In a bid to cover the fading MG line connecting Akola and Mhow, little did i know that i would be embarking on one more train journey which later became my last ever train journey of that kind in that train. The train in question here is the Karnataka Express and the kind of journey in question is the ride of KK behind twin ALCos. Starting with ET, then later moving on to MLY later to GTL, twin ALCos and Karnataka express have been an inseparable combo for a long time. It is definite that this combo has more fans across the Railfanning fraternity than many others.
Cutting straight to the journey, after exploring the Akola MG, i happened to come back...
more... via Bhopal, from where i boarded the Karnataka Exp aka KK. It pulled in with an ET WAP4 which did a fairly good job depositing us in Manmad with marginal delay. Twin GTL WDM3Ds took over from here, both in contrasting liveries. The notch though was not visible clearly, but the acceleration could be felt. The twins were cutting loose wherever and whenever possible. The gradients between Manmad and Daund were negotiated with ease as were the curves.
Notable crossings in this stretch include, Jhelum Express, Pune Bilaspur Express, Pune Howrah Duronto & the 27hours late running Pune Varanasi Spl, with the latter not being covered. Post a fairly filling dinner at Daund, it was time to hit the sack. The authorities advised to keep the shutters down, owing to some notorious stone pelting incidents in the stretch that followed. When my eyes opened again, we were entering Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. It was time to bid goodbye to the twin WDM3Ds and a fresh set of WDM3As took charge. For those of you who don't know, KK's loco sets were part of a huge LSA.
The new twins did good to help maintain the delay, instead of increasing it. Though we were looped for a couple of crossings, it was a merry run towards Bengaluru. The only menace were the unreserved passengers giving constant disturbance between Anantapur and Yelahanka. This could be seen in the Khandwa Manmad stretch as well. The food service somewhat stops on the morning of the third day. Sans the breakfast, nothing interesting was on offer. Well, can't complain, this train arrives Bengaluru at lunch time. Thanks to some speed restriction in the ghats, we reached Yelahanka 40mins late and when i alighted at Bengaluru Cantt. the train was 30mins late. Notable crossings include the Chennai SSPN express and the Mysore Jaipur Superfast Express.
The train no longer gets twin ALCos, the link is now a PUNE EMD, with loco change happening at Daund instead of Manmad. Please enjoy the run of the twin ALCos. Do LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT and SUBSCRIBE. Press the 'BELL' symbol to get instant updates of any new videos!
THANKS FOR WATCHING.
