Took a trip from Kharagpur to Kolkata on 14/05/2016.
*Kharagpur to Calcutta
As I raced for my EMU, BBS Rajdhani came on the side track in all its majesty. The Gitanjali had just left ahead of us. As our train started[and we xinged with lots of freight trains, seriously, there is no dearth of freights here]. In terms of passenger trains, we xinged with the Yesvantpur Duronto and the funnily named Howrah Madras Howrah AC Exp[I haven't seen any train using 'Madras' instead of 'Chennai' in this era].It's good that...
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there are 3 tracks in this section which makes things easier for suburban trains. The EMU was quite old and dirty[no cleaning had been done at Kgp].Best bit was the OT by Puri Shatabdi in a parallel direction just before SRC. We actually challenged it and came front to front with it but sadly, the stops meant we'll lose ultimately.
*Howrah Railway Station
The HWH-NJP Shatabdi stood on the platform adjoining us[the ER king was standing on the other side of NJP Shatabdi]. Tried food at Food Plaza but sure as heck they were too congested. Ultimately ate at KFC in the HWH New Building[quite good on the part of Railways to team up with them, any other station has such tie-ups?]. Then went to take a trip to the rail museum nearby. It was quite empty there there and barely a few[and all of them, disinterested, they were just sitting around instead of looking at anything] people were present. But then, one has to be crazy enough[:p] to look at trains in the sweltering sun. It was a good experience[though National Rail Museum at Delhi is better].
*Sealdah Railway Station
Sealdah has always intrigued me. It is located in such a discreet location[next to a highway, one can easily miss it]. It's like it is cramped for space. I reached barely in time to see of the Sealdah Rajdhani[after which the platform became empty; one thing which I noticed both at HWH and SDAH was lack of garbage bins at the platforms]. I then decided to go to KOAA. Asked the people there and was they told to go to Bidhan Nagar Road and take bus services from there. Went to the ticket counter and instead of giving me a ticket for Bidhan Nagar Road, gave one for Khardaha. I naively assumed that Khardaha might be next to Bidhan Nagar Road and just took the train. Only later did I realized that damn, I was wrong. The EMU was packed to full capacity[ and most of the stations were literally like vegetable markets there]. In either case, reached Bidhan Nagar Road ultimately[and then to Chitpur].I was impressed to see the punctuality of the suburban services[sometimes they arrived in a greater frequency than even the trains at Delhi Metro!]
*Chitpur Railway Station
Chitpur is ironically barren. Bus services are available at infrequent intervals[can someone tell me where the metro services exist in Kolkata; what's the point of having one if none of your major stations are connected to it]. Just took a look from outside and came back. Tried to take a ride in the trams from SDAH to HWH, but didn't materialize. Came back to HWH and took a ticket for KGP.
->Front building of Kharagpur
->WAP-7 detaching from BBS Raj
->NJP Shatabdi standing[the platform was quite empty, couldn't help but compare with PF 6 of LJN when Lucknow Shatabdi comes; it becomes completely packed].
->Booking counter at HWH
->New building at HWH
->Loco WAG 5P
->View from the platforms
->#TB of Ranchi Howrah Intercity
->Crowd for the HWH-Chennai
->Beauty at the Rail Museum
->Inside of a train[as stationed in the museum]
->Narrow gauge loco
->Trains in the museum[what better than this in 40 degrees of heat :p]
->WCM 5
->Black beauty standing
-> An old OHE model
->Big wheels[seriously, those wheels are too big]
->Pakistan Railway coach[giggled when I saw this]
->Aptly named toy train[wanted to take a ride, but the museum was literally empty]
->Empty interiors of the museum
->Sealdah Raj departing from PF 9B
->Sealdah Jaynagar standing at the adjoining PF
->Empty platform at Sealdah
->Taken from end of the platform
->EMU standing
->Khardah station on SDAH-Naihati line
->EMU approaching Khardah
->Empty PF 3 of Khardah
->Bidhan Nagar Road[3 kms from Sealdah]
->high rise buildings near Bidhan Nagar Road
->Chitpur Railway station
->Chitpur station[closer view]
->Queue at the Chitpur station
->Display board outside the Chitpur station[look as they display Jaynagar as Joynagar(_/\_)
->PF 1 of Sealdah after rains
->At HWH new complex, with HWH-Bokaro pass on the right and HWH-Okha/Porbander[?] on the left
->Cabway at HWH new complex
->Empty platforms at Howrah
->Huge RPF building
->True beauty![the wappie visible is hauling the HWH-Vasco de Gama express while HWH-Chennai is readying departure from PF 23{not visible in the pic}]