my best buddies school had visited for the first time in the month of March after completion of 2 PUC exams but before KCET exams it was on 26 march Saturday we had planned to leave,,,We knew that it was in the time of summers and we hadn't expected to be it of much glorious and full fledged one..even then for the change of mindset we had planned to visit there with not much amenities to carry with us since we were going there for the first time we were a bit nervous what would happen..but I had collected enough information about the place by reading various blogs and analyzing GOOGLE maps we had left to DDS by 17311 CHENNAI central ---VASCO-DA-GAMA exp and the journey was of full exciting one and we were surprised to see what would be the next scene to watch in the train as we were very curious by seeing the various images in the net and reading blogs.!!! We reached the place and enjoyed a lot but could not enjoy the nature to the fullest because it was summers...so it was then when the thought of visiting this beautiful place in monsoons chocked me....

                          And the dream came true when my cousins arrived at my home in the month of June and we suddenly planned to visit dudhsagar...,Basically the journey from Hubli to Dudhsagar is of 128 kms,which is a part of South Western Railway HUBLI division,,the journey passes through the greenery of Western ghats and Plains from Dharwad till Londa Jn.with lushy green paddy fields and dense forests with chirping insects from Londa Jn to Castle Rock and finally the beautiful Braganza ghats to reach beautiful Dudhsagar Falls.....

                         Since it was the month of monsoons we could enjoy the chilly climate from Hubli itself....It was the rainy morning in the Hubli...We were actually to go by Amaravathi express by leaving Hubli Jn at around 9 am in the morning reach there at 12 45 pm and return by GOA SF exp but since the Amaravathi was delayed by some 4.5 hrs we then shifted to travel by 17311 CHENNAI central ---VASCO-DA-GAMA exp as we did the previous time in summers...we boarded the with return tickets as well from Hubli Junction Railway station...the train was to arrive at 6 45 am by schedule but to our surprise it arrived at 6 25 am....We got the compartment which was fully empty which had an emergency window because of that window I was able to take some of the beautiful clicks...





The train departed Hubli Jn at 7 00 am on RT the train passed through fields between HBL and DWR and we arrived Dharwar at 7 30 am and another cousins of ours was to join at DWR..we welcomed her..the seats were well comfortable with 4 of us in our compartment the train let dharwar and we were into another world of Greenery and the chugged through various small stations and paddy fields and snaked out at least once in a while in a kilometer..We reached Londa Jn at  8 50 am...We had our breakfasts in the train itself as Londa is very famous for Vada Pav and other chats...The train left towards Castle Rock at 9 am now it was time for us to stand at door and look out for the nature in doing so we saw some peacocks and deers ..

        CHENNAI VASCO CHUGGING THROUGH PADDY FIELDS b/w  DWR and LD

                       THROUGH PADDY FIELDS b/w  DWR and LD




  

            We arrived at Castle Rock at 9 30 am it was just 25 kms from Londa.. the train halted there for about half an hour for attaching additional engines called bankers at the front ends of the train meanwhile we walked through the station as it was unique with shelter for platform....

                     Castle rock is a village in the karwar .....The town is located in the western ghats on the state's border with goa at an elevation of 621 m

Located at height in a heavily forested area, Castle Rock's vegetation is moist . manganese mines in the area form the main economy of the region. The area, which is within the dandeli tiger reservecontains many of them.

For many years, the town marked the frontier between portugal-held Goa and British-held India. A metre gaugerailway line used to connect the Goan towns of Vasco and Margao with the rest of India and was the only rail link in the state till the Konkan Railway started services in the early 1990s. In the early-1990s, the Indian Railwaysconverted the metre gauge line to broad gauge, thus connecting the old rail network with the rest of India. Metre gauge tracks can still be seen at the local railway station

n international connection that did exist in the past but is no longer a possibility is that between India (both British India and independent India) and the territory of Goa, which until 1961 was a colony of Portugal and not part of India. The MG railway line from Marmagoa to Castle Rock was originally owned and operated by the West of India Portuguese Railway (which despite its name was a British company) and it connected with the line in British India from Londa. The terminus of the line today is Vasco da Gama. For travellers between Goa and British India, and later between Goa and India, all the formalities of international travel including customs checks and verification of travel documents were carried out at Castle Rock.

This station marks the beginning of the Braganza Ghats from Karnataka side. The nearby Dudhsagar Falls is one of the main tourist attractions of Goa.

Mining is now totally banned and the area has been declared as a dandeli anshi tiger reserve.




             After the bankers were attached the train left towards Kulem at 10 00 am... people who trek to falls got down here.. and started their trek...

                                          A board saying WELCOME

                                          CHENNAI -VASCO entering BG

   
   Emergency Accidental Relief Vans CLR





    BRAGANZA GHATS    

The 26 km section of Braganza ghats starts at Castle Rock in Karnataka and ends at Kulem in Goa and has 3 stations en route - Caranzol, Doodhsagar and Sonalium. Both the uphill as well as the downhill trains have commercial halts at Castle Rock and Kulem, which also serve as the stations for attachment and detachment of brakers. But, the trains do not have commercial halts at the three en route stations. While descending the ghats, a train - whether passenger or freight - has to stop at all the 3 stations for mandatory brake tests; whereas, the uphill trains are not required to halt unless there is a crossing.

The route earlier belonged to the South Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways but after the formation of South Western Railways in 2003 it came under the Hubli division of South Western Railways.

Tens of thousands of tons of freight move up and down the ghat section. The Braganza Ghat Section is one of the toughest ghat sections in Indian Railways. The ruling gradient here is 1 in 37 which requires the use of bankers. Earlier the Gooty shed's WDM-3A and WDG-3A class locomotives were used and now the WDG-4 locomotives. Hubli is the nearest loco shed has almost 250 of these locos.

There are quite a few passenger trains plying this section. Freight consists mostly of iron ore being transported from the interior regions of Karnataka to the ports for export. In return the rakes bring in coal, fertilizers....

                    UBL triplets resting at CLR

HUBLI WDG's rule the ghats....UBL triplets are formed for attachment at front end forming PENTAS while descending and at rear while ascending the ghats...So,many such triplets were found at Castle ROck..

                                  MISTY BRAGANZA

Now it was time for us to watch natural beauty of BG and train started descending the ghats a board saying welcome to Braganza ghats welcomed us the trains maintains speed of max 30 kmph for descending and 40 kmph for ascending the ghats... we could see the small streams descending along with us... and many many such streams..after travelling 7 kms we reached CARANZOL station the train stopped there for a min to check the braking...now breaks were released and train moved towards DUDHSAGAR station...

                                 A VIEW OF SONALIUM STATION FROM DDS STATION

Finally after 10th tunnel the tracks divided and we were set off to get down...The train stops here for a min and the station even didn't had a PF so it was challenge for us..we some how got off the train and a big BUBYE for 17311....we reached at 10 45 am.......

                                          PEOPLE GETTING DOWN AT DDS

We crossed the 11 th tunnel by walk and Reached the magnificent falls which was up to the highest....We enjoyed there the whole day...

A STREAM AT BG...

      A VIEW OF SONALIUM STATION FROM DDS STATION OUR TRAIN MOVED THERE AS WE GOT OFF

FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE FALLS AFTER 11TH TUNNEL

                        

                       

            

HUBLI MONSTERS FORMING PENTAS AT DDS FALLS

                                                UBL WDG4 DESCENDING BG ARRIVES AT VIEW POINT...

 And we were back to station at 4 45 pm and awaited for GOA SF... we could see many tourists were already there...the train arrived as though it wouldn't stop there it was at 40 kmph even though it arrived stn.We boarded the train which was challenge in such crowd and no PF and a minute halt..And managed to get a SLR coach at which we were standing at the door since it was a reserved compartment..

                             RETURNING LONDA BY GOA SF EXP.......

We have to change train at londa since train goes towards Nizamuddin ie Miraj route...we arrived Londa Jn at 6 45 pm we had time till 8 00 pm.. so we just relaxed there Rani chennamma arrived at 8 15 pm we left towards Dharwar and finally boarded off train at DWR........................a dream come true