Nilambur Train

Nilambur is my village. Nilambur is a north east side village in Kerala. Kerala is situated in south west side of India. For the modern Kerala Nilambur is a beautiful village with lot of forest resources. Its eco friendly character attracts lot of tourists to the village. For the ancient Kerala Nilambur is a rich historical place. Lot of dynasties ruled over here and made significant role as a merchant village. For this time I would like to inform you about “Nilambur Train” and the journey towards Nilambur.

Nilambur train started his journey towards from Shornur junction to Nilambur since 1927 on 3 February. This train is used for transporting the rich forest resources towards the southern Kerala. The resources include tropical forest woods, spices and cotton materials. Nilambur is well known for its teak plantation. And on that time for making ships teak is the base material. So these woods are transporting through Nilambur train.

Also for transporting armed forces towards Malabar region on Malabar rebellion occurred in 1920’s this train route used.

Nilambur train covers only 66 km (41 miles) from Shornur to Nilambur. In this journey it covers 12 stations. They are given below. This railway route is considered as the shortest broad gauge railway route in India.

While in its journey Nilambur train passes a beautiful land side. Which includes 4 rivers, cultivated lands beautiful landscapes and a gigantic granite rock named “Vaniyambalam Para”. Here you can see the photos of different stations and nearby scenery of this rail route. I also included the main particularities of 7 stations that I’m traveling regularly to my work place.

Nilambur is the land of “teaks”. I already wrote a hub about Nilambur teaks. Nilambur is also famous for its forests. We can see lot of Teak plantations in the banks of Chaliyar River. Inside the forest there is lot of wildlife habitats, rivers, and waterfalls. Adyanpara Waterfalls are famous among these.

The name Nilambur came from ‘place of Nilimba’. In Sanskrit language Nilimba means ‘Bamboo’. From the forest the Kerala forest research institute had been found out a wide variety of rare bamboo families.

Unique features of Nilambur.

• Oldest Teak plantation and Teak tree.
• Only Teak Museum in India and First in Asia.
• The longest Hanging Bridge in Kerala.
• Chola Naikers - Cave dwelling tribes found only in the Nilambur Forests.
• First Panchayath (means village area) with 100% Primary literacy in India.

Nilambur Railway station

Nilambur railway station built in 1928. This station is the last station for Nilambur train. From here there are many routes towards tourist places in India. ‘Ooty’, a famous tourist place in India is just 100 km (62 miles) from here.

The train ticket fare for adult passengers is pretty cheap in India. You will astonish with the fare list given above. If you are not just check it again.

Vaniyambalm is a part of Nilambur. It got the popularity by selling teak wood from Nilambur. In 1930’s there was a teak depot in Vaniyambalam. The teak woods from Nilambur are stored here and they are transported to the southern Kerala.

The name Vaniyambalam means merchants place. In beginning of 1930’s lot of timber merchants came here and purchased lot of woods.

The major attraction of the Vaniyambalam is “Vaniyambalam para” (para means Rock). It’s a huge gigantic granite rock. It holding 32 acres of land and height is the same. Above this rock a temple is there.

These are the small station in Nilambur rail route. They are typical village areas.But from here we can see lot of landscapes, fields and cultivated lands. The beauty of typical village reveals here.

Thodiyapulam is a famous place with lot of football fans. Most of the boys are growing here by mastering in football. From this place we can expect national level players from this village. While travelling in train we can see small grounds and players. Also there is lot of junior players with age less than five arguing each other regarding the topic who will take the first touch on the ball.

In between Tuvvur and Melattur Olipuzha River is running. In the banks of river we can see goal posts and players.

Tuvvur is a farmer’s village. Many vegetables are cultivated here. On the banks rail route we can see many lands like this. I got a friend in my college days is from this village. It is very proud to me that I arranged her marriage and she is the mother two children. We were traveled a lot on that time by this train. Because we studied together in Angadippuram and this is the shortest route we ever got.

Melattur is situated on the banks of the Olipuzha River. The name Melattur came from the Malayalam words 'Mele' (above), 'Aaru' (river) and 'Ooru' (place); i.e., 'place near upstream'. There are places named Edayattur (place near middle of the river), and Keezhattur (place near to the downstream) on the banks of the river Olipuzha.

While traveling through Melattur we can see the same soccer mania as I said above. Here the game becomes rapid with less number of players. Only seven players will there on each team. So this game is particularly known as “sevens”. In Melattur a ground will arrange as stadium. People will furnish gallery with bamboos and floodlight will equip. Game will start on night 8.00. The reason behind this late start all fans will come after their job. And they will enjoy the whole night with their own teams.

Pattikkad means ‘dogs forest’. Different name, isn’t it? I don’t know how the name came. Long years before this place were an absolutely rural area. Now it became pretty developed. A Muslim Arabic college is here. It brings many scholars to the village. Lot of master degree holders in Arabic language is left over the village. Another engineering college is here. It is started 2003. Electrical, Electronics and communication and Mechanical engineering are the main branches here.

Angadippuram is a temple town. Angadippuram was the capital of the powerful medieval kingdom of Valluvanad. This town includes 12 hindu temples. This is a well known town for the whole Kerala. It has got two temples. ‘Thirumandhamkunnu bhagavati’ temple and ‘Tali’ temple. The major deities of Thirumandhamkunnu temple is goddess Bhaghavati and lord Siva. These temples are built by the rulers of Valluvanad. The rulers are named as Valluva Konathiris. And Thirumandham kunnilamma (Mother Bhagavathi) is the kuladaiva (official goddess) of valluva konathiris. A festival named Thirumandham kunnu pooram is very famous. This festival is called as the festival of Valluvanad. It last for 11 days.

This town is an important pilgrim place for Hinds. And this town is called as temple of Malabar. The village is the largest village in Malappuram district.

Here I have only included 7 stations. I avoided next 4 stations because of I’m not familiar with them. After the study and research I will include information’s regarding them. This is my privilege to tell about this rail route. I’m traveling through this route for more than two years. I’m season ticket holder from Nilambur to Angadippuram. My season ticket fares a charge of Rs. 395 (approximately 8 $) for three months. So, I can travel at any time during the day in this train. Do you wish to travel with me? I’m inviting all you for this beautiful mind blowing cheap rate journey with me and with my Nilambur train.

For information I have referenced Wikipedia