TRIP REPORT - 13202/EC (LTT - RJPB)
Hi friends, I'm back after a long time to present you another report of mine...
DOJ : 13-12-2016 (Tuesday) From Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) to Patna.Jn (PNBE).
Prior to this journey I was very tensed as I'd never traveled in this train over this route, my already booked ticket booked in 12322 Kolkata Mail was cancelled so...
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at the last moment (on Sunday itself I got to knew Imperial Mail will be cancelled) I'd to do alternate arrangements to reach Gaya.Jn. So my plan is now to deboard at Patna.Jn then take a MEMU from there to Gaya.Jn!
===[ Day 01 : ]===
Started from my home in Panvel (PNVL) to catch 20:27 Hrs PNVL VDLR EMU, but missed 2 trains due to forgetting of some stuffs like Debit cards at home, so I had to rush back to home & came back to catch 20:47 Hrs PNVL CSTM EMU. De-boarded at Tilaknagar at around 21:35 Hrs & thereafter finally reached LTT at around 21:50 Hrs and walked
towards FOB to reach platform no : 05 where 13202 LTT RJBP JANTA EXP was put.
== Observations at LTT :
As per our information over IRI, 13202 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus - Rajendranagar (T) Janta Express was rightly put
over pf#05 which was already brought early - a common scene at LTT is to bring rakes early, besides us over
pf#04 was Coimbatore Express which was bought later & a KJM WDP-4 was attached, over pf#02 was Shalimar bound Kurla Express was ready to depart behind a Howrah based WAP-4, it departed as soon as we comforted ourselves in our seat, so no time for taking it's pics of my favourite train! Over pf#03 LHB rake of Gorakhpur bound Kushinagar Express was bought, as soon as it was bought some people were screaming to enter it's coaches, too impatient they were! After Shalimar Express departed & Tulsi Express came over pf#01 from Allahabad. After some here and there roaming & seeing our loco which was a ET based WAP-4, we came back to our seats - in coach S8 09LB/10MB/12LB, in the meantime when we checked the reservation list we were ashtonished to see 53 seats running vacant out of 72! which was our freedom to seat & sleep wherever we like for railfanning & at that time me and my friend Mr.Amit Kumar Singh (Bhilai & Tatanagar wale) were very happy that our Kolkata Mail was cancelled as we had our destiny to enjoy full railfanning in this crawler train in new route!
== Post departure :
At exact 22:20 Hrs we left from LTT and within no time we were over 5th line & doing marvelous speed of 80-90KMPH within Mumbai city limits! Amit was awestruck to see Janta Express to run in such speed & was saying - Janta mein Rajdhani kii aatma ghus gayi kya? We were enjoying & laughing & soon Thane came, we halted there for 5 mins and departed to join actual mainlines, till Kalyan run was of ok type. We reached Kalyan delayed by around 15 mins, from there we took tea which was more than it's worth Rs.5 (100 times better than tea sold by pantry). We had tea along with some Aloo vadas we brought from home & again resorted to sightseeing as train departed from Kalyan.Jn. It was non-stop run till Khardi, here we halted for 2 mins due to Shalimar Express which was before us, Kasara came in no time but at Kasara we didn't go to see banker loco coupling but appraised Amit of how bankers are used to climb mighty Sahyadri mountains, we overlooked Thal Ghats together chatting & when Igatpuri was about to arrive we started going towards backside of our train - viz till S1 coach (we saw all coaches till S7 were booked to full capacity whereas coaches from S8 were vacant), so that I can show Amit about banker locos being decoupled, finally IGP arrived & we saw 2 banker locos were being decoupled, in the mean while RPF guys were giving us anxious look & checking luggage van seals. In the meanwhile we were returning to our coach through platform, we took 2 Vada Pavs which was a new delicacy for Amit & after 10 mins halt we departed from here to see Nashik.Rd which came 20 mins late after that cold was too much & we sealed off window panes to lazy in both the UBs!
== Day 2 (WCR) :
Myself woke up after Khandwa.Jn, brushed up & sat over the window to see a huge water reservoir near Talvadiya.Jn. At Chhanera we were put over loop for an OT with 12141 LTT PPTA SUP EXP which was hauled by ET WAP-4 after that we had decent run all the way to Itarsi, at Timarni we saw Ajmer Hyderabad Exp with twin WDG-3A KZP & later Mumbai bound Ratangiri Express crossed behind WAP-4 BSL. In the meantime we had tea from pantry which was substandard just hot water with not even flavour of tea nor sweetness! Prior to arriving Itarsi we saw Surat bound Tapti Ganga Express with WAM-4 ET - running full to it's capacity even in Sleeper coaches, forget to enter it's General coaches, to enter Itarsi.Jn we had to wait for 5 mins but I would was it was excellect controlling by ET WCR staffs! At Itarsi.Jn our IRI member cum friend Mr.Suraj Parihar (whom we call fondly ET seth) was present. We inspected the electric de-coupling & diesel loco coupling and just besides from us ET-ALD PASS was departing, after having some photo session gone back to our seats & we were bidding goodbye to our friend & Itarsi city, at that time Mumbai LTT bound Lucknow Express arriving. Just after it single line section started followed by some best scenic areas of the route - Tawa river & Bagratawa tunnel, here we saw some track electrification work in progress, thereafter small but scenic stations passed one after one & in surroundings were farms full of juicy sugarcanes all the way to Narsinghpur! The run these twin ET WDM-3A's were giving was very terrible, no lesser than Superfast trains give! At Shridham our another member railfan cum friend Mr.Ayush came to meet us, it was 2 mins halt but still the meet was very sweet & memorable! After Shridham is was boring run till Jabalpur via halt at Madanmahal. At Jabalpur we refereshed ourselves with coffee & biscuits, while departing from Jabalpur saw twin WDM-3A with an unknown train & later Jabalpur - Mumbai CST Garib rath rake was taken to platform. At Sihora.Rd Jabalpur bound Shaktipunj Express past with WDM-3A PTU shattering speed. After that darkness and cold grew outside & that compelled us to focus our attention on snacks, hence at Katni.Jn bought some Pakodas & Jalebis for munching! At Satna we had sweet halt for 10 Mins then again twin Alcos were giving nice jerks to maintain good speed right upto Manikpur.Jn. Here as our coach was running full vacant so few daily travelers comprising 3 womens with unreserved tickets along with some heavy luggages occupied the vacant seats in next bay, they were local people & were very much talkative. After sometimes 2 RPF guys arrived & saw those poor passengers offering Rs.20 note to them (probably they bribed), at Manikpur.Jn they all deboarded & the coach was again silent expect some track sounds when in motion. Arrival at Manikpur was not given instantly as we were made to wait at outer for good 15 mins.
== Run in NCR :
After Manikpur.Jn the run ws mediocry with in between unscheduled halts admist rocky & rustic terrain of Bundelkhand region & all this continued with additional 15 mins halt at Chheoki outer, finally arrived Chheoki.Jn by around 50 mins delay! At Chheoki station wore deserted look till our train arrived, with our arrival some people alighted. We went around the platform to look for something to eat but as it was nearly 12:00AM so only 1 lone vendor was selling hot Dal-Bhat with mixed vegetable & tea was sold, so we took tea and further went to see the loco change, in the meanwhile RPF personnels were busy inspecting the Luggage van seals. Our twin ET Alcos were already detached & sent to shed in no time, beside our train saw an old WAG-7 MGS with all it's color faded away idling. Later this loco was only attached with our train, but it was attached more than 20 mins later after Alcos were taken away! After nearly 45 mins of halt here we finally proceeded slowly to gain some good speed, which was surprising for me as train with such huge halts & that too with a WAG-7 loco, but this joy was short lived as we halted at Meja.Rd, but thereafter whole night this old warrior from Mughalsarai was doing great & NCR too was giving decent clearance!
== 3rd Day (ECR)
We all slept over UBs or MBs due to cold outside, had good sleep to wake up after Buxar at Bihiya & was fully ashtonished to see dense fog outside which was negligible previous night at Chheoki! Well we found our all berths occupied by unreserved ticket daily passengers, whom vacated our seats as soon as we woke up. At Ara.Jn we were put over loop to get over taken by North East bound train with all NF marked coaches which might be heavily delayed due rescheduling, those unreserved passengers from our coach ran to board that already overcrowded train, in which they were hanging near door but still prefered it over Janta Express! After Kulharia we crossed a massive steel bridge admist heavy fog, nothing to be seen outside! We were crawling through the fog & halting at almot all station but to rub salt over wounds some people were pulling chains rampantly! This was first in my life, that I'm traveling in an Express in which chain pulling is so common! As we were passing Neora, someone pulled chain from inside to help a person running to catch our train (probably daily traveler). There saw a burnt LHB EOG coach along with some ICF & freight wagons lying. Halted at Danapur for 1 min & again proceeded to crawl all the way till Patna.Jn where we saw Shalimar Patna Duronto Express along with WDS-6 shunter & it's loco WAP-4 SRC besides it, a WAP-4 GZB was along with a gang of WDM-3A & BHEL tiger strips WAG-7 resting a bit away. Finally we arrived Patna.Jn at 11:15 Hrs over platform no : 02 & this exciting trip ended.
Further I along with Amit proceeded to buy MEMU tickets to Gaya.Jn further by making my dad standing with luggages over platform.
Thank you for devoting your precious time by reading this trip report, while I along with my friend Amit looking forward to again travel in this supercrawler train for railfanning soon!
Cleanliness - 08/10
Punctuality - 07/10
Food - 05/10
Railfanning - 09/10
Safety - 08/10
Pictures summary :
01 - Amit & my dad in seats
02 - WDP-4 KJM of Coimbatore Exp
03 - WAP-4 ET of Rajendranagar Exp
04 - Reservation chart of S8 coach
05 - WAP-7 AJNI of Kushinagar Express
06 - Tea & Aloo vadas
07 - Nashik.Rd
08 - Great reservoir near Talvadiya.Jn
09 - Chhannera
10 - Tea & biscuits from Pantry
11 - Harda
12 - WDG-3A KZP with Ajmer Hyderabad Exp
13 - Ajmer Hyderabad Exp
14 - WAP-4 BSL with Ratangiri Exp
15 - WAM-4 ET with Tapti Ganga Exp
16 - Tapti Ganga Exp
17 - Tapti Ganga Exp
18 - WAP-4 ET being de-coulped from Rajendranagar Exp at ET
19 - Me & Suraj with Itarsi station name board
20 - WDM-3D ET with ET ALD PASS
21 - Twin WDM-3A ET attached to Rajendranagar Exp
22 - Lucknow LTT Exp arriving ET
23 - My dad
24 - Electric locos at ET trip shed
25 - Sontalai
26 - Sal trees
27 - River Tawa
28 - Tawa bridge
29 - Tawa bridge
30 - River Tawa