Inspired by the travel blogs of various wonderful people here, I want to share a particularly fond trip of mine, that involves various trains, a tourist trip to the Malabars and the best food experience ever.

It was the year 2014, and after my 8th grade final exams were over, my father had planned a trip with his office friend with our families for Kerala, Kanyakumari and Goa. The next day after my vacations had begun, we started out trip from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in the morning. We could have boarded from...
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Panvel, but my father felt that it would be better for our peace of mind if we started from LTT.

There, we boarded our first train, the very popular Netravati Express, for an end-to-end journey till Trivandrum. Locomotive for this run was an Erode Alco Diesel, WDM-3D #11171. I remembered this number because of something that happened ahead, which I will share.

Luckily, both of our families had cabin seats in a 2A coach, which meant no disturbance. Once the train entered Konkan, we got stuck to the windows. This was our first time travelling towards Konkan, so us 4 kids got glued to our windows and took in all the greenery and beauty one could grasp. Tunnel after bridge after tunnel, the scenery was beautiful indeed. And with our coach close to the locomotive, the chugging made it all the more amazing of an experience. Good thing we were in an AC coach otherwise we would have all turned black from the soot and smoke.

Goa came in the night; Mangalore came early morning and Kerala started right after. Benefit of a slow train: we had a full day to experience the coast and backwaters of Kerala from the train. We went through Calicut, Ernakulam (Kochi), Allapuzha and Quilon and saw the backwaters and coasts passing right through us. We were also shocked by the number of coconut trees that adorned the railway tracks.

We finally reached Trivandrum by the evening, and stayed at a hotel for the night. Next day, we visited the Padmanabhaswamy Temple and the Varkala beach with its black sand (used to be empty that time, now it is a tourist spot). After roaming and shopping for two days, we left for Kanyakumari.

The trip to Kanyakumari was by CSMT - Kanyakumari Express. Older railfans will recognize this train as the famed Jayanti Janta Express. Newer railfans know this train as the Pune – Kanyakumari Express. It was a short trip, full of greenery, but the locomotive ahead got a shock out of me. It was the same Alco from my Netravati Express trip, down to the same road number, #11171.

We experienced the Sunset/Sunrise point (where the three seas meet), the Thiruvalluvar statue (where we were nearly thrown out into the sea by the strong winds coming from all three directions) and the Vivekananda Memorial.

We left for Ernakulam next day by the very famous Vivek Express. It was shunted by an Erode Alco #11171. I felt like this locomotive was the guardian angel for our family for this trip. Other than that, it was an uneventful trip, where we got down at Ernakulam Town (Ernakulam North for the railfans) at night. We stayed at a hotel nearby for the night and went for the Guruvayur Temple at Guruvayur next day by a passenger train. I was shocked to see that even a passenger train was near empty and clean. Visit to the Guruvayur temple was very serene and it fulfilled one of my promises that I had given to one of my best friends.

We also visited the Athirapally waterfalls, though due to the weather being swelteringly hot, the waterfalls were not at their full flow. Still, it was an amazing trek and a wonderful experience which had us spending the whole day. We returned to Kochi that night and stayed there till next day for shopping.

Our next trip was to Goa (specifically Madgaon), and our train for this trip was the Kochuveli Bikaner Express. This train is now Kochuveli Sriganganagar Express. It was an overnight trip, nothing special. But the locomotive attracted me. It was an EMD Diesel, and it was the first time I experienced the jet like sounds of the locomotive. I became an instant fan.

We reached Madgaon by the morning and took rest at the hotel till evening. For three days, we enjoyed the numerous beaches along Madgaon and Panaji. My father describes our Goa trip as our “three-day rest after a week of hectic tourism”.

Finally, it was time for our return to Mumbai. The train my father chose for our return was the Mandovi Express, this time led by an EMD. Once the train started, we kids got glued to the windows. Once the food arrived though, everyone in our entourage wanted more. The food was so tasty and so good that even my mother, who prefers home made food to train food, said that she would prefer the food of this train. We snacked ourselves with our favourite foods the whole day, to the point that we wanted more even though our tummies were full.

After a whole day of snacking, watching the Konkan beauty through the windows and resting afterwards, we finally reached Panvel at night, late by 1 hour. Boarded a local train on the next platform and went home to a nice, sound sleep.

This concluded my 10 day trip to the South and has always left me wanting for more trips towards the Konkan and the Malabars.

Travelogue/ यात्रा वृत्तान्त
This one is from the graveyards down the memory lane. My first inter- state train journey dates back to 2003.
Date 20nd March 2003.
Indians were prepping up for historic finale vs Australia under captaincy of Sourav Ganguly. I was preparing for entrance exam JEE for IIT entrance. Peers advised me to take a chance and shift to Kota to...
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take coaching for entrance exams. I decided to take a trip to feel the ambience there.
On Thursday 20nd March 2003, we left for Kota through 8236 Bilaspur - Bhopal passenger cum Express at 6.45pm in the evening. We had reserved up to Bina in sleeper class in this train. For onward journey from Bina we had no reservation. We had brought Home food for dinner. Next day we crossed Katni (those days reversal occurred at Katni junction as bypass for Murwara was not present) around 9.15 am. Some tasteless Samosa at Ganeshganj/Patharia came handy as stations of that route /section did not have had much of eating options available. Lot of crowd was present in that train in Katni-Bina section.
Delayed by 2 hrs train reached Bina junction on 21st March 4pm. There we refreshed and had lunch at some dhaba outside the railway station (railway colony outskirts). I made a STD call to neighbour at Bilaspur home, as family members by then were in worrisome mode that how we two youths were travelling on our own out of the state. As soon as neighbour informed them about reaching Bina they got relaxed and assured that we would travel safely. After that we waited for our next connection 411 Bhopal Jodhpur passenger. It arrived by 9.15 pm led by RTM WDM 2. As soon as the train arrived we ran to grab upper wooden berths. We could snatch only one berth. I and my friend decided to take turns to sleep in it. I took window seat and tried hard to stay awake. But the cool breeze and oily dinner from dhaba made it hard. Train crossed CR and reached WR Ruthiyayi jn by 12.30 am. By 4am we were at Kota junction. Kota when I journeyed there in 2003 was under WR with jurisdiction of WR Mumbai Hqrs stretching right up to outskirts of Mathura junction. Mighty Tuglakabad ELS was its pride and that time kota was heaven for speedier trains who almost always covered their delays and improved punctualities in this section.
Next 2 days we were engaged in visiting coaching centers like Bansal classes, resonance, career point etc.
Return 23rd March 2023.
On Sunday also gave entrance test of Bansal classes at St. John school Bundi road. Pandals with TV sets and big screens had been prepared at many chowks to watch the match together. We packed bags and left station as India were on the verge of losing Final, courtesy deadly innings by Ricky Ponting.
Trains on the return journey were the same. We had no reservation till Bina. After taking meals from restaurants outside station named Sharma Bhojnalaya, I bought the general tickets for two and tugged in between the Concepts of Physics book by HC Verma and slept in the upper berths.
Early morning after Ashok Nagar TTE came checking for tickets. Somehow in deep sleep, I could not produce tickets. Asking for excuse being students studying out of the state, my friend who was unaware that I had the tickets, persuaded him to let us go for 100 Rs.
We reached Bina Junction. After getting fresh, we had light snacks. By 8.30 am announcements were done for Bhopal - Bilaspur Express. We were amused to hear the word Express, as that train has pretty bad impression in CG and is known as passenger there.
In Bina we were also joined by one of our female batch mate who was traveling with her parents to give entrance test of Bansal classes.
So lunch dinner in return journey were no issue for together of us as they had plenty of packed items and light snacks.
I saw wap-5 for the first time at Bina outer. I thought how lucky those persons were who got a chance to travel in such a fast train.
By early morning 4am train we reached Bilaspur Junction. And so in this good way my first long journey on my own completed with pleasant memories.
Many liveries came and went but that maroon liveried coaches and brown red painted RTM alco with yellow streak will always have a legendary place inside me forever.

This happened almost 15+ years ago. This train had a different TT then and used to start from Muzzafarpur and GKP on alternate days. NER used to issue unreserved SL tickets back in the day and of course, it was all ICF livery with very less nos of AC coaches, so good chance of getting a daytime seat in SL class. I was travelling from Babhnan to Barabanki. The train used to come at 1500+ hrs at BV and estimated to reach BBK at 1900+ hrs. It was single line section then between BV to Gonda, double from Gonda to Burhwal, I think, with single line on the Elgin Bridge over Saryu.

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had a Window seat and the train had crossed Gonda with minimal delay. However, all heck broke lose around Elgin bridge when our train was looped for crossings, both for xings and overtakes. I think the Vaishali also overtook us. We were looped furthur at Jahangirabad Raj[one station before destination] for an hour and some in the coach assumed that the engine had failed. The train was delayed by nearly ~3.5+ hrs and it had barely covered 30 kms in past 3.5+ hours. We reached BBK around 2230 hours with a delay of 3+ hours.

My first attempt for writing a travelogue. Kindly read it patiently and comment. Thanks in advance.
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The day of journey comes after booking two tatkal tickets in two successive days which could have been a matter of single tatkal ticket if the triweekly express which is being operated from gateway of rameswaram to the gateway of seven hills was not cancelled for that day.
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Arrived the station just 30 minutes before departure of uzhavan express, which was at platform 1 linked with an arakkonam based WAP - 4 locomotive. I walked to the other end of the platform, and boarded my coach, so it was a non track sided lower berth, berth facing the opposite direction of the train. Train was super clean.. so put my berth and started sleeping immediately after the train left its source on time, usually used to peep through window atleast till its next halt, but though it was not a tiring day, still slept.
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At around 4 am, woke up to find that our train was making its scheduled halt at Tambaram. I have travelled many times in uzhavan express and this was the highest time I have ever slept in uzhavan express Noticed the rake of Tambaram Jasidih superfast parked at PF 8, our train departed TBM, since it arrived at PF 5, it accelerated quickly at the mainline and enjoyed the high speed action at early morning within chennai suburbs.. arrived at platform 5 at chennai egmore, dot on time. I rushed out of the station, took a suburban train ticket to park, came to Platform 11, took a local to chennai park and arrived chennai central within 5 am.
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My next train was at half past 6, but platform was yet to be announced. I rushed to platform 2 to see a vande Bharat train for the very first time directly through my eyes. In the adjacent platform, one of the fastest premium train connecting chennai to capital of India (Bharath) was linked with Lallaguda based white stallion. Then, i refreshed myself for the day and patiently sat in platform - 6. The rake of our train, which was the first direct train from chennai to the gateway of seven hills, and it was my first time in that train..
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So time was ticking to 5.50 am when as the rake of our train was slowly arriving at platform 7. Went in front of our train to see an arakkonam based WAP - 4 was coupled with our train to haul it till the stop where it is supposed to undergo reversal. I managed to book tatkal ticket within 5 minutes to get a window seat for myself. Came to my coach to find that the window seat was not facing the adjacent track. Okay, felt lucky for getting a window seat atleast. So our train departed Bang on time, our train, having lots of stoppages in between, after crossing perambur, train started picking up speed. As it was only some 15 - 20 minutes after the sun rise, enjoyed the golden morning scenes of the chennai suburbs, and the cool wind that flowed through the window when train touches the maximum speed.
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One thing I wondered about this train, though it has lots of stoppages, still the acceleration of the train, maintaining maximum speed and keeping the time..
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So Ambattur and thiruvallur came in no time. Before tiruvalangadu, our train slowed down and shifted to the slow line, there after picked up some speed till mosur, and crawled thereafter to arrive at platform - 1 of arakkonam junction, delayed by 5 minutes.
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After a halt of 2 minutes, we depart arakkonam, and from platform 8, the MEMU express from Tirupati to Pondicherry made its departure simultaneously with our train, which was a sight to behold in a chill morning. Slowly we deviate towards tirupati line, skipped arakkonam north and tiruttani came in no time.. for the first time I was able to see some deboarding.
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I was eagerly waiting for chart to get prepared for my next train, which is a regular special running for few years. Since I booked at last minute at RAC around 50 or so, was afraid about it getting confirmed. But anyway, i kept that thought and cellphone aside and started enjoying the beautiful landscapes once our train departed tiruttani, witnessed the huge curve of ponpadi.
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Train skipped nagari in a very good speed and as notification came in my phone that my ticket has confirmed, and i have been gifted with a side lower, our train came to a halt at ekambarakuppam, a station where the two tracks will be at different heights. In no time, we arrived puttur, here i was able to see some deboarding, but again some crowd boarded the train. Our train was very much crowded that I was unable to walk to even the washroom.. as we depart puttur with a delay of 10 minutes, at Taduku, since freight was halted at the mainline, we got looped, but our train was still moving.
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Yes, we were skipping through loop, which is a common sight at SCR as our train also will enter the SCR shortly. We arrived renigunta at 20 past 9. The loco which was supposed to be attached the rear end was kept ready. Halted for some 10 minutes, where some deboarding was there and many went to buy some food/breakfast and had it in train. At around 30 past 9, we depart renigunta, and we pick up speed, skipped tiruchanur in a good speed, noticed that the development works of tiruchanur station was going on.
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Once our train got slowed down at tirupati outer, everyone started taking their luggages from the bag, once the train arrived the platform 4 of Tirupati at 10 am flat, a huge crowd was bustling in that platform. This is the crowd of people who deboarded from sapthagiri express and who are to board the chennai express, which is running with the same rake of sapthagiri express and is to depart at 10 past 10 as per the schedule. Some how through the crowd, managed to come to the platform - 1.
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Had this triweekly express been operated, I could have travelled in a single train instead of two, and could have been less tiring.
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To be continued in part - 2 : /blog/post/5913406