Nilgiri Mountain Railway

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway started life as a means of transporting the growing produce of tea and coffee down to the plains and transporting the British sahibs up to their getaways in the hills. Initially Mettupalaiyam Coonoor line was inaugurated in 1899; the line was extended to Ooty in 1908. This one's the train ride for a lifetime, with rice fields running alongside. You won't be able to help but gape as the train chugs along bridges and steeply rising mountains and then tea estates that roll far and wide.