my new room the night before but was still left with loads of things which I required for that morning (like pillow,toothpaste,toothbrush & many other stuffs). Hurring through, I put them in 2 big trolley bags & handed it over to my friend. Hastily, I left my hostel for the last time to catch an auto & subsequently a bus which took me all the way to New Delhi Railway Station.
After logging in to my trip diary (just after boarding the bus), to my bewilderment I found out that Patna Rajdhani would depart with a delay of 1:30hrs at 18:45 that day. My friend was saying to me earlier that I shouldn't hurry as my train would depart late (he doesn't have a clue of Patna bound trains; he was thinking that I was going by any ordinary train) but I confidently replied that it wasn't a normal Express/SF, it was Rajdhani & hence there's no question of it departing late(unless its winter season). The cause of delay was an engine which caught fire near Buxar, the day before. As a result, 12309 was delayed by more than 5 hours between Patna & Mughalsarai & therefore it arrived at New Delhi after 2pm. Well after finding it out, I called my friend & told him about it, to which he replied- "Dekhe, maine tumse kaha tha na ki tumhaari train late se chalegi."
I was wondering what would I do at the station for such a long time to which IRI member Maniaco suggested- "Koi nahin, Thoda rail fanning kar lijiyega :D". And here I present you with those railfanning snaps which I captured with my One Plus One.
Pic 1- 30254 Ghaziabad WAP-7 at Platform No. 14
Pics 2, 3 & 4- Random Snaps
Pic 5- 20095 Bhagat Ki Kothi WDP-4
Pic 6- Another Random Snap
Pic 7- 22546 CNB WAP-4
Pic 8- 20103 TKD WDP-4B
Pics 9 & 10- 12306 NDLS-HWH Rajdhani departing from PF 15
Pics 11 & 12- 12560 Shivganga Express with ICF Rake waiting for departure (behind NDLS Station Board)
Pics 13, 14 & 15- 12561 Darbhanga- New Delhi Swatantrata Senani Express arriving with 22791 CNB WAP-4 in tow
Pics 16 & 17- Idle rake of 12441-12442 Bilaspur Rajdhani
Pics 18 & 19- 12310 arriving at PF 14 with GZB WAP-7 30383 in lead
Pic 20-
#TB of Patna Rajdhani
Pic 21- Reservation Chart of my coach A4
Pics 22, 23, 24 & 25- My Seat
Pics 26, 27, 28, 29 & 30- My Coach A4
Pics 31, 32 & 33- 12310 waiting for depature
Pic 34- Crossing Yamuna River
It didn't started off well. It was scheduled to depart at 18:45 but the train arrived on the platform after 18:50 & departed at 19:15 with a delay of 2 hours. It Took 2 hours to cross Khurja & in 3 hours, it only covered 160-165kms. It was Going slow like an ordinary SF and started-stopped many a times. Also, I agreed to share my berth (and the leg space, for them to sleep in the night) with 2 passengers (about whom the attendant told me that they were children but both turned out to be females- one of my age while the other one was few years older). They both had wait-listed tickets.
So Back to the train, We finally overtook Shivganga (which departed before us & was allowed to run ahead) at Jalesar Road & This proved to be the confidence booster. From there on, Patna Rajdhani got back its lost confidence & momentum and started thrashing & burning tracks. As a result, it covered up a considerable amount of delay & we finally reached Patna at 08:15 am.
It was all very good until I Boarded 13332 Patna-Dhanbad Intercity which was jam packed (due to no other trains for Kiul in the next few hours; VS was very late). I somehow managed to sit on a SU berth but still faced a lot of problems (was cramped for space). I somehow got down at Kiul only to find out that Gaya-Jamalpur passenger had just departed few minutes ago. Next train, Kiul-Jamalpur Passenger which was scheduled to depart at around 01:15 pm, arrived late & hence departed at around 01:55 pm.
I Finally reached Jamalpur at 3:49pm. I was Fully exhausted (after travelling in Patna-Dhanbad Intercity Express & Kiul -Jamalpur Passenger especially after waiting for the train at KIUL for such a long time) & was feeling quite tired & weak & many a times felt quite dizzy as like I would just fall down.
This journey turned out to be quite a memorable one for me mainly because it was kind of a degrading one- From Rajdhani to Express to Passenger; From hero to zero ;).
