रेलफैनों की तो बात ही कुछ और है

The valentine !!!
The chill breeze welcomed me creating a soothing experience. The white horse ahead was ready waiting for the charioteer to pull the reins . It was still 20 minutes to the departure. I relaxed into the chillness, reclining back. It was 15 long years since I got a chance to meet this valentine. And who else can get the chance of meeting the valentine with the parents, except for railfans. And the parents too were a great admirer of this legend.

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pandemic across the country had changed major things and had bought the railways in India to halt. However, post the pandemic, if there was a silver lining, it could be related to this legend . The name, a major emotion for anyone travelling between the 2 Capitals of the South. Right from the days of steam, to the faster diesel versions and the electric white horses of today , this beauty came through a long way. It also came through the ups and downs of life, losing its 3 Air conditioned coaches to accommodate for the newer air-conditioned train, losing the time slot and pushed back , the return to be placed directly in front of shatabdi. The losing of the pantry car was an ultimate blow for the beauty, and any person looking at her ,couldn't move away without shedding a tear at her plight

However , during the restoration, when the PR came, the eyes of many brightened up. The rake was presented with 2 ACC coaches, setting a delight to many. After almost 8 years, the AC chair car were attached to the train, restoring the prestige to some extent. It was in the same ACC that I had relaxed , in the rake that was shunted by the 'Pasumai" dual mode AJJ WAM4 , on PF-11 of MAS, the same PF which I boarded this train last , in 2006 June .

PF-10 had the Dynasty named train that pulled in at 7AM, while it's RSA from from.the Malayalam movie pulled in at 715AM into PF-7. The twin storied air-conditioned rake to neighbouring capital left on dot at 725AM, while the East bound weekly special awaited on PF-2

The express from.the west coast pulled into PF-9 at 735AM ,but it had neither the name nor was the RSA of the West coast . At sharp 740AM , our legend pulled out from PF-11 . We pulled past the old elephant gate bridge which was nonexistent, giving a parallel action with the river that waters our legend getting shunted to the yard. The parallel view was blocked by the white horse from the Pink City that was waiting for clearance to enter

Packed food was the only catering available, consisting only of podi idlis and cup noodles along with the other branded packets. Took the podi idlis at Rs.40/- a piece, with the packing stating as packed at morning 5AM to be consumed before next day 5AM. Pantry car wasn't yet operational in the beauty, merely another addition in the consist

We slowed past the TSR's at VPY and picked up speed slowly and steadily to glide past PER. The loco and carriage works were sent in a flash , and the suburbs of MAS were sent away in a whisker. Another TSR at AVD saw a slowdown, but otherwise, the ripping was it's best . The Daily commuter express from JTJ crossed us at Thiruninravur . We were sent on the fast line past TRL, before slowing down for the point change over at TO. The biweekly from southernmost capital to the eastern metro crossed us at Puliyamangalam, closely chased by the express from the same city to our origin station.

A quick stop start saw us departing AJJ, which saw about 8 people boarding our coach. A quick start stops at SHU and WJR, both of which had 4 people boarding as well as deboarding . Quickly we reached KPD , 125 mins of leaving MAS, at 0945 , as BZA WAP-4 hauling the weekly from West coast city to Telangana capital occupied PF-2. About 10 people boarded the coach here, as 5 deboarded

The quick acceleration bought us out of KPD well into the sight of the Garden express proceeding to MAS waiting for the clearance into PF-2. The water bodies in between AJJ KPD and KPD JTJ were quite filled, with the generally dried up Pennar and Palar rivers having streaks of water flowing through them around .

The line in this section was pretty shaky for the speed, and we reached AB for a quick halt, where again 3 people deboarded and 3 boarded. Looks like C-2 coach was famous for the quota , as every station seems to have it's share of boarding and deboarding

A quick start acceleration bought us to quickly to the next halt at VN, where the KGP WAG7 twins waited with a BOXN. Just as we proceeded, the "Rocket" intercity of SR quickly rattled past us . Had a quick run, and with no hold ups at JTJ home and outer , pulled into PF-3 of JTJ at 1053, 5 mins before schedule as a SR MEMU waited at adjacent PF and SWR MEMU on PF-5, for Sunday Holiday .

Got down to relax for the available time. The JTJ kitchen samosas, masala dosa and vadas were being sold on the PF, and bought a plate each of samosa and vadas for Rs.30/- a plate. Boarded back as the train prepares to gallop again

The time starts for the ascend uphill , past the eastern ghats, and the rapid ascent moved us from SR to SWR section. The up and the down tracks here have their trival fights on this section, as they move farther disappearing from the sight of each other , meeting only at the stations enroute. Near Patchur , the Emperor's dauggter running to the east rips past us, one of the few trains that have had a pretty good rewamp in schedule , especially when home bound . At Mullanur, the fight stops and they begin to pass close to each other

A quick run brings us to the Andhra state stop of KPN, and to the shock, the train has a higher slack here, resulting in we reaching it 10 mins ahead of time at 1140AM . Waited till the departure time as a OHE equipment went past PF-2 and halted ahead of us. At departure time , we got the starter

Had a good run again, but the time between KPN BWT was allotted only 15 mins, which meant we would have a good delay here. Post Bisanattam, the spoilt Express to Eastern metro rattled past us, as me and dad cursed the railway decision to depart this train from YPR in morning instead of its evening slot. As expected, the arrival into BWT was delayed by 10 mins, as we reached at 1213. The DMU here too had its rest being Sunday , resting at the PF connecting KQZ with CBP

The last 65 kms of journey had commenced, and the satisfaction of spending time with valentine was relished . The smooth run past the rocky terrain of Kolar plateau into Tyakal, bought us to greet the East bound "Fast" train , chasing the express crossed earlier. A pretty bad idea to run two long distance trains back to back , with the latter overtaking the former

The run continued past the KIADB sites past MLO and the Amazon handling centres and IOC depot at DKN , where the "Seven hill" named train crossed past . A TSR bought us to a slow down at satellite goods station, before ripping the IT halt HDIH . The under construction metro viaducts signalled the arrival into KJM, and we pulled into PF-4 at 1255, where major crowd deboarded. The BMTC beauties bound to Kadugodi and Silk board, awaited with relish to collect the exiting crowd, as we pulled out


A pretty slow run past Beninganahalli lake, now fenced and pushed away from railway track, through BYPL, saw us accelerating clearing the BYPL cabin and ripping past the BNCE, as the DMU shed signalled the arrival of BNC at 1315 hrs, with a sleeping WAP7 on PF-1A with the Clone express while mainline had the resting rake of 06517 exprsss. After a 3 minute halt, we got the starter, and a slow but non halt cotinous run, past the RuB:s bought us to the sight of RPM WAP-7 getting ready for cleaning in the mechanised cleaner in the siding . For the 1st time without a halt at outer, pulled directly into PF-1 of SBC at 1328 hrs, 15 mins ahead of schedule, ending the 1st trip undertaken in the last 14 months , in a train that had eluded me for 15 years !!!!

Brindavan !!! The legend for a reason