Gujarat Mail - as good as Undhiyu

A TRIP TO PURI:
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TRAIN:12895 PURI (WEEKLY) SUPERFAST EXPRESS
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CLASS OF TRAVEL: SLEEPER
COACH:...
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S-4 (BERTHS-57,58,60,61)
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DOJ: 13/04/2012
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I, along with my family left for Howrah station around 18:45, the scheduled departure of train being 20:55. To overcome any haste and unavoidable circumstances, my father always insists on leaving early for station for any journey. We reached Howrah station New Complex around 19:30, and by then noticed that 12810 Mumbai Mail was already entering PF#21.
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It was good to see the neatness maintained at Howrah station, even at wee hours, with cleaning staff doing much of their bit to do away with dirt and leftovers, as if striving for cleanliness.
This really impressed me a lot.
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By then, it was 19:55. HWH- Yesvantpur Express , with a wonderful looking rake, was already in at PF#22 and PF# 20 was allotted to our train. No sooner than it was displayed on screen than the shunter WDM 3A pulled in with our train.
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We slowly started moving, with enough time, almost an hour left to departure of train. The lights in coach were on and we occupied our seats.
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The condition of coach was below average. It was a very old coach. Soon, Mumbai Mail departed, headed by a blood red WAP-4 of SRC Shed, a new looking loco, rightly matched with an equally good looking rake and good coach condition, as seen by me through window.
Then, Yesvantpur Exp. departed from PF#22, which too was headed by a WAP-4.
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The loco allotted to our train was a WAM-4 from TATA shed, a conventional old looking mix of lemon yellow and crimson red….
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Then, saw Azad Hind Exp entering PF#19, getting ready for departure.
Our train departed late by 5 minutes, to be precise, at 21:00 Hrs.
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The train started slowly, with WAM managing many yellow signals, till SRC, and as soon as the train was mid-way at PF of SRC, the train accelerated and gained a very good speed and this momentum lasted long. We had our home-cooked food around 21:30.
The train reached Kharagpur at 22:50, some 10 minutes behind schedule. By then, other members of my family were asleep, but I waited at least till Kharagpur.
Then, sleep overcame my desire to stay awake further, and so I fell asleep.
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(Contd:)