#Aajkuchtoofanikartehai :-
Location:-PradhanKunta Jn, Dhanbad
Time:-9-9:15AM approximately
Zone:-ECR-ER border (ECR Territory)
Date:-06/09/2015
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had returned to Howrah from Hyderabad a day earlier by the HYB-HWH East Coast Express. However I was soon summoned to Asansol by a close friend of mine. Staying at his place overnight I took 53521 ASN-BSB passenger for DHN at 6:30AM in the morning.
The 53521 is a mighty piece of IR history. Started during colonial days this mighty passenger train used to go from ASN to BE, during the post-independence day. Infact this is the first train in IR to fully run from Source to Destination by means of an AC locomotive. Along with the now extinct TATA-NGP passenger this train was IR's marathon running passenger train. In the seventies, this train would be serviced by a mighty WAM-1 from the country's first ELS ASANSOL......
Now an ASN WAM-4/WAG-5/WAG-7 gets to do the honours. If you ignore the untidiness of this train, (the train and it's passengers suffer a lot at the hands of the illegal coal miners in the DHN-ASN belt) this train is one of the best trains to take, if you are travelling to DHN from ASN. Why I say that, is because you reach ASN station at about 6:00AM, fetch yourself a seat and drift off to a nice slumber.
The train travels gently up the Chotanagpur Plateau and takes a good 1.5 hours to reach Dhanbad. In between you can enjoy the beautiful early morning sceneries of the Chotanagpur Plateau, or can enjoy a nice sleep. My friend had also accompanied me on this short trip.
No sooner had the train departed ASN had we both drifted to sleep. Had I been awake, I would have certainly spotted the 12340 Down usually bang-on-time running DHN-HWH Coalfield SF.......
We woke up at 7:45AM when the train had departed Thaparnagar and was headed for Kalubathan. At Kalubathan, my friend and myself bought two Jhalmuris from a hawker and munched on as we headed on towards the end of ER territory.
In our negligience we both had forgotten to bring any water, and neither had bought a mineral water as well.
Chotambona passed by and we were in ECR territory then, the train halted at Pradhankunta JN. Now I had managed to bite on a particularly hot chilli & was pretty much desperate for water. So as soon as the train halted in PKA, I dashed off to the nearest water tap to cool myself off.
Normally the train halts at PKA for about 3-4mins, but on that day it started after 1 minute only....
An injured leg meant that I could not climb on the moving train, and was forced to watch as the train pulled out the station. While hurling some friendly abuses at me for my idiocy, my friend said that he would take all of my luggage and would be waiting at my home.
I sat on an empty concrete slab, the next train the BWN-HTE passenger would be n 2 hours!
Cursing my stupidity, I took a stroll around the PKA station....Pradhankunta is a relatively isolated place. Pradhankunta is way outside the outskirts of Dhanbad city. Actually the rain line has to take a huge picturisque right curve to go towards Dhanbad. The station building had been build during Colonial times, and PKA though a Grade D station has the amenities available normally in a Grade B station. It is an important junction and, from here the lines diverge to Sindri, Patherdih & Adra. It also has a number of loop lines for accomodating freight train. However in no mood for railfanning, I didn't take any pictures of the beautiful station, now to my regret.
I also apologise for missing out capturing the beautiful Asansol station building...............
It was probably 9:15AM when a triple phaser honk reached my ears. Normally in PKA and other stations of GMO-DHN-ASN section, you get so accustomed to hearing and seeing those 3 phaser WAG-9s in action, that you ignore them after sometime. However this horning was different, it was very quickly turning apparently shriller, due to the Doppler Effect.
Turning to my right I spotted HWH WAP-7 dragging the 12019 HWH-RNC Shatabdi rake behind it. Now DHN was a good 10 Kms away, so the train was easily doing 100++ speeds, maybe 130 when it approached the station platform.
Now maybe because of all the frustration that I had endured so far, or I don't know what, I had turned very brave (read stupid) and went almost to the platform edge with my cellphone in hand......
The WAP-7 warned me with several shrill honks and then blitketerzed beside me.....The entire train passed by me in mere 5-7 seconds, and I was almost blown off by the strong winds accompanying the train. The experience was extremely overwhelming and this photo is the result that I obtained. What however this photo fails to show you fellow IRI members, was me struggling to stay on my feet as a storm blew past me.....
Already overwhelmed by the experience, then I proceeded to get a sound reprimand from the PKA station master and two on-duty RPFs. The station master then took me to his office and gave a massive scolding, the RPFs guys threatened arrest!
Somehow after a long duration of pleading,they let me off, with a warning............
By then the BWN-HTE had also arrived, I boarded the train, and safely reached DHN at 11:00 hours. No railfanning at DHN, I got straight out of DHN JN, took an auto, reached home, where I got another mouthful from my parents. My friend had told them everything....
I thanked my friend, had a meal, and went to sleep soundly.
Fellow IRI members, I apologise for the lack of any further photographs, and I can only share my experience.
Rest assured, I am not going to do something as stupid as this again.........................