Disclaimer: I am not a professional photographer or videographer. Photos and videos are only amateur level. Videos are not monetized. Feel free to watch them
Let us for the sake of convenience, call it ‘laziness’. Sounds that lazy, doesn’t it? The trip to Vadodara for the convention was easily one of the best trips that I have ever made. Shouldn’t it be topped up with a trip report? It has been almost a year now, with even the ARP for UBL2019 having got started… And now, of all threads in the forum, there comes Adithya with his trip report, kindling that sleeping lazy (yes lazy!) person in me to wake up and jot down what happened during the trip.
It was a simple affair with just three people – Prabhu, Appa (‘Father’, Sethuraman) and myself, who have planned to take the trip. I am more like Ganesh (‘GI’) when it comes to doing things meticulously. My mileage map of IR showed a lot of untravelled sections over SWR and SCR. So, my plan had to accommodate tracing a black line in the map for a few of such sections as well. For those who have attended UAM2014, Prabhu and Appa are not new faces. It took just one bullying phone call to Prabhu – demanding that he takes three days off in February, to get his buy-in. It was even easier to convince Appa, when I told him that I am planning to take the Bangalore – Poona trunk route. He happily agreed to join as he had never travelled in that trunk line after Gauge conversion. It was too late for him to retract his consent once I told him that we will be taking the 1A class! ('Holy H as Aswin calls it).
This was the plan:
22601 MAS-SNSI Express from Chennai to Yelahanka Jn
16508 Jodhpur Express from Bangalore City Jn to Vadodara Jn
12656 Navjeevan Express from Vadodara Jn to Ahmedabad Jn
A red eye flight from AMD to MAA.
Leg 1: Tracing the ‘Thatha’s Trail’
I became/ was made/ was made to discover a railfan by my grandfather (‘thatha’). He used to tell tales of his exotic trips to Bangalore by His Highness Brindavan Express. So, for the railfan in me, travelling in Madras – Bangalore section means enacting that tale as an actor. I strongly suspect that my Appa became a railfan himself after travelling extensively with my grandfather to Kanpur, Howrah, Miraj, Poona and Bombay. Not to forget the main line trips to Thanjavur delta. My thatha was a dealer in musical instruments and did these travels to meet the sculptors of those instruments in person to place orders and collect instruments. His narrations include how the catering people used to bring Idly vadai and coffee at Arakkonam to Ice creams and cutlets at Krishnarajapuram in H.H Brindavan and how the VLR ‘mama’ at Vijayawada Junction will serve full meals on a plantain leaf for people coming by 3 Mail from Howrah to Madras. “Don’t worry saar, even the driver is eating here – the train will not leave for another 15 minutes!” type dialogues getting quoted here and there adds the seasoning essence in his tales.
The sole purpose of booking in SNSI Express is that it was the only train to get multiple diesel locos for the run in MAS-SBC FEDL section. Call me an old-timer (I am not that old though!), my best trips to Bangalore were the ones when JTJ-SBC was not under wires and H.H. Brindavan Express used to switch to diesel(s) from JTJ. The hidden curves (where is Sridhar Joshi?) of Mulanur and Patchur and Kuppam in the ghat section are a treat to watch with the diesel locos notching up. Who on earth will not love the sweet smell of the diesel exhaust smoke when it comes and hits your face! The only equivalent thing I can think of is the sweet smell of the burning brake shoes when a running train is coming to a grinding halt. Do you agree?
So, with lots of excitement, and with some careful planning in advance to ensure that there will not be any pending work at office front on the preceding Tuesday evening, I tried to get some sleep. I got transported to that very sultry night of May 1989, the night before the day when I was to take my first ever trip in my dream train – the Brindavan, to the then dreamland i.e. pre-1995 Bangalore. Anyway everyone agrees, directly or secretly, that post-1995 Bangalore is not Bangalore at all. I couldn’t get any proper sleep that night due to excitement.
I requested my mother to prepare us Puliyotharai with vadaam (Tamarind rice + papad) and Curd rice with pickles for our trip, repeating what she did in May 1989. With food and bags packed, we got ourselves dropped at Central just in time to say a quick hello to some of the MAS gangsters going by 2656 Navjeevan.Sathya and I jokingly remarked that he is coming to MAS for going to BRC and I am going to SBC to go to BRC! Never did we realise then that we will get tagged once more like this during the quiz finals on Day 2. Customary selfie and they were off.
Left to Right: Aravind, Sridhar Joshi, Satheesh, Sathya, Dr. Swaminathan, Harish, Ramkrishnan, Aswin, Prabhu and Sethuraman
We then pushed ourselves to PF11 at Madras Central. A few confirmations beforehand through two contacts have assured me that it is indeed a multiple diesel power for us and there are no surprises. For those who have got used to my syntax – S7 15 SL FF NBE it is. Coach 01382. Mandatory visit to check the power revealed that WDM-3A #16882R TNP SHF leading + WDM-3A #16859R TNP LHF trailing were in charge, all cylinders ready to charge up the hills. There were two more reasons for booking in this train – 1. It will help me trace the third line in the CSDR triangle (KJM-CSDR) having covered the other two earlier (BYPL-CSDR and BYPL-KJM) and 2. It is easier to go to my Periappa’s house (Appa’s elder brother) in Sultanpalya from Yelahanka than from SBC, considering the evening traffic.
It was an on dot departure at Madras. My mind all along the trip was trying to compare my first trip in 1989 with the ongoing one. At every stage, I was able to get one interesting item to compare!
* Platform 11, not 3 – 11 did not even exist then.
* Fast line till Arakkonam, the switch was post Avadi then.
* The Up line is just next to Down line now till Katpadi, it used to be a good distance. The 9 year old boy and his 7 year old younger brother fighting for that elite window seat can comfortably see and enjoy a train in the Up line, even if it is passing at good speed – it is all flash of blue coaches now with a trace of white or red at the head.
* The Up line is now not disappearing amidst coconut trees after Vaniyambadi. It is uninterestingly enough, accompanying the Down line all the way till Jolarpet.
* Jolarpet is still largely unchanged. The lazy afternoons are almost the same as 1989. A bunch of red serpents, calling themselves ‘goods’, having some humming and angry looking brownish AJJ WAG-5 locos (with some WAG-9s here and there), the big ‘Welcome to Jolarpet’ cement board at 30 degree angle, lots of lines and turnouts – the charm is (touchwood) retained and unaffected.
By and large, MAS-JTJ run was uneventful, except for a loop line halt at Vinnamangalam to allow precedence to HWH-YPR Duronto hauled by WAP-7 #30534 TATA.
The much expected mainline ripping was so-so ('Pongal' run in Rakesh Joshi's terminology) at Gudiyattam and Ambur, however Vaniyambadi did not disappoint.
The fun-filled action part started post JTJ. The multiple diesels started showing their full might while climbing the ghats. All the three of us were transported to our own childhood days in taking turns to stand at the door or peeping out of emergency windows to see the engine while negotiating a curve.
Notes from my diary:
SKPT 1355h
PU 1404/06 a brief halt to obtain block clearance
MAR 1426
KPN 1434
It was 40 minutes of sheer bliss in that February afternoon sun, who was not so harsh on us. He let us enjoy the scene! Looking at the smoking diesels while negotiating the curves was the peak moment we were all looking for. And we were fully satisfied.
Kuppam, the beautiful curvy station, was crossed non-stop, followed by a few more. Bisanattam 1444, Kamasamudram 1448 and Varadapura at 1452. SWR’s embarrassing ‘Kamasamudram Caution Order’, for a bridge that was ever ‘under repair’ state was no longer there.
Bowringpet (Bangarpet) halt was for two minutes 1457/1459. We got down and got a cup of coffee to refresh ourselves. A brief stop-and-start moment at Byatarayanahalli 1520, where we crossed the Double Decker to Chennai, followed by a halt at Malur, simultaneously getting precedence over the passenger from Marikuppam was at 1527/1529. 40 UP was crossed at 1541, just before Whitefield.
WFD 1544
KJM 1552/1555 – we then took the NE side of the triangle to march towards Channasandra.
CSDR 1604, pass through loop, getting precedence over a freighter.
Finally, we entered Yelahanka almost RT, into PF1. Happy to have traced the third line in the triangle, and most importantly, living that memorable trip of May 1989 once more. We booked an Uber to go to Sultanpalya and spend some time sharing this trip with my Periappa, who is a railfan himself (“why are they killing the 8 Mail with Karnataka Express, don’t they have brains?”).
Leg 2: The Deccan Odyssey
Having decided to put some catchy title phrases for the parts, this is the best I could conjure, ‘The Deccan Odyssey’.
After a sumptuous meal my Periamma had put together (did I mention that she is a railfan as well? Her type is like, “Why are they not running more trains from Bangalore to Tiruchi? How will people go to Srirangam – 6231 is always full!”), we bade good bye and booked an Uber to Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (Bangalore Station), simply ‘City’ for us people from Madras. The other one is ‘Cantonment’. Yeshwantpurs and Yelahankas do not exist in our dictionary.
We were a bit early to reach, so got to watch 6589 Rani Channamma Express leave, the multi-passenger from Arsikere side arrive and (‘Kamadhenu!!’) the Jan Shatabdi with WDP-4D #40530 KJM arriving a few minutes BT portraying to a random visitor that he has never been late in his life-time. We need to ask all those people who have had their hearts in their mouths when this train was counting decimeters and centimetres after Tiptur. Anyway, our train got packed in PF8 in the meantime. WDP-4 #20054 KJM was the power. Shishir Jairam later informed that it is actually a 4B, but the marking is incorrect. H1 A Cabin 1 LB RF NBE. Coach 16001.
I was tired after the day-long railfanning from Madras and hit the berth. The coach was comfortable and cozy. It was an RT departure from SBC. I got up only when we have hopped almost 450 km, crossing Gudgeri at 0536h. The run was good. I went to the door and was doing some star gazing. The night sky, without the puntures of city lights, was adorable. The air was cold and the chillness was biting. I had to come back and get one some woolens to protect me. Being the third coach from the LHF running loco, the hum from the loco was resonating like divine music. The way the sound caught up when the loco starts accelerating after coasting through the down gradients of the Deccan plateau was simply mesmerizing.
Gudgeri 0536
Saunshi 0544
Kundgol 0552
Hubballi South 0608/0614. We were looped on the West line. I was sure it was for the crossing with 2726 Siddhaganga Express. It was not a surprise as we were a bit BT for a 0630 arrival at UBL. The scheduled departure for 2726 at UBL was 0600 and it is quite obvious that we are shown our place in the loop line! 2726 pierced the eerie early morning silence with a short hoot and dhadak-dhadak sound of the coaches that were accelerating in a brisk pace.
After a brief halt at ‘avuttar’ UBL Home for 4 minutes (0621/0625), we arrived in PF1 at 0630. By this time, Appa and Prabhu have got up. Having heard my marketing from my earlier Dandeli trip about how neat UBL PF1 was, and how it was designed like an airport, Appa wanted to get down and have a look. In the meantime, I walked towards the loco and got a click in the early morning light. We were door plating from Hubballi Jn to Dharwad. It was full of gentle gradients and hills with morning mist on the leaves of trees and shrubs that were dotting along. The EMD loco was fully powered up to his eighth notch and was singing songs in various ragams with its hum.
DWR 0715. Post my doorplating session, I had a very nice bath in the shower room of the H1 coach. No disappointments as the shower, the handle, the plumbing were working fine. The stainless steel walls were neat and stain-less, and overall, the room was ‘roomy’. Good space to sing your favourite songs and have a happy bath
LWR 0751/55
LD 0836/38. It was a brief halt at Londa Jn. Approx. 550 km from SBC. We packed our tiffin from the vendor, who has the big stall in the main platform – I became a slave of his dosais after tasting it once when I was aboard 6590. I haven’t travelled beyond Londa Jn towards Pune. 6508 covers this entire section in broad daylight – one main reason for my booking in this train. The block immediate North of Londa Jn (to Khanapur) was awesome. It was cutting through a thick reserve forest with good gradients. The lovely hum of the EMD loco was even lovelier with its echo from the forest. The first 20 minutes of run after Londa inside this forest, is something that should not be missed.
Gunji 0858
After a brisk run of about 30 minutes, we reached Belagavi at 0932. We were allotted PF1.
We welcomed a WDP-4D #40400 KJM hauled 1021 Chalukya Express into PF2. Soon after his arrival, the starter turned amber for us and with a long horn, we moved at 0940. For some good reason, even when the mainline was free, we crossed Sulebhavi at 0959 through East loop, while a multi-passenger from Miraj was waiting in the West loop. Appa decided to read some books and get some sleep as he was a bit tired after doing some doorplating. We were asked to halt in the East loop at Pachchapur (1027/1044).
As railfans, we wanted to do what a railfan ought to do during a crossing – get down and put scene that you know it is a crossing and you know an inch more than what common janatha know
Not to be an exception, Prabhu and I got down the track side (non-platform) and took some photos. Soon, a multi-passenger arrived from Miraj side with a Kazipet Alco in the lead. We were near the loco, when the starter was given and even before we realized it is time for us to get back, the horn was sounded and two notches were deployed. To our horror, the door of H1 was locked from inside by the attendant. With the train starting to move, we perched on to the steps in front of the door. I assured a visibly concerned Prabhu that the next halt Ghataprabha is only 15 or 20 minutes away and we can manage – having travelled in the footboard of units in Madras, this discomfort was not threatening. I took my phone out and called Appa – lucky for us, both Vodafone and Airtel had mercy on us – he picked up the call and opened the door for us. We would have travelled for a good 5 – 10 km distance by then.Ghataprabha 1106/1109, crossed 1304 Kolhapur – Manuguru Express here.
Chikodi Road 1124. This stretch post Londa was having one of my favourite trees, Palaash (Flame of the forest), growing abundantly.
Raibag 1136, crossing with another multi-passenger from Miraj with #11388 as the power.
Chinchili 1148, crossing with WDP-4 #20022 KJM SHF hauled 6533 BGKT-SBC Express
Kudachi 1153. Bridges over Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and Krishna were a good treat to watch.
We were adopted by Central Railways just before Miraj Junction. With a departure of WDG-4 hauled BCNA goods through Kurduwadi line and with a parallel entry from Kolhapur, we entered Miraj in style, and also with a hungry stomach. We bought lunch boxes from the platform vendor – a box of vegetable rice and a cup of curd was felt sufficient at that moment.
I cried out happily in an FB post:
“Inniki saayngaalam varaikkum...
Ende state Maharashtram
Ende baashai Marathi
Ende Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
Ende ommaachi Panduranga Vittal jeeeeeee.....”
(Till this evening, my state is Maharashtra, my language is Marati, my CM is Fadnavis and my deity is Vittala – posted in Malayalam, similar to a popular joke in Tamil cinema, where Actor Vivek, in order to woo his Malayali girl friend, will dress up like a typical Malayali and say a similar dialogue).
Appa was recollecting his trips to Miraj with thatha, when even the Kolhapur line was MG. We decided to take rest for a few hours and prepare ourselves for the run down the ghats before Pune.
Koregaon 1455/1505, crossing with Pune-KOP Passenger hauled by #11176
Satara 1517/1524
Cool comforts of the AC coach and some doorplating in hot sun, had its own side-effects. I decided to take an afternoon nap for a few hours, but got reminded of how Krishnan Sir teases me during my chord line trips – the overnight crossings in Chord Line are like Viswamithra, the Lower berth or an AC coach is like Menaka. A railfan who has vowed to witness all overnight crossings in the single line Chord Line section between Villupuram and TPJ should not fall to that Menaka and should be strong in his Tapas.
I got up when our train was made to wait for a crossing at Wathar. Koyna Express it was.
It is now time to go through the ‘Backyard of Pune’ (as Apu calls it), and put a check mark against these pilgrimage sites:
1. Rock Cutting at Adarki
2. Daundaj omega curve
3. Tunnels in Shindavane ghat section
4. Viaducts in Shindavane ghat section
5. Spotting the line from Daund
6. Spotting the remains of the MG line in the ghats.
All the above were done.
We crossed Shindavane station and were made to halt for a crossing at Sasvad Road. I used this opportunity to take another refreshing bath in the Shower Room. We then passed through Ghorpadi yard and entered Pune Jn PF1, 30 minutes BT.
With 35 minutes at our disposal, Appa decided to have a short walk out of the station, just to get the look and feel of how the City has changed over decades. It has been almost 40 years since he had visited Pune. In the meantime, Prabhu and I bought Vada Pav and Misal mix for our evening snack. The evening sun was painting his typical tinge on the face of the loco.
It was an RT departure from Pune. We slowly negotiated the points and started our downhill journey towards Mumbai. I was busy munching the snacks and didn’t get to witness the Harris Bridge or the scenic curve along Indrayani River near Kamshet. I was eagerly looking forward to enjoy the tunnels and hence came to the door at Khandala. We took the third line after a brief halt. A travel in late evening ensured that the view of the valley on the Western side was available and with all the lights on, it was glittering. The old and the new highways were glittering like a string of golden beads. The Khopoli town was like a hot oven with melting gold in it. After observing the restrictions at Monkey Hill cabin, we took the third line towards Nagnath Cabin. A few tunnels later, we were asked to close the doors and stay indoors as there have been nuisance observed during mandatory brake testing halts with stray complaints of lost baggage as well. We came back to the cabin and took some good rest. A brisk run ensured we were in Kalyan Jn in no time. I settled for some rotis and subji offered for sale by the pantry guys. The route from Diva triangle to Vasai Road was the last pending ‘untravelled’ section in my list for this trip. I retired for the day after getting to view the mainlines from the girder bridge at Kopar station. Our scheduled arrival time was 0440 the next day, so early to bed and early to rise.
With a full-day railfanning that happened, I slept like a log, only to be awaken by the alarm from the mobile. I tend to fully agree that the tune that a person hates the most will be his alarm tone. We reached BRC PF3 at 0440. After getting to meet Harsh Vardhan and a few railfans, we set off to NAIR by an auto.
No amount of reporting will cover even 25% of the pleasant experience that we had at the convention venue. So, I am skipping that part. Those who have attended have already experienced it, and those who haven’t yet, look forward to UBL2019!
Leg 3: The Opposite End
For a person from Madras, Ahmedabad is always ‘the opposite end’ if you talk about Navjeevan Express. I had initially booked in 22959 Jamnagar Intercity Express from BRC to SBI in FC class as that train, at the time of booking, had its unique First Class Sitting coach. Unfortunately, a circular that was since issued by WR mentioned that one of the two rakes will have its FS coach removed and a normal 2S coach will be attached with a sticker ‘Vice FC coach’. This put off my enthusiasm to travel in the last remaining FS coach. I booked in 2656 Navjeevan Express in SL. Travelling in Navjeevan in his last leg on the other end, still seems to be a bit weird to me. S8 1 LB FF NBE. Coach 13304. Power WAP-7 #30358 RPM. PF8.
It was a gingerly run all along, with technical details available in the trip report posted by Adithya (he joined us from BRC). May be the train knew very well that he is returning home after a long trip of 3700 km. The same feel what we get when we board the taxi home from airport for the last mile.
Trip jottings:
BRC 1630
ANND 1714
ND 1730/1732
MHD 1745
NEP 1748
KANJ 1751
BJD 1753
VTA 1811. Vatva was very different from what I observed in my 2015 (first) trip. It was during peak monsoon – enjoyable drizzle not hampering my doorplate. I sang loudly, “yeh mausam ka jadhoo hai Vatvaa!!”. It was a bit dry and cold, even the diesel locos near the shed seemed to be not having a forthcoming face. After negotiating Vatva, we halted before Mani Nagar station for the LC to be closed. A longish wait, long enough for Adithya and myself to get down, cross the Up line and click some photographs. Anyway, there is no risk here as the LC had to be closed, no Up train will be able to cross that LC, our train will not move until the LC is closed and more importantly, nobody will lock us out by closing the SL class coach doors!
We rolled into Ahmedabad Jn almost RT. One of my colleagues, Sasi came to the station to meet me. We took a BRT Bus and went to a hotel near Ellis bridge. Two more colleagues joined us here for a typical Gujarati thali dinner. Adithya signed off. We then went to the Sabarmati river front to enjoy some views of trains passing through the girder bridge over Sabarmati river. I was lucky to capture an accelerating 5667 GIMB-KYQ Express over the bridge.
After spending an hour there, my colleagues dropped me at the Airport. A boring wait to board the plane and we were back home a few hours later. Took an Uber back home and enjoyed by Sunday, preparing mentally and physically to be back to the routines in office from the week ahead.
Thank you for your patient reading. Comments, feedback are most welcome!
- Aravind (Ara / 'Saidapet South Cabin Controller')
