The trainexperience from Colombo up into the tea plantations of primary Sri Lanka isn’t alwayssimply about the transportation, it can be the amazing highlight of your visit. you canjourney on one in every oftwodailycontemporary ‘blue trains’ or as shownright here on a traditional Sri Lankan train with a primaryclassobservationvehicleconnected to the rear. As you can see from the pictures, this offers a first-rate rearward view along the tracks, so that you can see how this top-notch railway wasbuilt, hugging the hillside under overhanging rocks. Nanuoya is the railhead for Nuwara Eliya, a colonial-era hill station where the British might take time offaway fromthe warmth and humidity of the coast, surrounded viagreater Ceylon tea plantations that you may shake a stick at…
Colombo to Nuwara Eliya in photos…
Colombo Fort station opened in 1917 in the bustling heart of the old colonial Fort area. See map.
Arriving at the station by tuk-tuk from the Galle Face Hotel, the best way to get around cities in Sri Lanka.
Bustling Colombo Fort, like a British station in the 1950s with the heat & humidity, turned up…
Boarding the train… The locomotive draws the train into platform 3, then detaches to run around and attach to the front. The lucky passengers with first class reservations for the 09:45 express to Hatton, Nanuoya, Elle & Badulla board the observation car at the rear.
The train sets off, leaving Colombo Fort station behind (seen above). Shortly afterwards it trundles non-stop through Colombo’s other main station, Maradana, some 2 km to the east.
The observation car is not air-conditioned, but a breeze wafts in through the open side windows…
Passing a local temple, soon after leaving Colombo Fort. There are always things to see from a Sri Lankan train…
The train clatters along at 30-50mph, stopping at wayside stations with neatly-kept flower beds. Above left, Rambukkana.
The observation car gives a superb view back along the track so you can see how this wonderful railway is constructed. After Rambukkana, where the Colombo Commuter service ends, the line is mostly single-track. Sri Lankan railways are built to a broad gauge, 5′ 6″, wider than European standard gauge…
The line climbs towards Kandy with tunnels & cuttings gouged from the hillside. In places, the jungle is reclaiming the tracks..
Mountains from the train…
Kadugannawa… As the train rolls into Kadugannawa, look for the Dawson Tower on the right (or left as you look rearwards), erected in 1832 in tribute to Royal Engineer Captain W F Dawson who built much of the adjacent Colombo-Kandy road.
At Kadugannawa station on the right (left as you face rearwards) you’ll see various exhibits outside Sri Lanka’s National Railway Museum, including this 1953 British-built type M1 (above right).
Peradeniya Junction, near to Kandy… is Sri Lanka’s 2nd biggest city, located on a four-mile branch line from Peradeniya Junction at the Colombo-Badulla principal line. The Chinese–built blue trains flip left at Peradeniya, go into Kandy terminus, tradecourse, retrace their steps to Peradeniya and flip left againin the direction of Badulla – they have a using cab at eachquit so it’seasy for them. Our conventionaltrain has a locomotive on thefront and it via-passes Kandy, selecting up passengers from Kandy at Peradeniya Junction. The station has platforms on all threeaspects of the triangular junction, however strangely, the train rolls slowly through the apparently-disused platform on theaspect of the triangle that by means of-passes Kandy, halts brieflyon thesign pictured above left, then its unitsagain into the Kandy-to-Hill-united states platform.
Galaboda… At the wayside station of Galaboda, the train waits for the Colombo-bound Podi Menike blue train to pass.
After Galboda, the climb into the hills continues…
Hatton, the station for Adam’s Peak… The train pauses here just long enough for a photo or two.
Tea country! The train now snakes its way past hills where almost every slope is covered with tea bushes.
Waterfall…
The weather is changeable, but the light is now fantastic…
The line is cut into the hillside…
A stop at the very British-sounding Great Western station.
A rain shower hits the train as it rattles along above a broad valley…
Nanuoya… The train arrives at Nanuoya around 40 minutes late. Above left, passengers alight from the privately-run air-conditioned Exporail car. The train continues to Haputale, Elle & Badulla.
Nanuoya is the railhead for Nuwara Eliya, some 7 km away – there are always taxi vans waiting.
Restrooms. You didn’t think these were toilets, did you? Toilets are located nearby.
The ancient British-built tablet instruments, in the station master’s office at Nanuoya. These ensure the trains run safely on the single line.
Semaphore signal and station name board in the sun at Nanuoya…
Nuwara Eliya…
The hill station of Nuwara Eliya is a strange mix of colonial-era bungalows, modern hotels and guesthouses, a pleasure lake, parks, and even a racecourse…
Nuwara Eliya’s Gregory Lake…
Nuwara Eliya’s colonial-era post office…
The best place to stay: Nuwara’s Eliya’s historic Grand Hotel built in the style of a Tudor mansion, check prices here
Time for tea…
You can visit a number of tea plantations & factories around Nuwara Eliya, including the Pedro Estate, well worth a visit…
Tea pickers on the Pedro Estate at Nuwara Eiya…
The Pedro Estate tea factory…
In case you need reminding…
Drying the tea leaves…
GOOD VIDEOS ABOUT NUWARA
RAIL HISTORY OF SRI LANKA
Rail travel has a long and importantplace in Sri Lankan history. originallyreferred to as the Ceylon Government Railways, the first piece of musicbecameplaced down by means of the British Governor Sir Henry Ward in 1858 and wasvisible an essentialdevelopmentinside thegradual modernization of Ceylon.
Railway logo of Sri Lanka The tracks were open for enterpriseround Christmas of 1864, an exceptionalfulfillmentboth in phrases of velocityin the pre-industrialgeneration of the island and of engineering ingenuity and excellence, as will becomeclearin yourtrip. the firstjourneyturned into from Colombo to Ambepussa a small metropolisat theway to Kandy, 54 km east of the capital.
The scope of the rail line becamestep by stepelevatedduring British colonial days and by way of 1927, there have been 1530 km of track in operation. the linebecomeextended to the Hill Capital of Kandy by means of 1867 and in 1926 work turned intofinished on the road to Nelson’s favored port of Trincomalee in the extreme east of Sri Lanka, that means all points of the compass have been now protected. The railway changed intoto start withconstructed with purely-commercial interests in thoughts. First to moveespresso from the Hill Country to the coastal port of Colombo, then while the coffee crop becamewiped outwith the aid ofdisorder, the embryonic plants of tea that Sri Lanka is now famed for were transported to the coast for exportation.
as the armies of the Portuguese and Dutch might testify to gaining access to the rolling hills, waterfalls and limitless plateaus of the Hill us of aisn’t alwayseasy. for that reason the rail strainssteadilybecame a connector for human beings, offering the intrepid tea planters ‘the wild guys of the hills’ the hazard for a piece of refinement in Colombo.
Nuwara Eliya south-east of Kandybecame a travelervacation spotbefore the phrasebecame coined, because of the expansion of the rail line. the adventure from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya remainsone of theglobal’s maximumstunning rail trips. by using the 1960’s the Sri Lankan rail deviceturned intobeing usedmoreby way of commuters than with the aid of freight traffic.
Good 4-star hotels in Nuwara Eliya:
I find these hotels in Nuwara Eliya rather good, at about 100$ per night.
Hi, I am Max the person behind this blog. I love traveling and photography. I'm usually on the road or starting new projects. I blog about Asia mostly. Feel free to contact me!
