Slow and Steady run to Udaipur - 1

Pictures from my journey to Udaipur onboard Ahmedabad - Udaipur Express. A breif history about this train will be shared soon. Until then have a look at the pictures.

                                                After i wake, i get this view of beautiful sunrise near Semari

                                                              Once a block station looks so life less now

                                                  Spotted only railway men and this dog at Jaisamand road

                                                                 The Main line at Jaisamand road

                                           Routine work of people start as were move closer to Udaipur

                                         Some broad gauge work going on, it was visible through out the route

                                      A lady waits for the train to clear her way to get water for her daily needs

                                                                                The Aravalli Range

                                                                        Outer signal of Zawar

                                                      Arriving at Zawar, there will be a long break here

                                                        A train would have made this picture look better i feel

                   Our power takes a well deserved break after the continuous journey through out the night

  
Video can be seen here 

Part 2 will be shared soon, hope you all enjoyed it till now

Cat and Mouse Game between MG & BG

Last year i got to witness an amazing chase between YDM4 and WDG4 and i hoped for the same this year. Read on to know what happened.

June 2015

       After enjoying a wonderful time on the unique Metre gauge DEMU between Mehasana and Taranga Hill. It was decided to take back the BG DEMU between Meshasana and Ahmedabad in hope of a parallel action with the Mehasana – Ahmedabad MG Passenger but fate had other ideas.

 

   The MG DEMU after arriving at Mehasana 

The MG Mehasana - Ahmedabad Passenger with which i hoped for a parallel action

Departing from Mehasana 30 minutes late, onboard Patan - Ahmedabad DEMU

Dark clouds indicating rain soon

 It started to rain and it continued for some time

We crossed Ahemedabad - Mehasana Passenger in between and there was no signs of the MG passenger which we were suppose to chase. Looked like the delay in departure meant that the MG train went out of reach. As we were approaching Kalol, Ranuj - Ahmedabad passenger was seeing waiting for clearance. The reason being Mehasana - Ahmedabad MG passenger which was just departing from Kalol as we entered in. I hoped atleast now that train can be chased but we were put up in loop to make way for the Patan bound DEMU. In the mean time Ranuj passenger also entered Kalol. We departed soon after that leaving behind the Ranuj Passenger.

In the drizzling rain, Ranuj - Ahmedabad passenger waits for clearance into Kalol

Ranuj - Ahmedabad Passenger arrives at Kalol

 The Patan bound demu arrives from other side

One more shot !!

Khodiyar home cleared for Ranuj passenger

SBI WDG4D with CONCOR waits at Khodiyar

We departed Khodiyar as the MG Passenger arrived. We got a clear run to Sabarmati where things took a turn. Haridwar Mail which departed before us at Mehasana was still waiting for clearance. It was given clearance first to Ahmedabad and in the meantime the MG passenger arrived. I expected DEMU to sent next but the MG passenger was given clearance. We jumped into Ranuj - Ahmedabad passenger and it looked like the end of my dream to catch BG-MG parallel action again.

                                                 We were held up at Sabarmati Junction for some time

                                                              Haridwar Mail got the clearance first

                                                      The train made to look tiny infront of a factory

                                              Ranuj - Ahmedabad Passenger arrives in the mean time

                                                           BG-MG diamond will be replaced soon

                                                   JHS WDM3D and a WDP4D with a mixed rake

                                                 TKD WAG9 gave the parallel action which i was waiting for

                                                               Vatva WDS6 shunts a rake at Ahmedabad

                                                                          MG side of Ahmedabad

Watch the entire action in the video below

                                                 

Hope you all enjoyed the cat and mouse game.

Narrow Gauge Adventure

                A loud whistle, the moment I am waiting for. She approaches to my view point, I can see the smoke go up the sky and chugging gets louder. I switch on the video record button and watch her come close to me. A dream of seeing a live YP fulfilled, I watch the train till it’s out of site. To relive the moment I turn back to my camera. The camera is switched off, I just switched on the review button praying that the video is recorded. This feeling was similar to what one gets when checking the exam results online. The video starts playing, she comes again round the curve and the video stops. It was one of the most painful feelings that I have had and I wake up to complete darkness. Ohhh… That was one hell of a dream. I check my mobile and time says its 3:45 hrs. It’s just 15 minutes from the place where I along with 2 more friends have to get down. A look down from my berth gave me a surprise. I can see people sleeping in awkward positions. This is the first time I am traveling in a coach like this. The top section is a sleeper class and the bottom section is a reserved sitting class. Somehow managing to reach the door without disturbing my co passengers, I open the door. All I could see was the moving lights along with me. I then wake up my friends so that they can get ready. We approach a station and the board reads Surkimangela, a quick check on the internet indicates that we are still 27km from the stop where we were supposed to get down which means there is still 1 hour left. So we decide to get back up to our berths. I started thinking how come a YP entered my dreams and the answer was found within 10 minutes. Earlier in the day, we had seen a steam tender lying next to the tracks which made us wonder how it would have been if it had been alive now. I sleep off again to be woken up by the rumbling sounds. We are crossing a bridge, I am able to see only girders and nothing else and I release that we are crossing Narmada River which indicates that we are within touching distance of our stop. The train comes to a halt and I along with my friends get down, the surrounding are completely dark and we don’t see a single person apart from us on the ground. 

The Dark Station

A haunted location feeling, a whistle goes off, the loco honks and the train moves. As each coaches passes I get more curious to know the how the other side looks. The last coach passes and we see a small building with a well-lit ground level platform. The train takes a left turn and finally vanishes out of sight. The building has a small ticket window and a place to sit, we decide to make this the base till daylight. While my friends decide to take a quick nap, I decide to explore the surrounding. I along with my camera start exploring the place. It’s very quiet and not a single soul to be seen, it’s really difficult to see locations like these inside the cities. It was pitch dark on one side and with 2 tiny lights on the other side. I passed the next one hour in enjoying the pure silence of the surroundings. Not often do you get to experience these kinds of moments. The birds start chirping, the day light starts and I can see few locals moving with a bottle in their hand. In the meantime my friends wake up and we get ready to catch the King of the line – Satpura Express. With everything set we wait to see the train curve in but Mother Nature had other ideas and she blocked the complete view with fog. It was thick fog with visibility of around 100m. We started to hear the hard working loco and soon the headlights were piercing through the thick fog. The train vanished quickly out of site. With fog slowing clearing we decide to head to the bridge. Walking on tracks was bit difficult due to moisture content and with some trouble we approached the bridge and we were able to see 2 bridges in front of us. New Bridge on the left for broad gauge and the narrow gauge bridge to the right. 

The Bridge Experience

We soon jump onto the broad gauge bridge to find a suitable spot for the next train which would arrive in some time. The dogs and monkeys started following us, looked like they were worried on seeing new people on their bridge. In the meantime the fog came back to haunt us again, the clear view of the bridge was lost. The train came at 10 kph and disappeared into the fog. The Fog started to clear again indicating a mixed start to the day. The boats started to come out, birds made their way out and finally a lot of moments on the broad gauge bridge. The local people are using this bridge as their way across the river. Not sure how long they can do this with the broad gauge line set to come up soon. We all started to feel insecure on seeing a lot of cars at the end of the bridge and tractors coming with loaded sand. We were also losing against our body as the hectic travel took its toll on us. We finally made our way back to the station and on our way back we were greeted by the Jabalpur passenger. The 2km walk back appeared too long now and finally after some time we reach back to the base.

The Final Adventure

    We met few railway men who were getting ready to start their work. They informed us that tickets will be issued few minutes before the train arrives. Time was around 8:30 and people started coming in. The tickets too arrived and every one bought their tickets. Railways generally provide the tickets to passenger via a private agency / localite. The next 30 minutes were spent in checking the pictures and videos taken during the day. It was almost 9 when the sounds of train were heard, everyone got ready and so did we expecting a normal crowd. We wanted to enjoy the journey near the door but a chance of getting into the train appeared too weak as the train curved to the station. Wait a minute, i have not yet revealed the station name and I should atleast do it now. It’s Jamtara Paraswara, Madhya Pradesh. The train was a like a moving village with all the space inside occupied, only space available was on the roof top. We decided to climb on top but we were not able to find a way up and with just seconds remaining we squeeze in somehow. The train starts and it was like I was stuck in forever. With each station passing it was like a rebirth, after some time with some luck we got a seat which was very unique. We were covered by all the sides and no one to disturb. 90% of the crowd got down at Howbagh Jabalpur. It was quite surprising to see so many people using the trains here and wondering what is happening to them with no trains around due to gauge conversion. After 10 minutes we move towards the final destination, Jabalpur. This is one of kind experience which I can never get back. Happy that I was able to do this before the line closed. 

Jabalpur – Nainpur has been closed for gauge conversion now. The trains running on this section has been terminated from Nainpur. Hope you all liked it. A slideshow of this adventure can be seen here

A Short and Sweet Journey through the Gir Forest

           A chilling breeze through the tinny gaps of the closed window wakes me up, a look at the watch indicates the right time i am supposed to wake. We enter into a place unknown to 3 ( Rohit, Nikhil and me ) of us just 2 weeks back. A look around indicates no sign of what we came for. A quick chat helps us to identify the sole purpose of this visit, the Metre gauge ( MG ). By the way the time was 4:45 am, we decided to head to waiting hall as we came through a reservation but it soon changed after visiting one, crowded and dirty restrooms. With still had around 2 hours left for our metre gauge journey it was then decided that we explore the MG side of ( well here you go, the station name ) Junagadh. 

On inspection we found 2 trains on the MG side with locos to both of them. It was quite dark and soon we returned back to the Broad gauge ( BG ) side after a small shoot.  The next 1 hour was spent chatting. Time was 6 and we headed straight out to explore the place, first surprise was seeing old bikes converted into a local transportation vehicles. Sadar Patel Darwaja was right in front of the station and it looked like an entrance to some place. We just had a close look the structure and returned back to the station to select our seats. 

 

 

The morning rays were getting powerful and activities started one by one. A guy feeding the pigeons, sweeper sweeping the station, hot chai’s and a whole lot of activities. We then decided to board the train to cement our authority on the seats for the next 4 hours. SBI YDM4 #6301 was our power and the coach was a 91 made one. It was almost time for departure and the crowd started building up. A small honk indicated an arrival of a train, it was a train on the BG side.

We depart exactly at 7:15 am, the trains slows crawls out of the narrow path ahead. The houses and roads are so nearby indicating a lot of difficulties for the railways when then plan to convert this section. We go along the Girnar hill for some distance. Seeing our camera at work, localities get friendlier and it results in us getting some information and the request for clicking their pictures. This is a special moment that one generally gets while traveling in a train through rural section of India. There are few stops which do not feature in the time table and in the process we miss identifying the first official stop. 

 

The landscape looked beautiful till we reached Bilkha. A lone coach was found here mostly abandoned for ever. The landscape started becoming dry after Bilkha and we soon arrived at a Junction by the name Visavadar. It was almost 10 minutes after we stopped and there was no sign of us moving, it in turn indicated a crossing which was not there in our records. On having a chat with the LP conformed a train arrival but from the direction we least expected. We also got to know that the trains on these routes are planned in  such a way that they act as connecting trains for the locals. I then decide to roam the station and a surprise, remains of a turntable. As i inspect the turntable the other train to Junagadh arrives silently from Khijadya. The loco undergoes reversal here for taking the train to Junagadh. In the meantime, our path gets cleared and we start off inching closer to the Gir forest. Our next major halt was Satadhar where a decent crowd boarded in. I sensed a burning smell as soon as a beautiful girl sat next to me, obviously the smell was due to my friends sitting opposite to me ( Hope you all got that :D )

It was a beautiful run after that with the density of trees increasing indicting the entry to us into Gir forest. Our eyes were curiously waiting to see lions as this area are famous for. We were not lucky enough to spot lions but we did see trails left by them, a deer, few peacocks / peahens and lot of monkeys.

We then arrived at Sasan gir, the station inside the forest. The station is known to have Lions as visitors and the railway staffs working here have to hide whenever a group of lions come around. We depart after a quick halt and move out of the thick forest area. Arrived at Chitravad, a quiet little halt station where people were selling a fruit ( not sure ) by name jamun ( can someone identify it ). The last departure for us on this train and soon Talala is reached where we get down..

 

 

Video

To be continued!!

Comments and Suggestion Welcomed