Vijay, appreciate your efforts.

Yes, like Uttam says, this is where our ancestors came from. There were no trains or highways in those days, and a journey from Mangalore to Honnavar (3 - 4 hours today) used to take upto 2 days with many river crossings on ramshackle ferry boats. Not much of education or job opportunities too, though the land was rich; so they migrated to the big cities - Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Dharwad. Thanks Apu, Sachin and Lalaam for the journey into the lands of my ancestors.

Are you on a "rest area platform" jutting out into the river?

The grey on the top of the coaches contributes to the sandwich effect.

Thank you for the kind words - breathtakingly beautiful lands, populated by the kindest, most hospitable of people, I feel proud to say that this is where I originally come from.

I saw from the timetable board at Balaghat that the BG line has been extended to Katangi. That is why Balaghat is a junction, with lines going to Gondia and Katangi (BG) and Jabalpur (NG).

The picture is also a comment on the shape of things to come - the end of NG, while BG marches on.

Nice catch. Imagine standing deep within the bowels of the earth when a train is thundering up the mountainside directly over you.

Man, what a shot. Never seen something like this in the past!

And is 83 Varanasi-Delhi Express today's Shivganga??

Is 161 today's Tata-Jammu Tawi(8101/2).And is 63 Avadh Express today's Muzaffarpur/Gorakhpur-Bandra(T) Avadh(9037/8/9/40)