It’s a complete silence in
my mind and suddenly I hear “which station are we in “. I wake up out of my sleep
to have a look through the window, for a second I fail to realize the station.
It is Izzatnagar (will be referred to INZ from now on) where 3 railnuts ( Bose,
Nikhil and I ) from Bangalore have to get down. A look at the time indicates
that we are 15 minutes before time and all the lights of our coach have been
switched off. After 5 minutes we get down from the
first class coach of Nainital Express to a chilly welcome on the platform.
After submitting the copy of our permit, we get ready to shoot. Local people
start warming themselves with fire as the day light starts.
The IZN YDM4 #6571 which powered
our Nanital Expess from Aishbagh from the previous night turned around to shunt
out the First Class and 2nd AC coach from the consist ( There is
rake share between Nainital Express and morning Izzatnagar – Aishbagh Express )
In the mean time we head to the platform end of Pilibhit side to capture the
locos.
Platform 1 of Aishbagh and a loop
has been taken off to make way for the entrance of the station, however a small
portion of these tracks is used to stable locos and coaches as of now. The
first Class and 2nd AC were parked here. It will be coupled again in
the night for Nainital Express. It almost time for the departure of the morning
express and I get ready to record the departure and suddenly a honk is heard from the
broad gauge (will be referred to BG from now on ) side of the station. A
passenger arrives led by Sakurbasti WDM2 and we hope for a parallel departure.
Guess what the gates closed and the signal cleared for both the trains.
The WDM2 honks first but takes
time to depart, in the meantime cheeky YDM4 departs and inches towards the
WDM2. A race is on the cards, WDM2 starts as well. Suddenly as YDM4 passes me
it stops indicating that the little fellow is ready to wait for the last minute
passenger where as his bigger brother hardly cares. The YDM4 notches again and
the poor fellow is stopped now by a chain pull. The Loco honks 3 times to
confirm this and the BG train is already out of site. After the Metre Gauge
(will be referred to MG from now on) train
disappears we get back to the MG side to capture the special coaches and locos.
Early morning Sun bath for this fellow
As we were clicking these rolling
stock, a Shunter Loco pilot and Kalasi come running towards the twin locos. The
Loco pilot says in a loud voice to the Kalasi
“ hurry up it’s almost time “ as
the Kalasi uncouples a loco from its twin. After this, the YDM4 #6625 waits for
the clearance. The gates close and #6625 moves out, one more honk is heard
indicating the arrival of Gokul Express with YDM4 #6753. YDM4 #6625 will
be coupled to this train which will then depart out as Ruhelkund Express. This
happened very quickly and we decide to go to the other end to have a look
before heading towards Bareilly where we had booked a retiring room.
Like the guy taking the girl to safety, YDM4 safety bring in the Gokul Express to Izzatnagar
YDM4 #6686 sleeping along with the coaches of Izzatnagar Pilibhit Passenger.
A Myna starts its day singing on top of a MG coach
The Other YDM4's seeing on the Bareilly side of the station
Up-till last year, YDM4's used to go beyond this curve
Time was around 10:30am when we
decided to head back to IZN for the next session of the day. We finished our
breakfast cum lunch by 11:20 and boarded a share auto. A good lesson was learnt
after that ride that one should never trust a share auto in the last few
minutes of the plan. The Auto stopped at mostly places trying to get in more passengers.
We were finally dropped off at the station at 12 which is the exact departure
time of train which we were supposed to take. A run to the counter to get
tickets, first we wrongly pronounce the station name and the lady clerk bursts into
laughter. We finally get it right and pay Rs.30 for the ticket, the loco honks
and train ( 52215 Izzatnagar Pilibhit Passenger) starts moving. With total confusion we run to
the train and board it on the move, a check on the pocket indicates that the
tickets are missing and we get to know that all the 3 of us missed collecting
the ticket from the counter thinking that other person has taken it. A blaring
horn from the other end and a WDG4 along with a WDP4D ( both from IZN shed )
enters IZN with some passenger and a look towards the station brings one more
shock, a WDM2 jumbo. The signals were cleared for the passenger hauled by Jumbo as soon as the BG passenger with EMD twins entered the loop. Next stop for our train was Bhojipura Junction and it was decided that
incase we fail to get tickets there we shall drop the plan of visiting Sethal.
As luck would have it Nikhil runs off and gets the ticket quickly and we watch
the Jumbo departing with 53347 Bareilly City – Lal Kaun Passenger.
SSB Jumbo departing with 53347 Bareilly City – Lal Kaun Passenger
The signal clears for our MG
train after the Broad gauge passenger crosses our MG tracks and we move towards
the train to get in. The train was crowded and we squeezed near the door and we
were traveling in general class this time. Everyone started looking strangely at
us as we were conversing in a very strange language that they may not have
heard before. We then take a stop at a halt station, Dibnapur before reaching
our destination Sethal.
Passenger after dropping us off at Sethal departs , A unqiue signalling is seen here, starter proceed for a loop
A look around indicates a clam
atmosphere and Broad gauge up gradation. Broad gauge sleepers and work for the
new platform & bridges have been started. We soon headed out of the station
towards IZN side to capture the departure of 52216 Pilibhit – Izzatnagar passeneger.
The Level crossing closed and YDM4 #6520 cautiously made its way out of the
loop before roaring out of sight. We then returned back to the station
as we had over an hour to go for the next train. In the mean time I decided to
explore the surrounding and some pictures of that can be seen below
The Station building at Sethal
More birds Local people were jumping over coupling to move across
This bird came running straight towards me before realizing that i was not the thing he was looking for
Time was 15:30 and it was the
main action of the day which I was waiting for, 15310 Ruhelkhund Express which will skip the
station with a token exchange. We had a decent view point and token exchange
happened without any problems. Generally token exchange happens through hands
like this one where as in this case the token is fixed onto a rod and the token
is collected using a metal arm present near the window of the Assistant Loco
pilot.
Token Exchanged !!
Now one more break of 40 minutes and I get back to exploring the location again
It was 16:30 and almost time for the
last action for the day at Sethal for us. The Sun sets here pretty quickly being
in the eastern region of India. The train was 52203 Izzatnagar – Tanakpur passenger.
The train finally showed up
around 16:50 with IZN YDM4 #6753 in the lead, and the setting was just perfect
with the sun in the background. With train lost out of sight and almost fading
light, we decide to move out of Sethal by road.
The Sun is going down very quickly on the Metre gauge of Indian Railways
Teaser video from the trip can be seen below
To be Continued....
Comments and Suggestions are always welcomed..
