Sri Lanka by train: A journey on a charmingly decrepit railway

By Anthony Dennis
Updated October 20 2014 - 12:23pm, first published October 18 2014 - 12:15am
Rail tale: A modern passenger train swoops down over one of Sri Lanka's old bridges.
Rail tale: A modern passenger train swoops down over one of Sri Lanka's old bridges.
Rail tale: A modern passenger train swoops down over one of Sri Lanka's old bridges.
Rail tale: A modern passenger train swoops down over one of Sri Lanka's old bridges.
Rail tale: A modern passenger train swoops down over one of Sri Lanka's old bridges.
Rail tale: A modern passenger train swoops down over one of Sri Lanka's old bridges.
Hill view: A passenger train wends its way along tea-clad slopes.
Hill view: A passenger train wends its way along tea-clad slopes.
Short cut: Villagers use the rail tracks as pathways.
Short cut: Villagers use the rail tracks as pathways.
Colonial remains: The gardens of the English-style Grand Hotel at Nuwara, Eliya are a manicured delight.
Colonial remains: The gardens of the English-style Grand Hotel at Nuwara, Eliya are a manicured delight.
Trio's tribute: Monks visit the memorial to Sri Lanka's worst rail disaster.
Trio's tribute: Monks visit the memorial to Sri Lanka's worst rail disaster.
Tragic relief: A detail at the memorial site of the Sir Lanka's worst rail disaster, in 2004, when a tsunami struck.
Tragic relief: A detail at the memorial site of the Sir Lanka's worst rail disaster, in 2004, when a tsunami struck.
Westward-ho: A branch of the Sri Lankan railways heads into the sunset.
Westward-ho: A branch of the Sri Lankan railways heads into the sunset.
Rail tale: A modern passenger train swoops down over one of Sri Lanka's old bridges.
Rail tale: A modern passenger train swoops down over one of Sri Lanka's old bridges.

At Colombo's Fort Station, the trapped tropical humidity inside the building's interior, a tangle of silver-coated wrought and corrugated iron straight out of the early 20th-century British colonial era, is intense. I feel like a chicken inside a pressure cooker, and probably look like one, as I await  my train for the two-and-a-half-hour ride to Kandy.

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