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DOWN MEMORY LANE.....
ACT 1 ( A very vagure recollection of a journey taken long back )
Timeline :- Summer Vacations of 2002, probably late of may!
Place of Action :- DHANBAD JUNCTION (DHN)
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otherwise normal morning at Dhanbad station. A chirpy ten year old boy made his way across his way, along platform 4/5 to catch the first run of the Swarnarekha Express! The newly introduced train was the first train between Dhanbad and Tata. It was after quite a time, that we were visiting my paternal uncle in Jamshedpur. Naturally I was very exicted to visit his place, even more so because of my cousins whom I hadn't seen in over a year. We hadn't talked or seen each other as mobile phones were a rarity back in those days, infact virtually non-existent, even landlines were rare. Letters were big then, and infact were the only means of communicating for almost everyone! Naturally my exictment reached stratospheric levels!
Now I had been to TATA numerous times before but it was the first time that was by a train. Normally we would take the numerous 'Shankar Parvati' or 'Shiv Shakti' run buses that traverse the two cities 24/7. I am sure that Dhanbad -Tata frequenters can relate to it :P
The new train was decorated with flowers just like a new bride. Even the old, dusty and rusty diesel engine, that was to serve as the link upto ADRA, wasn't spared, as flowers covered it's red-white and blue body. (It was obviously a WDM-2, but I didn't know it back then.) There was a 'Puja' being performed on the locomotive and locomotive was decorated with 'Swastikas'. I don't remember the exact number of coaches but all of them were new. We took our respective seats. The coach was mostly empty so we took our seats. I was seated in a window seat and the parents sat on the opposite seat.
Back then the train use to take the DHN-JRI-PEH-BJE-ADRA-PRR-CNI-TATA route, as the Dhansar-Jharia line was operational. The DHN-BJE line was a single diesel track so the train used to hauled by a Diesel loco from Dhanbad to Adra and by an electric locomotive from ADRA to TATA. The Dhanbad-Jharia single line used to be quite a busy line in it's 'heydays' and a few trains that terminate at Dhanbad now used to go all the way to Bhojudih. For example the ASN-DHN passenger would originally run ASN-BJE with an engine change at DHN.
The DHN-JRI-PEH was a relative circuitous route. The tracks would run parrallel to the DHN-CRP line upto the Diamond Crossing wherein the lines would begin curving negotiating a sharp turn and cross the DHN-CRP line almost perpendicularly and still keep on curving until the train had almost reversed it's original direction and would then go off towards Dhansar side. This was necessary because of the elevation difference that existed between Dhanbad and Dhansar stations.
Anyone that has been to Dhansar can clearly visualize the marked height difference that exists.
The trains would virtually crawl until it had negotiated the curve and the Diamond Crossing, and then would speed up. Unlike the DHN-CRP line, the DHN-PEH line was in good condition when it was operational and trains used to run from DHN-JRI at good speeds. It used to be fun to see the train cutting through the city landscape at good speeds. Dhansar would get always skipped by the Swarnarekha at good speeds....
The train which is now a pale shadow of it's former self, used to depart from DHN somewhere 6-7 AM and certainly not the present timing of 5:30 AM. The entire Dhanbad-Tata journey used to be covered up in about 4:30 hours and not 5:30 hours that the present train takes. It is a testament that the condition the DHN-JRI-PEH line was in, when compared to the present DHN-PKA-PEH line which inspite of being shorter is much slower and requires a rake reversal.
As the train departed and made it's way towards it's first halt 'Jharia', I remember happily munching on 'Jhalmuri'........
Place of Action :- JHARIA (JRI)
The first thing that comes to my mind as I recollect Jharia is 'Dust'! Jharia was the biggest railway station after Dhanbad obviously, on DHN-BJE and had probably 3 or 4 platforms but was dusty and dirty. It may come as no surprise that Jharia station was dirty considering the place that Jharia holds in regard to mining of coal but those things were beyond the comprehending power of my 10 year old self then. Anyway, usually there were not any vendors boarding from Jharia but Jharia did have a good number of passenger.
I don't remember much of Jharia on that day.....
Place of Action :- ADRA JUNCTION (ADRA)
The first big junction on the way. The train used to reverse it's direction from here onwards. Almost everyone would deboard to fill up there water bottles and have the 'Muri-Aloo Chop' thonga packets that ADRA is so famous for. Back then Purulia was a small station, and it's stature was much less than what is now. Therefore Adra used to be the main railway station of the Purulia district.
Another change that would happen at ADRA was that the diesel locomotive that hauled us this far would get detached and an electric locomotive would get attached at the other end.
The halt at ADRA used to be for around 20 minutes and numerous trains would criss cross the Swarna Rekha. Another change that would happen after ADRA was the appreciable speed up of the train due to much better condition of the line. Post Adra the train would run amok towards Purulia criss-crossing the rural landscape of the Purulia district.
Since it was summertime, the fields were all dried up, and it was quite a sight to see Golden yellow landscape pass by as the train headed for Purulia. Alongside the ADRA-PRR railway line parallel ran the Dhanbad-Chas-Purulia-Ranchi/Tata highway and it was joyous to see our train overtaking almost every vehicle that raced alongside.
Place of Action :- PURULIA (PRR)
Purulia used to be much smaller station than it is now. In this past 15 years Purulia has grown phenomenally and the growth and devlopment here have nothing short of exponential!
I do not remember much of Purulia excepting that a ticketless traveller had been caught by the onboard TTE and was being made to pay the required fine!
Place of Action :- CHANDIL (CNI)
Back again to Jharkhand, I have always been fascinated by Chandil due to it's presence in the 'Elephant Corridor'. I remember stretching my neck and looking out as far as my gaze would go in the look out for an elephant. I could never find one :P
Place of Action :- TATANAGAR JUNCTION (TATA)
Finally at around quarter past eleven the train reached it's final destination. I had been to Jamshedpur numerous times before but it was first time at TATA station. I must say I was quite overwhelmed by the rush there. Now I had been to much busier stations like Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol etc countless times before , but when you visit a relatively unknown station the rush seems all the more overwhelming! We sat on until everyone on board detrained, and then we got out.
My Uncle and cousins were already waiting with their faces beaming with happiness . We rushed to their side and what followed were 15 days of joy at my uncle's place at the 'STEEL CITY' and then we returned to Dhanbad by the same train :)