TRIP REPORT
.
I undertook a trip on 4th April 2014 from PUNE-NZM ( /diary/trip/45386 ) for which I am presenting a report.
.
The day 4th April had finally dawned, the day...
more...

for which I was excited and waiting for since many days, for two reasons. First, a travel by the rockstar 12263 and second, the travel was a part of my 12 day vacation trip to Amritsar & Kashmir. Accordingly, we arrived at Pune station at around 10.15 am, around 1 hr prior to scheduled departure and waited in the main concourse hall. I ventured out for a bit of RF and announcements / displays for the following were being made:
.
51324 BRMT-PUNE Passenger on PF-4
18520 LTT-VSKP Express on PF-6
12158 SUR-PUNE Hutatma Express on PF-2
11014 CBE-LTT on PF-3
12263 PUNE-NZM Duronto from PF-1
.
12150 PNBE-PUNE Express soon arrived with its customary PUNE Alco twins on PF-1, horribly late by nearly 5 hrs. Some 20 mins later, the rake of 12150 was being shunted away and then the rake of 12263 was shunted onto PF-1. Our coach was A3, 2nd from LOCO and right after EOG. After having settled in with luggage, I got down of the train to see the chariot, a 30249 GZB WAP-7 getting ready for the journey. Got inside the coach again and stood near the door. At exactly 11.10, the starter turned yellow and the chariot let out a snort, indicating it was time to roll. The train set out, on its journey back home. After having negotiated the crossovers and the PSR over Sangam Bridge, it attained a speed of around 60-70 kmph, skipping Shivajinagar and overtaking 99814 SVJR-LNL EMU. What a feeling it was for me, to see SVJR, my RF den skipping from the train, innumerable times I had seen the train skipping from the station and now I was in the train. After the T/P indicator, the loco let out a snort again and we hit MPS in no time. I was enjoying the action from my SLB, a railfan’s favourite. After Dehu Road, the attendants began their service. At around 11.44, after the train had skipped Vadgaon, tomato soup was served along with the usual Amul butter chiplet and a couple of breadsticks and the eternal Rail Neer. The taste was quite good.
.
Within no time, we arrived and departed Lonavala, at around 12, but it was just touch-and-go on PF-2 with the train halting for a couple of minutes. The same happened at Khandala as well. I had began my doorplating and photography from LNL itself and the AC attendant requested me to move over to EOG for doorplating, as keeping door open of A3 could let the hot air in and hamper coach cooling (which was pretty good). I readily accepted the proposal and moved over to the EOG coach all to myself. The generator attendant was standing at the other door and after a while I struck conversation with him, asking him some of my doubts. The EOG has a capacity of 3000 litres of diesel and each EOG has 2 generators. Both the generators of front EOG and one generator rear EOG was currently on, he replied, which varies according to the load and also outside temperature. I was enjoying the sights and sounds of the Bor Ghats and the occasional views of Mumbai-Pune Expressway. It was only after the ghats at Palasdhari that I returned back to my seat, only to find out that lunch was being served.
I opted for a non-veg meal, which consisted of 2 rotis, chicken masala, rice, dal, salad, pickle and dahi. The quantity was filling and the quality was quite acceptable. The rotis were thin and soft and the chicken pieces were tender and juicy with tasty gravy. This was followed by a cup of Cream Bell Vanilla Ice-cream at the end of it all.
.
The train was maintaining decent speed, with intermittent slowing downs and crawling, crossed Neral at around 13.05 and Kalyan at 13.45. IRI Servers had started to crawl as well, with me facing issues in accessing the pages and after umpteen tries, I finally gave up. IRI was facing an outage that day (I confirmed this with Tejas**). I cursed my stars, as to the day chosen by the site to go off :( The train continued its intermittent crawling now and then, to finally arrive at PF-6 of Vasai Road at 14.35. We had a brief parallel run into Vasai Road with 12933 Karnavati Express and she overtook us here. Another set of LPs and ALPs were already ready and waiting to take charge further upto Vadodara. A brief RF session included spotting of a GMO WAG-9, BL WAG-7 with BTPN, MGS WAG-7 with BCNA and a few EMUs. We departed at 14.55 and I guess there is a SR for about 2 kms so the train just crawled. I was very happy when I saw the T/P indicator (how well we RFs can read these signs) and the moment loco crossed the T/P sign, we received a forward jerk which meant that the license to cut loose had now been given on this high speed WR corridor. Within no time, we hit MPS, skipping Nala Sopara and Virar in no time. Spotted the huge WR - Virar EMU Carshed here on the left side after which the train slowed down to negotiate the Vaitarna Bridge on Vaitarna River and then hit MPS again. I returned back to seat now, enjoying the scenery of rivers and coconut trees, with fast train in motion.
.
In the meantime, I SMSed our admins Stevenson** & Zahaib** about the plans of Delhi Admin Meet the next day and received confirmations from them. We bid bye to Maharashtra and entered Gujarat in grand style, skipping Umbergam Road at terrorizing speed in full fury. It was a treat to the eyes to see skipping the likes of Vapi, Valsad & Bilimora Jn relatively important stations with quite a crowd that just amazingly looked at our train rip their stations apart. Spotted the ELS at Valsad on the right side as we skipped the station. Evening snacks were served, consisting of an awful Kachori that was hard, a tomato ketchup sachet, Soan Papdi, Masala peanuts and Tea.
.
After we had crossed Navsari, I received a call from our Surat admin Shivkumar Mishra** that he was standing at outer of Udhna Jn and is waiting to capture me and my train, so he requested me to stand on the right side to spot him. I went to the front EOG and stood on the right side post our train crossing Bhestan, with my eyes all over the horizon. I could see the Udhna overbridge looming in distance and after a while, could spot the popular “Mishra Ji” of IRI with a cam in his hand. We exchanged good byes at MPS and it surely was a thrilling admin meet!! The train slowing down having crossed Udhna could mean only one thing - Diamond City Surat was the next target, however, instead of ripping it apart, the train respectfully skipped the station with intermittent honkings at around 60 kmph beside PF-1 (There is SR of 60 here). It was again thrilling to see a train skip an important station and doorplating was fun, clicking pics and catching attention of people (and RPF) on the PF. The huge rush on PF-1 was for Suryanagari / Karnavati. After having skipped Surat and Tapi river, the train again hit MPS. I returned back to my seat after crossing Sayan and spotting the Sayan Sugar Factory (a very smelly place) for a bit of rest and enjoying Gujarat countryside.
.
At around 18.00 hrs, I rushed to EOG again. We skipped Ankleshwar at fairly decent speed and then the train slowed down, what was the RF attraction of the trip. The Silver Jubilee Bridge over the mighty Narmada River at Bharuch. I enjoyed doorplating here, taking a video (which will be posted in due course) and at the same time, paying obeisance to Narmada Maiyya. The train slowed down further and we crossed Bharuch after which the train picked up speed again. At 18.40, we entered PF-3 at Vadodara Jn. I got down for a bit of breather and to stretch my legs. Bought a packed of the famous “Bharuch ni Seeng - Salted peanuts of Bharuch” on the PF. 79456 Chhota Udepur-Vadodara DEMU arrived on PF-2 right behind us. We received the starter at around 18.55 and pulled out of PF at 19.00. There was rush on PF-7 as Gujarat SK was slated to arrive soon. On the way while negotiating the points, spotted the 59162 Vadtal Swaminarayan - Bharuch Passenger, with BRC WAP-5 doing the honours. The rake of 12927/28 BCT-BRC-BCT Express was taking rest in the marshalling yard. The line to ADI went up straight ahead as we were put on the RTM line that branched out to the right.
.
With sun going down, I decided to give my camera (and myself) some rest and called it a day as far as RF was concerned. The train continued its run and had a brief unscheduled halt at Godhra and departed soon. It was dinner time. Sweet corn Veg Soup arrived first, with butter and breadsticks. I again opted for non veg meal. Dinner arrived but the quality of food loaded in BRC was poor than that of PUNE, with rotis rigid and chewy, chicken having awful taste and dal watery. The only consolation came in form of Cream Bell Strawberry ice-cream. At around 22.15, Ratlam arrived and we departed in mere 5 minutes, after which I decided to hit the bed.
.
The next day, I woke up early thanks to my habit of doing so for all these years. The train had made up for the delay enroute and we were at outer of Mathura at around 04.50 am, being regulated for being before time. It was only at around 05.05 that we crossed Mathura very slowly and perhaps a touch-and-go halt as well. Post MTJ, P7 unleashed itself and started rocking again with BTSR and VRBD having skipped in no time. We were served morning tea and biscuits; I opted for coffee. Being my first visit to Delhi, it was awesome to see the famous stations (made famous by Delhi railfans to capture BPL Shatabdi) of Hodal, Rundhi, Palwal & Asaoti at flat MPS!! We were having a fairly decent run with minimal slow-downs. My eyes were on the horizon as we neared the outskirts of Delhi, for a glimpse of the celebrity - The BPL Shatabdi. I had one when it crossed us at Ballabgarh, with 30005 GZB WAP-5 in the lead. The train slowed down considerably again post Faridabad and then crawled all the up to the heaven and den of Delhi RFs, Okhla. Here, we were made to wait for more than 20 mins and finally we made it to PF-6 of NZM at around 07.25, thus concluding a very fulfilling and an exciting trip.
.
Ratings:
Speed: 9/10
Cleanliness: 9/10
Food: 8/10
Punctuality: 8/10
Staff Service: 8/10
.
I really like writing longish write-ups so Thanks everyone for the patient reading.. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading this, as much as I have travelling and compiling this!! :D