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Part 4 of 5South India, 2019

The toy train to Coonoor

A day on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, riding the toy train from Ooty down to Coonoor and back, with a walk in Sim's Park and a full guided tour of the Highfield Tea Factory.

By Thawaio1 min read14 March 2019 · Ooty and Coonoor

The blue carriages of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway's toy train curving along the platform at Coonoor station, under tall trees and a red-tiled platform roof.
The toy train at Coonoor station.

On 14 March, I took the toy train on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway from Ooty to Coonoor. Later the same day, I came back on the toy train again.

Udagamandalam station

I was at the station before eight o’clock. Its sign gives the town’s official name, Udagamandalam, along with its height: 2,203 metres above sea level.

The yellow station sign reading Udagamandalam in Tamil, Hindi and English, with the displayed locomotive behind it.
The station sign.
The side of a blue carriage and the narrow track curving away through trees, seen from the train.
On board the toy train.

Down through the hills

The train wound its way down through the hills. Most of my photographs from the ride are of the view: tea gardens on the slopes, eucalyptus woods, and wide valleys with villages scattered across them.

A green hillside planted with rows of tea bushes and a line of trees along the ridge.
Tea gardens beside the line.
A wide view over a valley of fields, trees and villages to rows of blue hills on the horizon.
Looking across the Nilgiri Hills.

Sim’s Park

In Coonoor, I got around by a combination of walking and a hired taxi.

At Sim’s Park, I walked around and explored the botanical garden.

Lawns and flower beds among large old trees and conifers in a botanical garden.
Sim's Park.
A tall conifer rising above the trees and shrubs of the garden.
A tall conifer in the park.

I also took a few photographs around the town.

Coonoor spread across the hillside below green hills, with jacaranda trees among the houses.
Coonoor.
A town street with shops, a temple, parked cars and a motorcyclist under a clear sky.
A street in Coonoor.

Highfield Tea Factory

After that, I went to the Highfield Tea Factory and joined a full guided tour.

A roadside sign advertising Highfield Tea Factory, tourist spot and tea gardens, with free entry, beside rows of tea bushes.
The sign for the Highfield Tea Factory.

The factory sits among its own tea gardens, with rows of tea bushes shaded by tall, thin trees and hills all around.

A green factory building on a hillside above the tea gardens, below a rocky, forested hill.
The factory above the tea gardens.
A huge pile of firewood beside the factory’s corrugated roofs and a brick chimney.
Firewood stacked beside the factory.

The tour took me through the factory, and the guide explained how tea is made, stage by stage, from the fresh green leaf to the finished tea.

A large factory hall with long metal troughs and overhead pipework.
Inside the factory.
A large cylindrical drum machine in a factory room.
One of the machines.
A heap of fresh green tea leaves on the floor of a factory shed.
Fresh leaf in the factory.

Before leaving, I bought some tea to take home.

Shelves of packaged teas, labelled white tea, green tea, masala tea and chocolate tea, with essential oils and other products.
The tea shop.

Back to Ooty

Then it was back to Coonoor station for the train to Ooty.

The platform and track at Coonoor station seen through the front window of the train, with the Coonoor sign above.
Coonoor station from the train.
The narrow track running through green scrub, seen from the side of the moving train.
Climbing back through the forest.
A wide valley of villages and fields below the hills in the late afternoon light.
The valley in the late afternoon.
A long cream building with a tiled roof lit up at night, behind a white picket fence and a tree lit in green.
Back at the hotel that night.

I had one more day in Ooty, and I already knew how I wanted to spend it.