Train 18 - तेरी प्यारी प्यारी Livery को किसी की नज़र न लगे

30 Billion Passengers 30 Million trips 3000 Locomotives 300 trains 38 years of driving 3 different Traction's
Retirement to Beloved D. Krishnan Sir Loco Pilot Madurai
Dear Friends and Raifans
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Sunday 27/9/2015 Was the Last Working day of a Passionate and an Amazing man Named D.Krishnan LP Mail/Express Madurai , he is very much passionate about Trains and Driving them on time with full safety
Lord Krishnan the Chariot Driver for Arjuna , and there is no wonder D.Krishnan the Loco Pilot for all Indians !!
Brief Introduction to Krishnan sir .. he is loco pilot at madurai , he had driven all traction from MG diesels to BG electrics
If i turn back my pages back to 2011 on july 18th is when we both got introduced to each other , it was a luckiest day in my life nor to any other railfan would be , As most of you knew i love vaigai Express it was on 18th july 2011
i had travelled to Trichy just to capture the WDP 4B action at madurai , by 6.05 the tran entered with a WAP 4 22218 Erode , i was snapping few pics and the in the next line i saw a WDP 4B 40077 GOC which i expected is going to haul Vaigai Express from Trichy
while i was capturing pics my dell streak 7 i heard a strong voice asking what i was doing , as soon a i turned back i saw a tall well Built gey haired man , i really thought he was a RPF who is not in uniform , but then i informed him that iam a Railfan and said that i love vaigai express and shared him few of my pics
and i asked his permssion to take few pics of vaigai express while the diesel engine gets attached , while i was talking to him he was gave a kind look and he was very gently enough and permitted me to take pics , within that conversation the WAP 4 vaigai had come near us and halted , the WAP 4 moved
he asked me where i was working and how did i got into Railfanning i said that iam a born railfan and i still cant remember from which age i started railfanning , then WDP 4B was started to move to ETR and i was enjoying the sound of WDP 4B and like a kid i was informing him that the Loco sound was like an aeroplane sound
for which he smiled and shared me some instances about MG vaigai and the YDM 4 A that were used those days and informed me that Vaigai's Rake were the only rakes to be certified for 110 kmph during MG , and he said he too love vaigai express , he talked to me like a railfan which made me think that even RPF would do railfanning after few minutes
my view towards him changed and once the loco got attached he took his walkie talkie and started talking to Guard stating "Loco Pilot of 2635 vaigai calling guard" those words stunned me and made me fly high in the sky, i asked him sir are the Loco pilot of vaigai , he smiled and said yes and he went inside the loco , without moving my eye contact i was watching what he was doing , after completing the connectivity test formalities he came down and spoke to me and took me inside showed me the loco
what else a rail fan do need more than that in his life when you had got a chance to talk to the hero Loco Pilot of your favorite train , by 6.35 pm the signal went green and D.krishnan sir shared his number and went inside the loco exchanged the signal with guard and started My Favorite train Vaigai , i was left sleepless for more than a week thinking about the incident that hapenned at Trichy
After This we had lot of conversation about railways over phone , and since i lost my mobile i lost my mobile in 2012 i lost his contact and some how i managed to get his number back but due to office pressure and work i was unable to contact him for more than a year thinking that he might have forgot me, i did not contacted him
But i thoughts were false , he is a gnetleman , last march 8th , 8 march 2015 i had been to tuticorin where in saw the WAP 4 at my ansestral home town for the 1st time , on gazing the beauty of the WAP 4 at Thoothukudi , suddenly brought me a surprise the same man appreared in front of me like a GOD and Entered the loco with a smile on his face
i was not able to believe my eyes he was remembering my name and he spoke to me as though we both were talking on a daily basis , he said that he has more 6 moth and on september 27th he is retiring from service and asked me to join without fail and he will invite me for sure , i informed him that i would surely join him

In the meanwhile surprisingly i met him on august 21st when i travelled in 12636 vaigai express from Madurai to chennai , it was the day when i saw him for the 1st time in WAP 7 with his permission i captured a picture of him from WAP 7 and he informed me that he is going to work TPJ-TEN intercity express on 27th and he is going to finish his service
from railways, he said he will be driving the train from Dindigul Jn to Madurai Jn
I Had ordered for a picture cake with all locomotives that he had driven , to tell about D.Krishnan sir , he is an all traction man he had driven MG steam , MG Diesel , MG Hydraulic(YDM 2), BG ALCO , BG EMD , BG AC Conventional(WAP 4, WAM 4 WAP 1 varients) , BG Ac 3phase(WAP 7) , so i had made a picture collage and ordered a photo cake with the same
I Reached Madurai on 26th night and stayed in the nearby hotel i planned to travel in vaigai express till Dindigul and catch up with Krishnan sir's last working train but i asked my friend Gokul who was to join me for the function to join Krishnan sir at his retiring train and i had conveyed the message to krishnan sir that morning what gokul will be meeting him
By 9am i reached madurai station where the cake vendor was waiting for my arrival at Platform 2 , i reached the station platform 2 where i saw the band troop getting ready for the train arrival !! and Krishnan sir's family and his colleagues were waiting aside for the train arrival , Mean while my friend Ashok had arrived and we both made arrangements for the cake cut
we arranged the Boxes which were available in the platform and we opened arranged the cake on seeing our activity , Mrs Krishnan came near us and enquired about our plan we opened the cake and she was amazed to see her hero's picture placed in the cake , on seeing the cake she asked me "are you Arun Pandian" i replied yes and she thanked me for the wonderful cake and she said that Krishnan had told her about me and my love towards rails
Sharp By 9.45 AM the announcements came up follwing the announcement the retirement of Krishnan sir was announced in the Station premisis , in the North end of the platform appeared the decorated loco 30333 RPM WAP 7 hauled 22627 intercity express which was driven by Krishnan sir with his regular assistant Sakthivel Brother and few of his colleagues , the band troop started to play the Band , and the loco came for a halt near the crowd
i rushed near the loco and shook hands with him and adorned him with a shawl and a sandal garland , he stepped down from the loco and all his friends and colleagues adorned him with shawl as a mark of respect , after that i showed him the cake , he was so happy on seeing the cake with pictures of all traction that he had driven , he hugged me and thanked me so much for making that moment very special
with all his family member before the train could depart to Tirunelveli he cut the cake , after which he Got down to tracks and he touched and worshipped his beloved machine for the last time and where we clicked few pictures , we marched along the station along with the band troop till Madurai Crew Booking where official last sign off happened
He Signed off for the last time and cried off , he handed over all the railway belongings to the office , official meeting took place at the Crew Booking office , i was given a chance to speak few words by Karuppaiah sir who is another loco pilot friend at madurai
i was so emotional that i was'nt able to talk much , so i handed over the glass crystal that had his picture and a porcelain picture mug to him and thanked him on behalf of the millions of passengers he had carried all these years
Once after this the whole crowd moved towards the Railway institute where we had lunch and took some snaps with him , at that time he said that he has become a railfan like us now and he would support railfanning always , What more a railfan require apart from the encouraging words from his Beloved Loco Pilot
In that night i was waiting for ananthapuri(16724) express at Platform 1 since in reached early i was roaming in the platform 1 where i saw D.Krishnan sir's Line Box lying in the north end near the signal , it signed as though the Box is waiting for its Boss to picup for the next drive
With all Good Memories of D.krishnan sir i started my journey toward chennai
Right From my deep Heart i wish him a Happy and peaceful Retired Life and May God bless him with Good health
Thanks,
Regards
Arun Pandian.M