one month back, I was informed of the above event was supposed to be organized. After Durga Puja, received a call to attend the works in Noapara Carshed. Two teams namely 'Metrorail Blog' & 'TrainTrackers' were to work along with supporting staff from Metro Railways.
๐A freshly painted Rake No. 8N 12/14 was alloted for decoration with only 3 doors opened. As the exhibition is regarding "Down The Memory Lane" several old pictures, events & articles of the past, present & future of Metro's evolution were sorted & printed on large sheets. The sheets had to be cut to seperate individual pictures & pasted on walls & doors of the rake.
๐The work started in full swing from last 3 days, participants from both team forgot there were two teams...such was the cooperation among them (rare to find among Kolkata teams :P), people were working day and night in shifts, some even skipped sleeping to work all night, shed staff ensuring everything is perfect... How often do you find love and emotions for such little things that might not even matter in the busy schedule of life?
๐Sticking posters, in and out of the rake continued, all departments had tested everything, Front & back nose-cones of rake, entry & exit doors were decorated with flowers, interior was decorated with strips & balloons. Someone commented during this work, 'The decoration seems as if someone is having a Birthday party' ... Well yes! Along with the farewell, Kolkata Metro was having its 37th birthday on the event date! Everyone was having fun... gossiping & working, sometimes roaming around the huge carshed, attracted by several rakes and ofcourse the heartthrob CRRC Dalian ๐
๐The rake was finally ready on 23rd evening and it was informed it shall be taken to Tollygunge PF3 through Up line operation at midnight. We returned home to get enough sleep for the next day.
๐On 24th October,
Left home at 10am, went till Howrah by train & got S7 till Tollygunge. We didn't require to swipe cards for entry. Rake was on platform waiting to be inaugurated by General Manager. A model coach of NGEF series was also on display. An event was being organised where the officials were giving their speech, Station master, Motorman & Guard, some passengers of the first ever service of 1984 narrating their experience, video of Metro's evolution was shown. GM inaugurated the exhibition and commuters allowed inside. (most of these can by found in any YouTube video, so I'm skipping this part).
๐At lunch, we were given rice & chicken box along with my favourite.. a box of sweets ๐, there was no spoon given, had a hard time eating with hands sitting in the rake itself, we managed anyhow. The press was covering the event, youtubers & bloggers were trying to get the best coverage. Some got their cards locked for not swiping within 60 mins at the gate. Yet, everyone was enjoying their time clicking selfies, hanging out with their friend railfans. Beloved Saurav Das was kind enough to click a candid of me (which he sent me next day). Several railfans were coming & returning from platform soon (due to the smart card time limit), met a few of my known peoples and had a great time!
๐As it was 17:00, the stage was getting prepared for the final journey. Mementos were given to members along with a vote of thanks. After 17:30, we boarded the train and all other visitors were deboarded. Just after departure of a Dakshineswar bound train, we were given platform starter, GM along with other officers flagged off the train. The train started and within seconds came to a halt to let the GM & others also board the train from a middle door.
๐Finally the Joyride train started off... Expected it to be a galloping service as none would be allowed to board, but soon realised that it shall be stopping at all stations for a few seconds. Non-AC rakes were disliked by commuters as they chose to board the AC rakes. As stations were coming, I could see people getting ready to board the train, but the doors of the non-ACs are shut forever, never to open again for commuters. The train stopped at Park Street for a bit long as GM & his pals were getting off.
๐I started to take some video clips through the open window, then decided to take a cab-ride & went to the cab. Spent sometime there & gave my phone to a friend as he's running out of memory and he needed to record the cab-rides๐ .. I opted to come out and stay at my open window looking at the tunnels & stations, literally sticking my face at the window grills to feel the outside air, felt the oscillation, the fans and everything of the rake... for the very last time ๐ .. now let's not get emotional, as nothing except memories are permanent in life! And I was creating memories! And even writing my memories here ๐
๐Soon we reached Dumdum, most officials & staff except crew deboarded there. The crowd, the joy, the excitement was coming to an end. The signal was given, for the last time for this train...we were routed towards Noapara Carshed and reached there in no time. All doors on catwalk side opened, we deboarded, the bell rang & doors closed... forever. The non-AC era came to an end & the rake finally went asleep, all alone. Bid a final goodbye, wondering the destination of the rakes... Museums or scrap yard? ๐ In my memories...I said to myself, and felt a peace of mind.
#MetroRailwayKolkata #mymemories -----------------------
