Railfanning at Panvel.

Today, after long 22 days, I had an opportunity to visit Panvel for some railfanning. On my way down to the station, I messaged Panvel IRFCAn Ranjeet Ramaswamy to know if he was free. I reached Panvel at about 1220 right on time to catch the incoming Kerala Sampark Kranti (from Chandigarh). The train came in with WDM2 #16293 from Ernakulam. The train was recieved on Platform 1. Platform 2 was occupied by a WCAG1 hauled BCNA rake (loco at the Diva end). Right after the Sampark Kranti pulled in, a huge population of sikhs got down from the train and proceeded outwards. The PA system announced the arrival of KR4 Ratnagiri Dadar Passenger on platform 2. The BCNA rake slowly moved out.
The coaches of Sampark Kranti were being watered i.e., the overhead tanks were being filled with water. The rake composition was Loco-SLR-GS-GS-S1 to S7-PC-S8-AS1-HA1-GS-GS-SLR, totalling 17 coaches. It was a huge disappointment to see that this train is still having only a partial AC2T coach! I moved over to platform 2 to watch the Ratnagiri passenger. Just around this time I recieved a call from Ranjeet asking my location. Some minutes later, a MU-ed pair of Kalyan locos trundled past light towards the Diva end of the station. Minutes later, the Dadar passenger pulled in with WDG3A #13149 from Pune in charge. The passenger now was 14 coaches including 2 reserved compartments and 2 SLR. The loco had a EMD styled horn. The arrival of Netravati Express was also announced now.
Some more minutes later, WDM3A #14054 from Erode pulled in with the Trivandrum bound Netravati Express. I had seen the same loco working the same train last week on Tuesday at Kankanadi. So the loco would have reached its home on Thursday, underwent a maintenance schedule and returned, probably, on Monday. The train had 21 coaches - 11 Sleeper, 1 AC2T, 4 AC3T, 1 PC, 2 GS and 2 SLR. The loco was refuelled and the journey continued at about 1310. Ranjeet finally located me, and we sat down for some rail-chatting! The PA system announced the arrival of Mangala Express. We slowly walked towards the Diva end of the station where we noticed WDM2 #17632 from Kalyan dozing off. We also noticed twin Kalyan WDM2s pulling into panvel with a BCNA rake. We walked over to Platform 1. The platform was already crowded with passengers waiting for the Mangala to come in.
Some minutes later, at 1350, 2617 Ernakulam - H.Nizamuddin Mangala Lakshadweep Express pulled in with WDM2 #16459 (Ernakulam DLS) in charge. The train started moving out by 1355 when more passengers were still to board! The train moved just inches and stopped again. The loco blew the "short-short-long" signal code to indicate "Emergency Chain Pull"! The train once again started moving in about 2-3 minutes! We decided to call off the day. I went to the suburban section and boarded an EMU which was already waiting there. At about 1405, twin Tuglakhabad WAG5s pulled in with a Container rake. The EMU left panvel at 1413, and I reached home by about 1430!
The images of the day can be seen by clicking here. So bye for the day.