The Northern Hop: Complete

The great trip to the land of the whites finally concluded this morning. The final two parts of the three part journey was interesting and exciting in their own respects. The first - of the last two - hop was on the 2006 Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi Express. I was in coach C11, and the loco that worked my train was WAP7 #30222 of Ghaziabad. The train had an amazing run from Chandigarh (from where, it started with a slight delay) to New Delhi (where it arrived early). I saw a WDP4B in flesh for the first time in my life, at Ambala Cantonment.

The second - the third of the journey - hop was on board the 2626 Kerala Express from New Delhi, to my "nearest railhead" - Thrissur. The loco allocated to my train was WAP4 #22666 of Erode. We left New Delhi delayed by about 9 minutes (there were two incidences of Emergency Chain Pull, and each incidence delayed us by 3 minutes). The arrival at Thrissur was delayed by about 2 hours and 50 minutes. The train was more-or-less on time till Palakkad. We were regulated at Ottapalam, Wadakancheri and Mulagunnathukavu, due to a traffic pile up caused by a landslide between Ankamali and Korattyangadi stations in Kerala.

Expect more details in a new post, slated to be posted soon... now too tired by the week long continuous travel.. images would come up very soon...

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