2013 - Best Moments

                A look back at my rail trips in 2013. Entered the new year as a Punewala for the first time, maiden trip was obviously to my hometown Bangalore. From there, went to my second home Makali to catch trains. A surprise was waiting in the form of EMD triplets for Udyan. The loco of Udyan had some issues and the WDG4 twins were called 

up. The video shows how easily the twins are tackling the ghats. Also spotted GTL Jumbo. After the trip while returning back to Bangalore, spotted VSKP WDG3A twins on full power. After a month, it was time for Mumbai. Had a lovely rf session with the Mumbai railfans. Special catch being the doube decker with WAP5, the humble loco pilots acknowledged my presence by blinking and honking. Umroli provided a lot of variety with   Alco's, ACDC electric and 

AC electrics.Next up was the famous Shindawane ghats, no words for this place. This video will prove why i say so.  

Bangalore called me again to present me back to back EMD triplets action and a rare visitor from SER. It was definitely a day to remember. Well how will i miss a chance to visit my second home if i am at Banaglore, Makali ghats again and this time it was the Indore Pooja special. Pune return saw me experience scissors crossing for the first time. After getting back to Pune, it was time for me enter the high speed diesel section of CR. Manjari Budruk on 

the Pune daund line, a station with a rural touch. Then i got the chance to meet the God Father of WDG4's twice in span of 2 weeks. Karnataka Express, this word is enough to bring smile on many faces. traveled by this train to Bangalore for the first time. ET twins was the power. It was time now for me to meet some special fellows. First up was Ms. Krishnaveni and followed by the Macho Yellow WDG4. The return to Pune this time was special as i would 

take the Bangalore - Goa - Mumbai - Pune route, traveled mainly to capture kutty dippy ( WDP3a ) overtaking the food-king of Indian Railways. Have you ever seen a train celebrate its birthday, It happens on June 1st every year. 

Its the India's first Electric hauled train Deccan Queen's birthday. The monsoon started showing its true strength which made me to visit Khandala, these places have to experienced to get the feeling i got. Special gift for me at    

Khandala was 6 WAG7's banking a freight train.  It was then time for the visit to Heaven on earth, Dudhsagar. Every  

train captured here is special, had my first  caboose ride on this trip. Then it was the SWR KR high speed zone, Suravalli. Special gift here was the unstoppable horn of WDG4. SWR Udyan meets CR Udyan, was lucky enough to ride the last run of Udyan express as a SWR train. August was a very special month as i experienced the best parallel action one could get and a ride behind the Little Kings YDM4. A video cost me 5000 on the MG trip as my  

camera got damaged in rain. This month also marked my second visit to heaven. Then it was time for the beautiful western ghats, a bike trip to Mangaon on the konkan coast just to capture trains resulted in passing one of the most beautiful places on earth. Waterfalls everywhere while going down the ghats. After some break, it was time  for 

Bangalore again. Golgumbaz showed me Golgumbaz and the Almati dam. Was very much excited to enter the Liquor banned state, Bhilad was the location. Wap5 dropped me here, my first run behind this beauty. This place gave me  

some 120 kph action, which is difficult to be see down south. I was also lucky enough to see India's first stainless steel pure AC EMU. I became a bird for few hours at Dehu road. Then it was time to travel again on the Food king of Indian Railways. Had variety of dishes, special spotting was ED WDG4. Vivek Express, not the longets train of India but a train with the same name running between Ohka and Tuticorin. This train gave me few surprises as it took a different route from Guntakal to Kalluru which resulted in me spotting Godfather again. Now was the time for me to enter my home state, Tamil nadu.  Lalgudi near Tiruchy was the location. I decided to end this year with Shindawane again which resulted in me getting my first ride behind WDP4D. A 25 minute video to summarize 2013 for me....

If you have come till here then thank you very much. I know that i am not so good at writing, hence sharing my experience as picture and videos. 

Man Made Snakes

                          Trains appear like snakes when seen from a hill / mountain most of the time. Here is one such example. Train is 12630 Karnataka Sampark kranti Express. Location is Shindawane ghats, its 30 km from Pune on the Pune Miraj line. 

First picture shows the train with KJM WDP4 #20024 ( the loco is under Hubli now) snaking through.

Click here to see the video of the same..

Second picture shows the train led by KJM WDP4 #20045 passing the longest viaduct on this ghat section.

Click here to see the video of the same... 

Video of the same location taken from the same 12630 train.                                                                       

          12630 Karnataka Sampark kranti Express runs between Delhi and Bangalore twice a week. It leaves Nizammudin at 08:50 hr on every Wednesdays & Fridays and arrives Yesvantpur at 06:20 hr on every Fridays & Sundays. The train takes 45 hours 30 minutes to cover 2615 km at an average speed of 57 kph. This is one of the best trains to travel between Pune and Bangalore as it runs through beautiful landscapes of Western ghats.                                    

Black Beauty - First ride behind a Steam Locomotive...

          2002, a year which is very special to India. It was exactly 150 years ago that the first official train from Bombay to Thane ran. It was the month of August when many inter school competitions takes place. I choose to give it a try at drawing which was to be held on 23rd August 2002 at Tata institute, little did i know that i will not participate in that event. Reason being my dream, a run behind a steam locomotive. On that day i came home after giving my name for the competition, i was wondering what topic will i be getting. My Appa* returned home in the mean time and gave me a surprise by saying that Black Beauty will run through Bangalore just like how it ran in Mumbai some time back. I was like wow.... Then i asked him about the date of the run, the answer made me feel like a coin tossed up in the air not knowing on which side i would fall. After getting suggestions from my parents and friends who obviously wanted me to go for the competition, the naughty railfan in me went against all their wishes. My Appa agreed to me as he knew that trains were always my first priority.

           22nd August 2002, A day before the special run. My Appa came early that evening and took me to Bangalore city station to have a look at the WP. After reaching the station, we went to see the WP which was undergoing some decorations. I was shocked at seeing the height of the wheels, they were taller than me. We moved after seeing the loco around only to see her moving tomorrow by herself through Bangalore.

Malleswaram - Yelahanka : The maiden run

           The Magic day arrived, my Appa left early in the morning promising me that he would return by 9:30 hrs to take me for the special ride. I was ready by 9 after finishing all my morning rituals, evry minute after that turned out to be a tense moment. Time was 9:40 and no signs of my Appa, i was like a coin lost in thin air. At 9:45 hrs, my Appa finally came and asked to get moving as it was already late. We reached Malleswaram at 10:00 hrs. The train was supposed to start by 10hrs  from Bangalore city. We went to ticket counter to buy tickets but was surprised to find that tickets will not be issued and the ride is free. We made our way to the center of Platform 2 after getting to know that the train would be arriving there. It was 10:20 and still there we no signs of train, finally i was able to hear the sounds chiku bhku and the whistle as the steam loco curved into Malleswaram. The loco and coaches were neatly painted and there was music on the trains too. We squeezed into the available space, started moving out of Malleswarm, we soon came to halt at Yesvantpur home signal. Here i saw few people taking pictures of the beauty and i was like ' wish i could do that too '. We finally started moving towards Yesvantpur, i was surprised to see that we were taken on the newly build platform 6. We departed after sometime from Yesvantpur, The then minister ( railway minister of state affairs ?) AK Moorthy came and distributed cholocates to everyone and shook hands with everyone. I was like such a big guy shaking hands with everyone. We made few stops in between Yesvantpur and Yelahanka. At Yelahanka, i got the chance of a life time, got into a live steam locomotive. I just remeber seeing the buring coal and shaking hand with the sweating locopilots. ( Hats off to all the loco pilots who worked on these beauties ) Then we saw a diesel loco getting itself atached to the rear of our train. we got to know that it would be taking us till Krishnarajapuram from where the hissing beauty would continue its heritajge journey to Bangalore city. We got into a different coach to try our luck at getting a window seat, but it was not to be. I was so mad that i started crying, an elderly person on seeing me cry asked his sons to give me some space next to the window. Finally watching a steam loco from the window will be achivied.


Yelahanka - Krishnarajapuram : The Mad diesel run

           As we departed from yelahanka, a lady started distributing sweet boxes,it had variety of sweets, being a lover of coconut barfi ( cake ) i went for it. The Diesel loco was showing its might to the WP. The connecting rodes and wheels of WP were moving at very high speed, i got scared that the loco might come apart. We stopped at Chanasandra for few minutes and moved towards Krishnarapuram. Here my Appa asked me to move from that place, but my selfish mind did not agree as i feared that i would loose this golden window seat which is on the action side towards Bangalore.


Krishnarajapuram - Bangalore : The Last run

          After we departed from Krishnarajapuram, i got to know one more thing about steam locos which i was not knowing early. The burnt coal particles are thrown in the air and there are chances that it might land up on our eyes which did happen in my case.The irritation made me difficult to see for some time ( The saying that you should listen to elders came to my mind). Soon Baiyapanahhali and Bangalore East was passed after stopping. My eyes strated getting back to normal by now. We reached Bangalore cantt. After few minutes, the whistle signifiedthe last part of my steam journey. Finally arrived Bangalore. I dont remember much about this part as my mind was more concerned about my eye. 

Pictures from this run can be seen here : http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Steam/heritageruns/WP-Bangalore/

All the pictures taken by IRFCA members..
Hope you all liked it. Forgive me for the mistakes in my English.. :)

Steam Locomotive fans, have a look at this site as well - http://indiansteamrailwaysociety.in/current-steam/steam-locomotives-at-rewari-shed/

*Appa ( South Indian langauge ) means Father .

A New Beginning

            

            The Race which changed the way i looked at trains. This happened in the year 2002 when i was supposed to go to Chennai along with my family via the temple towns of Tiruvanamalai and Melmaruvathur from Bangalore. We reached Melmaravatur station after visting the famous temple of AdiParasakthi. My Dad took the tickets for Perungulattur ( A station before Tambaram towards Chennai Egmore ). A MG train led by YAM1 was approaching, got excited thinking that we will board this train but to my bad luck dad said no, reason being that this trian does not stop at Perungulattur. The train halted for a minute and left. We then moved to the BG platform where our train was supposed to arrive. After few minutes, our train Villupuram - Tambram Passenger arrived behind GOC WDM2 ( was able to recollect the shed only because of GOC's beautiful Green livery. Not sure about the train's originating station. The below picture shows the livery of Golden Rock Shed, Ponmalai ). 

 We boarded this train, the train was quiet empty and i occupied the window seat on the action side. Around 20 minutes after we departed from the station saw the MG train again, it was crawling. As we neared it YAM1 accelerated away from us. We overtook it after some time as it had stopped for line clearance. The YAM1 train overtook us again as we had stopped at some station. The cat and mouse game continued till Chengalpattu Junction. We stopped here for a while, i dont remebemer what happened to YAM1 hauled train after that. After departing from Chengalpattu Junction, we crossed and overtook lot of MG EMU's. As we were nearing our destination, WDM2 gave us a surprise by skipping Perungalathur ( Got confirmation later that this train does not have a halt there). Finally we got down at Tambram and boarded a MG EMU back to Perungalathur. 

This was the last day i saw a YAM1 in action, i was really shocked to see this cute loco accelerate like that. That day changed the way i looked at trains, my interest in locomotive rocketed sky high and made me closer to the railways.