The day had already closed down, and darkness was getting to its best. The climate was getting cold, and I went for a shower in cold water. My brother was busy attending a conference call, and that was to last till 2030. Our train (I, my dad and mom were traveling) was to depart at 2145. I was getting a bit tensed. We left home a few minutes after 2035. The traffic on the road was moderate, and my brother preferred to take the short cut via Bommanahalli instead of taking the round about route via Dairy Circle. The traffic on the Hosur road was a bit on the “heavier” side. The traffic on Old Madras road was low. We had a quick drive to Krishnarajapuram. We spotted the station, but couldn't find the way to enter the station!

We missed a turn and ended up driving about 3 kms extra. My brother finally found out a small “gap” to enter the parking lot, and he pulled in. The station looks more like a “bus station” than a “railway station”. It is located right on the road side, and the platforms are parallel to the road. The booking counter on the “main road” side was closed, and we (I and my sister in law) walked over to the other side to get platform tickets (for her and my brother) and to check the status of my train. We got tickets, and checked the status of my train. The screen displayed that my train was running late by 15 minutes, and was last “spotted” at Malur.

My train was to come on Platform 3. The station was pretty crowded, and people were waiting for an “unknown” train. The confusion at that moment was the coach position, and where would the coach be! I called up Vibin and enquired the side from which the train usually enters the station. He replied me quickly, and accordingly I took positions. A Krishnarajapuram WDM2 then pulled into Platform 2 with the Mysore-Tirupati Fast Passenger. The train was pretty crowded, and not much passengers joined at Krishnarajapuram.

At around 2140, a headlight approached the station. The lamp came closer quickly, but reduced speed heavily on entering the platform. As the loco came closer, the LED Marker lamps were looking clear, and the loco's livery also was visible. It was a normal Erode deemer. The loco was WDM2 #17914 of Erode, and that was my train! My coach was the 5 th from the loco. We did not have any water with us, and my first job was to rush to the pantry. There were no stalls on the railway platform selling water! The only shop had nothing but bananas! I rushed through around 4 Sleeper coaches before reaching the Pantry. The pantry had closed down, but one staffer quickly helped me by pulling out one bottle from the stock.

I walked back to my coach. My coach was WGACCN 02134, turned out by RCF in October 2002. The coach was numbered “B1”, and was maintained by Coaching Depot, Nagercoil in Trivandrum division of Southern Railway. The cooling was medium. The attendant issued the bed rolls by now, and the TTE checked our tickets. The occupancy of the coach was just a shade above 60%, while the rush in Sleeper coaches was slightly better at around 75-80%. The train pulled out of the station at 2201, now late by 16 minutes. We were preparing to sleep, and I was busy setting my middle berth. Just while looking out, I realized that we were crawling through Chennasandra, and some minutes later we rushed through Yelahanka.

Just as I lay on the berth, the train was diverted to a loop line at some station. I heard some train rushing past a couple of minutes later. I slept even before the train pulled out of that station! I had a pretty good sleep, and woke up shortly after 0530. Rushed off to he toiled to finish the morning chores. I hit the door after 0600. It was still pretty dark outside. I stood at the door for some, as I noticed the sun showing up his face. The climate was cool around. At around 0620, we crossed a Tondiarpet WDM2 (#17677) hauled BCNA rake. We pulled into Raichur at 0624, late by 38 minutes. My train was welcomed into Raichur by a parade of locos including WDG3A #14551 of Gooty standing light, WDM2 #17136 of Guntakal standing light, and WDM3A #18981R of Guntakal working the Guntakal Passenger.

We stopped on Platform 2. Platform 1 was vacant, while Platform 3 was occupied by two trains back-to-back. They were Raichur-Guntakal passenger, and the Raichur-Bijapur Passenger. The Guntakal passenger had quite some old coaches. My train pulled out of Raichur at 0627, now late by 37 minutes. The Bijapur passenger was lead by Pune twins – WDG3A #13048 and an unknown WDM2. The train picked speed soon after Raichur. We crossed a twin Gooty WDG3A led BCNA just before Krishna. The leading loco was WDG3A #14655 of Gooty. We slowed down as we entered Yadalapur. Yadalapur has a signaling cabin, and is a halt for passenger trains. The station, however, is not listed in passenger timetables.

We crossed a BCNA freight led by WDM3A #18756 of Guntakal. We also overtook a WDG4 (#12110) hauled BOXN rake here. We slowly entered the Krishna Bridge. The run was painfully slow, and the cross winds were pretty strong. The work on the new Bridge is progressing at a pretty slow pace. We ran slowly across the bridge, and joined the main line back again. Raichur to Gulbarga is doubled except for the Krishna Bridge. We had a halt at Yadgir, and left at 0728. I was at the door once again after Yadgir. The train picked up very good speed, and we were doing atleast 80kmph.

As my train entered into Thangundi station, I noticed another train coming from the other side. Starters on both the lines were green, and the station was all set to witness a high speed crossing. The train on the opposite direction was the 2163 Dadar-Chennai “Super”, and the loco in charge was WDM2 #16578 of Moula Ali with a dead Krishnarajapuram loco behind. It was a mind blowing run after Thangundi. We got a danger at Nalwar, and pulled into the station at 0755. We were on the main line itself. The halt kept continuing well past 0810, and there were no signs of my train moving ahead.

At around 0813, WDM2 #17739 of Pune pulled into the station with the Solapur-Raichur Passenger. We moved out at 0820. We crawled out of Nalwar, and had a real slow run to Wadi. We entered Wadi station at 0839, early by a full 21 minutes. WDM3A #18914 of Guntakal was seen waiting on Platform 1 with the Hyderabad bound Hussain Sagar Express. We were taken on Platform 3. I rushed off to click a snap of the loco. A Gooty WDM3A pair was occupying a short siding near Platform 3. The locos were WDG3A #13255 and #13334 (towards Solapur). We left the station sharp at 0905 – perfectly on time. The starter, in fact, was off at 0902 itself!

The new pilots, who just took charge at Wadi, had a good start. The train kept good speeds after Wadi. We sped through Shahabad on the main line. We crossed the 1013 Coimbatore express near Gulbarga at a rock cutting. I could only see “CR” marked coaches. We pulled into Gulbarga at 0940, early by a minute. A BCNA rake led by an “Orange” Shakti crossed us here. We left Gulbarga at 0946, late by 3 minutes. We had a nice run after Gulbarga. I checked the speed at many points, and we were continuously doing over 100kmph! We slowed down a bit near Dudhani, and it served as a warning to expect something at the station.

We crossed the Chennai Mail at this station. The loco doing the honours was WDM3A #18903R of Guntakal. My train kept its speed as we rushed forward. We slowed down once again at Boroti home for a couple of minutes. I could sense a loco with a “Crown” entering the station! And that was light WDG4 #12035 of Hubli. The loco pulled into the Up loop line, and we were given our starter. He train picked up speed quickly, and we had a very good run thereon. We once again slowed down – this time at Tilati home. The wait here was pretty long. I stood at the door looking ahead, and spotted another train on the main line. Tilati has a scissor crossing, and now I knew what I should look for!

The train on the main line slowly moved ahead, and moved over to one end of the scissor. The train came to a halt, and started moving backwards. The signal for my train turned green, and our loco started notching up. The train on the scissor loop was the Solapur - Falaknuma passenger, and the loco in charge was WDM2 #17989 of Pune. The train was still moving backwards as my train picked speed, and we rushed ahead. The run after Tilati was dry. We crossed a twin Gooty WDG3A pair at Hotgi. We reached Solapur home at 1128. The signal remained red for a long time. I saw a Plasser machine roaming around the main line at the station. The train remained stationary till about 1211. We moved ahead shortly after 1211.

The rake of the “Kolhapur-Mumbai-Solapur Mahalaxmi/Siddheshwar Express” was seen “decorating” the coaching siding at the Wadi end of the station. I spotted a WDM2 reversing towards the siding. The loco was WDM2 #18495 of Pune. The loco was preparing to work the Bagalkot passenger, which was waiting on Platform 1. My train pulled into Platform 3. WDG3A #13052 of Pune was waiting with a BCNA rake on the line right next to Platfom 3. We halted on 1216, delayed by 46 minutes. The Bagalkot passenger left soon after my train came to a complete halt. The 4 Solapur slip coaches of Udyan Express were also parked on Platform 1. My train pulled out of Solapur at 1236, now late by 56 minutes!

Lunch was served as the train slowly moved out of Solapur. I had ordered Veg. Lunch. The food was delicious, and the quantity was right. The doubling work is now complete upto Pakni. We kept a medium pace upto Mohol, and from thereon, my train picked speed quickly. We continuously kept good speeds, and I was door-plating all the way from Mohol to Kurduwadi. I decided to time the run shortly after Malikpeth, and my “readings” were mind-boggling! The train took just 32.65 seconds to cover a kilometre – and that works out to a speed of 110.26 kmph! I started timing once again around Kilometre 404. The speeds now were impressive again. I timed from Kms 403 to 365, and each kilometre was covered in 34.59s, 33.90s, 34.74s, 37.18s, 32.24s – the highest speed being 111.66 and the lowest being 96.82kmph!

In the process of timing the run, I missed a crossing at Vakav. We slowed down at Madha home, and slowly moved over into the UP loop line. I spotted a train moving towards the station, and that was a BTPN rake. The freighter was worked by twin Guntakal WDM3As, led by #18761, and the trailing one was #16200R. We left Madha soon after the crossing, and continued our spirited run. We reached Kurduwadi at 1346, late by 53 minutes. We left the station two minutes later. The rake of a Pandharpur passenger was parked on an Island platform at the station. I was desperately looking out for the loco. I spotted the loco standing on a short siding sort of a line at the Daund end of the station. The loco was WDM3A #14093 of Pune.

We picked up speed once again. The run was sort of spirited, and the pilots appeared to be desperate to keep speed. We slowed down near an unknown station, and then picked speed as we entered the station territory. We crossed the Ahmedabad-Pune weekly express at this station. The train had twin Pune WDG3As, led by #14566, doing the honors. We had another good run till Jeur. We were sent to the sidings at Jeur – and I clearly knew what was in store for me now! A few minutes into the halt, I heard a very familiar horn. The horn kept coming closer, and that was WDP4 #20025 working the Bangalore bound Udyan Express.

We made a brief halt at Bhigwan. We overtook a BCNA rake hauled by twin WDG3A of Gooty (#13286 leading, and #14777 trailing). The loco once again showed justice to my train as she pumped out energy to lead the train forward. We slowed down into Daund at around 1520, now late by just 15 minutes. The Vasco bound Goa Express was seen moving out of the station as we halted. The halt at Daund lasted for about 8 minutes. The loco pilots changed here. We left the station at 1528, only to halt once again at the advanced starter. WDS6 #36106 of Pune was seen resting at the sidings. At around 1536, WDM2 #18649 of Pune crossed us with the Pune-Nizamabad Passenger in tow. Our train was now slowly moving ahead.

We crossed the Pune-Darbhanga Express somewhere after Loni, and the loco in charge was WDM3A #18688R of Pune. We overtook a Kalamboli bound BCCN rake at Hadapsar, which had WDG4 #12020 doing the honors. We slowed down as we neared Ghorpuri yard. We crossed our pairing train – 6339 Mumbai-Nagercoil Express – here. The loco doing the honors was WDM3A #17995 of Krishnarajapuram. We then slowly progressed towards Platform 2 of Pune station, at 1635 - late by just 5 minutes! We got down at this station, and as we slowly approached the Foot over bridge, I spotted an unknown WCG2 pulling into Platform 4 with the Hyderabad Express. From the Foot over bridge, I spotted WDG3A #13149 of Pune reversing after bringing in the Goa Express.

We walked out of the station, and headed to the MSRTC bus station to get a bus to reach my home. The bus ride was bad, and heavy traffic ensured that I reached home only around 2100 – still earlier then reaching Home by train!

I am eager to know how you liked this report! Please send in your comments and suggestions (brick-bats also welcome) to binaiks [at] gmail [dot] com