************135/136 Vaigai the Legend**********
38th Birthday Celebration for Vaigai Express
A Detailed Story of how this train is formulated and why its so special among railfans and People of SR
Dear members of IRI you all might be...
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aware of our 38th Vaigai express Service anniversary celebration that happened on 15/8/2015
I am Very much happy to share the story and incidents of Vaigai express which i had collected from various other Ex-rail/current Rail Employee's during 1975 while Madras , Trichy and Madurai were fast developing there were no good roads and people over these areas were completely dependent on the railways , after Various requests by people of the south
SR decided to Run a Superfast Express between Madurai and Chennai via Chord line with the Max speed , so since Speed in MG was Limited to 75kmph those days , After several Research SR Came up with Specially Designed Rake which is specifically Meant for Vaigai Express the Buffers and couplers were Specifically designed and certified to Run at 110kmph to distinguish this rake from other normal Rakes, SR had Made a Special Green/Yellow Livery for this train ,As well Vaigai was the 1st Train in SR to be fitted with Tubelights and glass cover for windows , By 1977 Feb the Rakes were Rolled out of ICF and after Several testing at Last this train was decided to be operated by August
Goc had Furnished few of its YDM 4's to with Extra Jet Booster Motors for efficient Breaking and Pick up , Vaigai had its Specific Locomotives with identical Livery of the coaches which were fit in with Dual tone Horn's the 1st train nor the loco sets to have dual tone horns to make it different from other trains
During initial days unlike shatabthi's and Jan shatabhi's Vaigai do not run on Tuesdays since due to maintenance of the rakes
On 15 August 1977 1st Super-Fast Carrier of madurai and the Fastest Meterguage train from Madurai was flagged off By sharp 6AM, the train was Notched By LP Vembudayan (Late) and the train was flagged of by a senior Gang Man
on the very 1st day Vaigai clocked its Top Speed and reached chennai in 7 hours and 5 minutes Which was equal to most of the BG SF Trains of those days , later on in the 2nd week of the run the Total Travelling time was increased to 7 hours and 30 minutes due to passenger Safety
till 1984 Vaigai Ran with 16 coaches with Dual YDM 4 from Madurai till chennai, it used to leave Madurai at 6am and reach chennai by 1.30pm and start from chennai at 2pm and reach madurai at 9.30pm , In 1984 due to increase in patronage at Trichy Vaigai was Split into two and there came up the 12605/12606 Pallavan Express
Coaches of Vaigai Express were Divided into 2 and were operated as Vagai from Madurai and as Pallavan from Trichy , Ac chair car with 40 seated capacity was Attached to vaigai and pallavan in the same year , no other Meter Gauge train had an AC chair car coach those days
Now coming to the Speed of Vaigai , i still haven’t experienced the MG Vaigai's Speed in any other trains in india till date , i still remember those days Admiring the speed of vaigai passing through from the suburban stations,
Vaigai used to cross the suburbs of chennai like Wind and the horn sound the vaigai will be like the Roar of Lion , Vaigai's MG days run during Yellow Green Livery Would be similar to the Run of Furious Lion roaring towards its Prey
there have been a very famous tamil song in which we can see the Dusting blast of MG King Vaigai
i could still recall that Certain key man will tie themselves with a rope in the nearby pillar to avoid them falling aside while exchanging key for vaigai express , there have been 3 to 4 fatal deaths of key men and SM ariyalur during early 80's who had lost life while exchanging Key and Signals for Vaigai express
My childhood Vaigai Experience were Great , there is no other train travel that could give me the happiness and excitement that MG vaigai gave me
Vaigai had travelled a long way it had got all powerful loco's in this 38 years from YDM4 to WDP 4B in diesels and YAM 1 till WAP 7 in electrics , i somehow restricted in travelling in 3 phase loco hauled train in MS-VM side since i want to do 1st in Vaigai
I have been trying to do a special celebration for vaigai since 2013 on August 15th but unfortunately , none of my emails will get a Reply , in the same mood i had sent an email to MDU Dvn Pro seeking permission for a small cake cut for vaigai express on its Anniversary day
but i totally forgot that email after a week i got a reply asking for my number nor asked me to call to a mobile , while i called that number it was respectable PRO of madurai , he spoke with full hospitality and said that his computer was not working so that he was not able to reply to my mail immediately
he asked me what exactly i want to do i said either at departure or arrival i want to cut cake for the service anniversary since 15 of Aug is its service anniversary , as well i added a point that we want to thank all the railway staff's for operating this train and i said i want the LP of the train to Cut the cake on the anniversary day
PRO said he want to check with higher officials and reply in 2 days
with no confidence i said ok , but for a surprise the next day morning i recieved a confirmation message that officials are ok with doing a small celebration during arrival since the train schedule will get over and LP and ALP can take part, with full rejoice me, Mahesh ji and another die hard non IRI Rail fan Ashok from Madurai started planning what we need to do since we have less days, Ashok came up with an idea of Cutting a Photo Cake old photo of vaigai express clicked By Mani Vijay sir during his travel in vaigai in 1985 , so requested his permission through FB , he was happy enough to permit me to use his Picture in the Cake so we ordered for a 3 kg Cake from Vaigai bakers Madurai(Cake for Vaigai From Vaigai), during the last 2 days my whole mind was completely evolved with Vaigai and design of celebrations , on 12th evening Mahesh sir called me and said that we need to do something that could appreciate the Ground Staffs of railways
we planned for a memento nor a Cup , so i had planned for a Coffee Mug with almost all old Pic's of Vaigai express we made a Tittle "Journey of Vaigai Express from YDM4 to WAP 7" me and mahesh sir worked on CS3 tools to make out a perfect mash up and we landed up with a perfect blend of loco graphics ,we printed the same on 10 Mugs with the tittle “Journey of vaigai from ydm 4 to WAP 7" , on the same day we got an email from PRO stating that crew is already been about the celebration , through some railway friend we came to know that one of senior Loco pilot MR.G Kathavarayan is going to Drive Vaigai on 15th august from VM to MDU
At last the day had come we both got our tickets confirmed in C3 , we both reached the station by 1pm we boarded the train and while on the journey we planned to meet the loco pilot at VM and invite him for our celebration , we had little hesitation since we never knew nor even seen him before, i feel that it was our luck by 2pm while nearing chenglepet
i recieved a call from My Friend Samsun Fernando who knew our plan and he is a railstaff who is returning by the same train till trichy , we asked him to inform the Lp of Vaigai about our plan , he asked us to come near loco and he will help us in talking with him , the train entered VM by 3.50pm and prior to that me and mahesh sir started walking inside the coaches towards loco
For the 1st time my dream of Meeting the Loco Pilot of Vaigai came true through SAMSUN Fernando Bro and Mahesh sir , We met the Loco pilot at VM , he said that he is already informed me and mahesh sir informed him that he is going to be the chief guest and important part of today's celebration, he and ALP of the train said that they would attend for sure
after which we made a move towards our coach , me and mahesh sir doorplate from the 1st coach in our own style , in the single line section Vaigai fired like a Rocket with WAP 7 30368 all that i could see was Green , and Vaigai ruled the tracks like a king
Guguvayur Express (16128) gave way for the Boss with patience at Ullundurpet, Vaigai Cruised through guruvaiyur express with a loud horn and both the lp's shared flag signal, vaigai maintained consistent 110kmph and we reached Vridhachalam sharp by 16.25, train stopped at VRI for 5 minutes since it was 3 minutes BT , Vridhachalam to Ariyalur had about 6 temp Cautions since doubling works are in progress
so speed was limited to 100 and some places 90kmph, at a Station Called ICHANGADU we found WAP 1 hauled train that was Waiting for the Boss to Cross , at the end we found out that was 12666 CAPE-HWH Express , somehow we reached ariyalur on time before ariyalur at station called Sendurai Vaigai Massively overtook VM-MDU Passenger , train stopped there for 1 minutes and started , after ariyalur the line is doubled till Valadi (a station near Trichy)
Vaigai maintained consistent 110kmph with no speed drop from Ariyalur to Valadi from there the train once again swtiched over to single line , the crew was continuously blowing horn since SRGM to GOC there are totally 8 main gates we reached TPJ by 18.20 pm 10 minutes Before time , we planned to walk back to coaches for our surprise , SMR GOC "Peter" who had come to meet us at tpj with some sweets and fruits
he was very kind enough to spend some time with us on his rest hours , train started from TPJ by 18.35pm and picked up speed at Kolathur we slowed down to 10kmph due to temporary speed restriction where 22628 TPJ-TEN ICE was waiting for us and i had a Friend MR Moorthy who is working in that train , he was waiting for us in the door steps of his coach we exchanged a hello and i introduced him to mahesh sir on the run , he asked me to share the celebration pics in whatapp
after this we took some rest and after crossing DG we came to know that train is running 15 minutes Before time and we started following up for cake and by 8.20 we recieved a call from PRO stating that its raining heavily at madurai so we might not be able to do the celebration at the platforms , as he said while entering madurai it was raining heavy , My Best Friend a Die-hard rail fan Ashok collected the cake and was waiting at the platform , before we could reach the loco Lp and ALP already left
with a long face we 3 started walking towards the FOB with no clue of what we are going to do next , within a minutes a gentle man with a black umbrella walked towards us and seeing the cake box he asked us are you Arun and Mahesh we said yes , he said he is the PRO and all other staffs are on the way since its raining LP had left to Crew Booking Lobby , that info from him brought back the ethu for us he said we can go to PF 1 and do the celebration and we 4 started walking , in a short distance we saw a group of
White Uniforms with Walkie Talkie proceeding towards us , they were the SMR , SM's and SEE and JE's and TXR's of Madurai now we had around 15 members with us SMR said we should cut cake at PF1 since Podhigai express is about to reach and passengers might get disturbed so he contacted his junior and asked to Open the SMR Lobby Room , while waking in the FOB the Cheif Crew Controller Mr Venkatesh Joined us and was enquiring about the celebration and for what we are doing this , we said we are doing this to thank all railway staff's for operating Vaigai with Full Excellence in equal to Shatabthi
we reached the SMR room but Lp and ALP of the train were not present , we started talking to everyone about Vaigai and the history of Vaigai Express , meanwhile Ashok Opened the Cake Box which surprised the Crowd since the cake was very awesome , the Cheif Crew controller and PRO immediately called the LP and ALP over phone and asked them to take part , since we 3 said that the Pilot has to cut the cake and take the honor within another 5 minutes ALP and LP was in
The cake catcher their attention , on seeing the Cake LP said that he has worked in this train as a diesel Assistant ,and he started sharing lot of old incidents and history after 10 minutes of LP's speech we three insisted LP sir to Cut the Cake , he said all senior officers are here they have to cut , PRO said that you are the hero of the day and you should cut the cake , sharp By 21.30 LP , ALP along with Crew controller and SMR Cut the Cake and SMR gave cake to LP , ALP and Crew Controller , after than all of the gave cake to each one of us
LP Kathavarayan sir said that in his 35 years of Driving Experience he havent experienced such a funtion he thanked us a lot , we found that a huge part of cake was remaining so we cut down the cake and we distributed it to passengers stating we celebrated Vaigai Express Service annivesary and we did a cake cut to thank the railstaff's for operational excellence , a huge crowd gathered surrounding us , we informed the crowd that these are the people who are traversing us safe and secure all these years and the celebration is to thank them , lot of members in crowd thanked the Station officails and some kids shook hands with LP sir and took cake
After Cake cutting Ceremony we surprised the MDU Dvn staffs with our Massive Coffee Mugs with Vaigai Graphics the cup will have all loco pics of Vaigai express , we presented it as a mememto's to LP , ALP who worked the train and 1 each per department ,and i had personally made a cup to one of my favorite LP Mr D.Krishnan of Madurai who was not able to take part due to health issue for which i handed over to the LP Kathavarayan who said he is staying nearby his house
Lp and ALP became very happy and they both said what they can do for us , we asked them a favor to snap a pic near Vaigai Name board and near the loco they happily agreed and for a moment my childhood dream of taking a snap with the Driver of Vaigai near the Name board of Vaigai Came True
the Day ended successfully with full of happiness and by 10.30pm we moved towards our hotel and slept happily , the next day morning we left madurai in 16128 while leaving The CCRC , Kathavarayan sir and Murugan ALP came to station for the sendoff , it was a happy trip in my life that i had ever made
for our surprise the news had came up in Times of india which PRO had Given to TOI Reporter who called us over phone and took a small interview on the way
"We dont have Shatabthi to Madurai but we have Vaigai which is the brand of the south" , "No shatabthi and no Duronto can Hold his place in SR" , "Vaigai the first Flight of Madurai", "Vaigai the unbeatable king of SR"
The above were the quotes we wrote on the cake
unfortunately we did not take much pics of the celebration
hope you all Enjoyed the history and trip report
Regards
Arun Pandian (AP)