Good morning! Today is Monday - 17th of July 2006....
Another monday :-( A curtain raiser for a tiresome week ahead..As usual I woke up at 0500, finished all morning chores, got ready and rushed to the railway station - Belapur CBD, a station on the Mumbai CST-Panvel Harbour branch of Central Railway's Mumbai suburban railway. I boarded my regular 06:33 Belapur-Mumbai "Local". I took my regular seat in the First class coach at the rear end of the train. The train went on without any particular event. I alighted at Kurla and proceeded to Platform 5 from Platform 8 via the Foot-Over-Bridge. Just as I was walking down towards PF #5, the "prestigious" Punjab mail rushed past with a WCAM3 in charge! I boarded my regular 07:17 Dadar-Ambarnath "Fast" Local! We crossed the 1018 Yeshwanthpur-Dadar Chalukya Express somewhere near Ghatkopar. The loco was a Pune WDG3A in Turquoise livery! Everything normal..and we finally pulled into Thane - My destination. This train pulled into Platform 5. This platform was crowded as usual with people waiting for the 07:34 "fast" towards Mumbai CST. Just then, a surprise came to me! WCAM3 #21898 leading the 2106 Vidarbha Express towards Mumbai CST. The coach composition was interesting: 2x SLR; 2x GS; 1x HA; 2x 2A; 1x 3A; 10x SL totalling to 16 coaches!!! The train came in, stopped - many passengers "flowed" out of the train, and finally departed!
The train slowly picked speed. I was standing near about the 8th coach from the loco. Slowly and steadily the speed increased and the guard van (SLR) passed me.....Whooooshhh! There was a continuous flow of air as if a huge piepline had burst! This was an indication that some one had pulled the emergency chain!!! The RPF personnel, who had got down from this train, rushed towards the "suspected" coach - S10, CR 02255. They couldn't get hold of anyone "guilty"! The flag was reset, but there was some problem and the brake couldn't be reset! A khalasi got down and reset the brake by doing "something" near the brake pipes! Soon the air-release was stopped and the brake circuit was now continuous!
The guard made a note on the details of the 'incident' is a piece of paper and reported the loss of time as "10 minutes" to the RPF person. The guard - who looked and sounded to be a south indian - picked his wireless phone (Walkie-Talkie) and said "Driver of 2106...Gaadi start kijiye..." (Driver of 2106...Start the train...). The reply was unclear. By now, restless passengers waiting for the 07:34 CST Fast approached the guard of 2106 and asked as to what the problem was...he said "EC pull..Sab teekh hai" (EC pull..Everthing is OK). The time was 07:45 by now! 0103 CSTM-Madgaon Mandvi Express, and N7 CSTM-Kasara Fast local were waiting "buffer-to-buffer" outside the station for clearance! 0103 had to cross the main "UP" line to enter the Platform line of PF7. N7 local was behind 0103 and she too couldn't come ahead! Finally at about 07:46, 2106 pulled out! An announcement was made that the N7 local would be 3-5 minutes late today!
2106 cleared the main "UP" line, and 0103 was cleared to enter the PF#7 line. I was now excited and waited at the FOB to have a look at the loco of the 0103 express. The train pulled in....a disappointment....The loco was WDM3A #14056 from Krishnarajapuram instead of the usual WDP4!!! With a heavy heart, i walked out of the station and boarded a bus towards my college....It was raining inside and outside the bus....!!!!
Had a good railfanning today..Hope to have more tomorrow!
Another monday :-( A curtain raiser for a tiresome week ahead..As usual I woke up at 0500, finished all morning chores, got ready and rushed to the railway station - Belapur CBD, a station on the Mumbai CST-Panvel Harbour branch of Central Railway's Mumbai suburban railway. I boarded my regular 06:33 Belapur-Mumbai "Local". I took my regular seat in the First class coach at the rear end of the train. The train went on without any particular event. I alighted at Kurla and proceeded to Platform 5 from Platform 8 via the Foot-Over-Bridge. Just as I was walking down towards PF #5, the "prestigious" Punjab mail rushed past with a WCAM3 in charge! I boarded my regular 07:17 Dadar-Ambarnath "Fast" Local! We crossed the 1018 Yeshwanthpur-Dadar Chalukya Express somewhere near Ghatkopar. The loco was a Pune WDG3A in Turquoise livery! Everything normal..and we finally pulled into Thane - My destination. This train pulled into Platform 5. This platform was crowded as usual with people waiting for the 07:34 "fast" towards Mumbai CST. Just then, a surprise came to me! WCAM3 #21898 leading the 2106 Vidarbha Express towards Mumbai CST. The coach composition was interesting: 2x SLR; 2x GS; 1x HA; 2x 2A; 1x 3A; 10x SL totalling to 16 coaches!!! The train came in, stopped - many passengers "flowed" out of the train, and finally departed!
The train slowly picked speed. I was standing near about the 8th coach from the loco. Slowly and steadily the speed increased and the guard van (SLR) passed me.....Whooooshhh! There was a continuous flow of air as if a huge piepline had burst! This was an indication that some one had pulled the emergency chain!!! The RPF personnel, who had got down from this train, rushed towards the "suspected" coach - S10, CR 02255. They couldn't get hold of anyone "guilty"! The flag was reset, but there was some problem and the brake couldn't be reset! A khalasi got down and reset the brake by doing "something" near the brake pipes! Soon the air-release was stopped and the brake circuit was now continuous!
The guard made a note on the details of the 'incident' is a piece of paper and reported the loss of time as "10 minutes" to the RPF person. The guard - who looked and sounded to be a south indian - picked his wireless phone (Walkie-Talkie) and said "Driver of 2106...Gaadi start kijiye..." (Driver of 2106...Start the train...). The reply was unclear. By now, restless passengers waiting for the 07:34 CST Fast approached the guard of 2106 and asked as to what the problem was...he said "EC pull..Sab teekh hai" (EC pull..Everthing is OK). The time was 07:45 by now! 0103 CSTM-Madgaon Mandvi Express, and N7 CSTM-Kasara Fast local were waiting "buffer-to-buffer" outside the station for clearance! 0103 had to cross the main "UP" line to enter the Platform line of PF7. N7 local was behind 0103 and she too couldn't come ahead! Finally at about 07:46, 2106 pulled out! An announcement was made that the N7 local would be 3-5 minutes late today!
2106 cleared the main "UP" line, and 0103 was cleared to enter the PF#7 line. I was now excited and waited at the FOB to have a look at the loco of the 0103 express. The train pulled in....a disappointment....The loco was WDM3A #14056 from Krishnarajapuram instead of the usual WDP4!!! With a heavy heart, i walked out of the station and boarded a bus towards my college....It was raining inside and outside the bus....!!!!
Had a good railfanning today..Hope to have more tomorrow!
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