Well Well. A one time special from Kochuveli to Coimbatore was a shocker. Incidentally i was in Palakkad that time. As i go back to the best of my memory, there was no special to Coimbatore from Thiruvananthapuram.. One of my friend from a different group says there was one and is still trying to dig out the details. The excited me decided to check for the patronage and it was no surprise and it had what so ever no occupancy at all on a saturday night. I decided to book a ticket in 2s from PGT to CBE and mark my presence in history to be a passenger among the less than 5% occupied train. The previous night i spoke to admin Nazeer and ensured that we do a breakfast meet in Podanur. I left home at 5.15 am on 21st Feb to board this epic special. The train was...
more... running almost on time a special with a 10 min delay is an ontime running train isnt it.. As i approached Platform 3 of PGT Santragachi bound vivek exp arrived with a RPM WAP4. The next in Queue was my train.... Alleppey express now arrived with its usual three phaser.. A distant light at the SRR end of PF3 marked the arrival of the much awaited special.. The loco was from up north a Mughalsarai battered looking WAG7. The question about which rake was used for this train came to end as it was a rake that was being prepared to be run a Mahamaham specials to Mayiladuthurai.. My coach D1 was not to be seen when i could spot D4 D5 and D6 followed by S10 to S1.. surprisingly there was a TTE who was working this train as well.. I told him i have a booking in D1 and he said its at the rear end. He asked me to board anywhere is like and decided to get into S10.. As i was about to enter the lights went off in PGT giving me a heads up that i was going to board a ghost train.. as expected i was the only person in S10 and i occupied a track side SL berth. The train departed 4 mins behind its scheduled and had a steady 50 kmph run till Kanjikode where Kerala express ripped apart and crossed us and we were looped in for no reason. After a brief half min halt we started again and steady run continued with the 45 kmph speed restriction upto Madukkarai. The early morning sight in this stretch is a bliss with mountains and ghats giving you company all along. I called Nazeer ji after i left Madukkarai and he was shocked from that the special is on time and not trolled. We soon were looped into PF 1 of Podanur... i moved ahead to capture the Mughalsarai fella.. Soon Nazeer ji called me and after a quick tea proceeded to inspect the Podanur - Pollachi gauge conversion progress. There is absolutely no work happening in this stretch and nothing less than 2 years for this line to see any action.. On our way we also saw some marathon runners from 6 to 60 running with passion. our road was blocked to ensure their safe running. From there we went to the old place where the Chettipalayam station was there once. The gauge conversion unlike in the PGTN - POY stretch where the existing line was widened and tracks laid, the section see some new deiviations from the the MG line. Some places were elevated from the MG line and some places were dug and new lines laid.. It was an interesting place i must say and when the Alcos chug it will be a great view.. We headed back to Podanur for breakfast and Aanandhaas welcomed us.. After breakfast we headed to CBE to see my rake and i wanted to click a pic of the chart where my name was there. Nazeer ji wanted a ticket from ATVM installed we took a PF ticket for 10Rs and i took a ticket to PGT for 15 Rs. The rake of the special was at PF6 and we quickly snapped a pic and someone spotted us doing it and was calling out for us.. we did not care and walked out.. An ED 3D was made to shunt the cheran rake splitting the rake for some reason best known to them.. We went the parcel office from there for an enquiry about taking bikes to Jammu.. Himasagar and Navyug was as good as NO good due to space constraints and told us that it would be best effort basis only. However Kongu is guaranteed. The Lady clerk was answering our patiently.. we forgot to ask if we can get telescopic fares in parcel service and the answer was a no.. When we explained to reason for taking 3 bikes the lady gave us a shock by saying.. Sir go there and rent bikes as they have bike and their tyres suited for that climate and roads.. we were taken aback for a min with this extra client service from a late 40's early 50's looking lady clerk.. We then decided call it day as Dr had some family commitments and i decided to board the ED -PGTN MEMU.. The train was bit late and arrived PGT 5 mins before time..
