Of Trains, Locos and my Family - A recent trip to Bangalore

Prof Venugopal Nair

To go Bangalore on this weekend was my own idea. My wife got tempted by it as she could be getting the opportunity to meet our daughter who is working there. So I did the planning. Fortunately for me, we couldn’t get accommodation in the 6525 Island Exp for 28th September and my wife suggested the luxury bus to Bangalore. I objected, presenting many convincing reasons, including rain and the condition of the Kerala Roads. At last she had to agree. I got reservations in the 2696 Chennai SF Exp up to JTJ and then by 2639 Brindavan Exp.And I will get almost 4 hrs at JTJ for rail fanning. I knew that there would be a large number of trains passing JTJ in the morning. The stn is not quite familiar to me except that I had a chance to be there for once. Then I used the time not to see the Stn but to visit a liquor shop nearby and have a cold beer.So this time I am going to enjoy, I thought. What a clever man I am! At least I know how to plan my rail fanning trip. And I had a desire of my own in visiting Bangalore, to have a look at the WDP4 live.Vibin has promised me to take me to that great beauty, a Dulhan in my dreams. But I can’t disclose these to my beloved wife, for reasons obvious.

On 28th afternoon, I came back from my college by 6525 which was hauled by a WDP3A which has become the usual loco for this train. But in its return trip this train is hauled by a WDM from ED. From our place, we reached CHENGANNUR by 7.15pm.The sch.time of 2696 is 7.40.I see 353 Pass.in PF 2. 2696 came by7.50, hauled by an old WAP4 from AJJ. Our coach is an old model one; no comfortable seats and the toilets are also very dirty. But no matter .It is only for a few hours!

Lucky, there is no crossing at CNGR. Venad may be waiting at TVLA. It was there and we loss no time. The next stn is CHANGANACHERRY and there also no crossing. This stn has become very beautiful with new flooring and mosaic tiles. In fact this is the first stn in our line which got a thorough facelift, thanks to former GM of SR, Sri.Thomas Varughese, whose home stn is this. Chingavanam is the next stn and our train waits in the outer of this stn too. There is a crossing with 355 Pass.which has a WAP4 from ED. We are at KOTTAYAM. PF is 1. The TT is not yet arrived. We are having our food and my wife is getting prepared to sleep. She is a bit lucky in this matter. No problem, she can sleep just when she enters the train. I am still looking out. There is an announcement for the arrival of 2660 HWH-NAGARKOVIL Exp to PF3. But I can’t see the train as there is an empty rake in PF2. Now I here the familiar sound of the WDP3A loco which pulls the train. It may be same which hauled the 6525 today. This is the loco arrangement of the WDP3A, I can imagine. As there are weekly trains every day, the loco can return the same day and get connected with the 6525 next day again. Train leaves KTYM by 8.15.TT comes and ask some nice questions, why chose this train,why not 6525,willnot there be some other train before Brindavan to SBC etc.How I can say that I am for rf? My wife may hear. No further stoppages till ERN. By this time I am also fall to a sleep. By 3.50 am I am getting up hearing some thing familiar. It is an announcement in Tamil, a melodious voice “ PAYANIYARKALIN KANIVARNNA GOUNATHUKKU” (For the kind attention of the passengers). This is the typical announcement you can hear only at ED. Nowhere else in TN or any other state you can hear such a polite, humane announcement. In other stns in TN, the announcement is “UNGAL GOUNATHUKKU”(For your attention). Me and my wife were regular visitors to ED for almost 4 years when our daughters were students in the colleges in Thiruchengode. There are thousands of Kerala students studying in the colleges in and around ED for PG and proff.courses. This place is so familiar to us as our native place and we used to roam all the places in and around ED. In those times , ERS-TRICHY 6866 Exp was the only convenient conveyance for us. But now it is not so. There are a number of trains.

I am coming out of the train and go directly to the tea stall in the pf. Good! Unbelievable! The young man at the counter recognized me and smiles at me. He calls me sir, and asks the reason for coming back. He may be thinking that I have come for collecting some certificates of my daughters. I explain that I am going JTJ. He looks into the cabinet and orders (plse believe me, even I couldn’t believe this at that time) a ‘Without’ tea for me. How he could remember that I take tea without sugar? I am honored. And ask him some thing about his conditions. He opens up. No decline in the number of the students from Kerala, but the importance of 6866 has gone and now more are coming by 2696. Naturally! This will be more convenient for the students from the southern areas of Kerala. ED is important to me in another regard also. It was here that I learned to rail fan, irfca style. As my duty of accompanying my daughters to their hostels end by noon, I used to come back to ED stn and look at passing trains and waiting trains. But really, I had no basic knowledge about trains and locos then. It was here I began to look at tts seriously and began to study about the connectivity of trains to south. The most suitable connections for me were 6627 West Coast and the 887 ED-Palakkad Town pass, so that I will get 6344 Amritha to CNGR. Interest in Locos is a post-irfca development for me. At ED, we cross the ALLP bound 6041 Exp.It is also hauled by a WAP4 from ED.After my tea, I am inside the coach, which has become almost empty. She is sleeping still. The next stop is SALEM. It is morning and I can start watching passing trains. I move to the TTseat near the door. The train is passing KARUPPUR where I see the ED bound 885 Pass from JTJ hauled by a WAG 7 from ED but in a blue-white livery. On the way I see a WAG5HA hauled tanker train also. We care reaching JTJ.

We are reaching JTJ. I can see from the train very long goods trains in the yard.It is for the first time that I see the JTJ yard. There are a number of twins as well. I spot a WAG5HA twins even before our trains comes to a stop. I can see electric locos only, not even a single WD is there. Our train, 2696 came to PF 3. The waiting room is on the same pf. We go there. There are a number of vendors in the pf, selling dosa –vada tea and coffee. We are having tea. My wife says that she is going to Ladies Waiting Room, which is very near to the general. She would sit there. I am totally happy. It is only now that I say about the timings of our next train; Brindavan Exp.She looks at me in disbelief. Gathering all the courage in me, I am telling her that in the next three hrs,I am going to have a look at the stn and the trains.She comes to the conclusion that my real aim of this journey was also the same. She is full of pity for this irresponsible father. She makes a call to our daughter and shares her experience and discloses the secret that her father has gone mad. 7.15 >2511 GKP-TVC Exp arrives in PF1.After looking at the train from the FOB,I am going to the opposite side. From there I can have a view of the yard. The JTJ town is also on that side. In the side of pf1, there is a small market. In the yard there are a large number of goods trains and a few locos. After having seen this, I come down to pf3 and buys today’s Hindu from the Higginbotham’s. After reading it, I look for my wife and both of us go to the VRR. Dosa-vada we are having. We like the food, but she can’t stand the sambar-chutney mix.After depositing her back in the Ladies waiting room, I went to the Market looking for the old liquor shop. It is not yet opened,but it used to be by 8am when I last visited the place. There are a few waiting in front opf the shop waiting it to be opened. Somebody says me that it will open only by 10 am. I come back to the stn after buying a Deccan Chronicle fro a news paper stand in the market. Oh, what a price! It is only one Re for this paper. I wish I had this in Kerala also.

I take a close look at the stn now. It is an old type building and there is a separate building for computerized reservations. The entry from outside is to the first floor and the tkt counters are there. But a few inconveniences are quite visible. There is no electronic coach display board and no touch screen. There is not even a notice board to write down the coach position. I wonder how people, especially at night can know about the arrival of the trains and the position of the coaches. PF 1,4 and five has no shops or any other basic facilities except shelters and concrete benches.

I walk to the northern (?) side of the pf3. There is a loco pilots rest room and a duty allotment room. Both are empty now. But there is a sight of a WD loco in an isolated line. It is a WDM3A (18794R) from GTL.Once I had seen it in Kollam with UBL Special. The loco is silent and the doors are closed. When I look to the yard I can see locos and locos only. A number of WAG5 PEs (please anybody explain these specifications?) are there in the yard. I can see a WAG5E of BZA with a pass.rake in the distant corner of the yard. Then there is a JHS WAG 7 also. I then got a call from Vibin asking me about my arrival time in SBC. I am telling him about the happy moments I am enjoying here. Let him be a bit jealous. 8 am-arrivals of 2028 is announced, but it is just a warning. The train doesn’t stop here. It passes through pf4 slowly.

Again, I am looking for locos. There is another twin. They are from Asansol WAG5RH. I go near to it and look at it as if I am a connoisseur of locos. God only (and the irfca masters) knows that I am a novice, a green horn in these delicate tech matters, while time passes. For the fear of my future, I keep away from the ladies waiting room, though I can see my wife having a good nap.

 8.50 Lalbagh to Chennai is announced. It comes to pf 3 with an AJJ WAP1.There is a heavy rush for this train and the UR coaches are full.
 9am.2007 Chennai-MYS Sathabdi is announced though it has no stoppage here. It passé through pf1. Another announcement, this for the Dhanbad-Allepey Exp which comes to PF 2 with a WDP4 AJJ. Two sets of coaches are there in this train, EC coaches coming from Dhanbad and SE coaches fromTATA.
 Within seconds, the 2675 Chennai-CBE Kovai Exp is announced to PF1 and it overtakes the ALLP Exp. It has to wait a bit.

I walk up to Higginbotham’s and ask for the Malayalam Paper which comes by the Kovai. The paper tells me about the Tamilnadu bandh of October 1. So I have to change all my programs and have to return without going to Chennai. I go to the waiting room and tell my wife about the program. She feels sorry for me in losing a chance to collect the numbers of Chennai trains. I get a coffee for my wife. Still she is not happy and makes all types of faces to me. I don’t care, I pretend.

 

10 am, I am going to the enquiry counter and asks about Brindavan.It will come only by 10.30. So I go to the fob and look at the market. The shop is opened and nobody there. So I run to the shop, buy a cold beer and finishes in 10 minutes. 10.30 ED-JTJ pass. Arrive to pf1 with a WAP4 of ED. It has got an RMS van as the first coach and the following SLR is a Ladies coach. The last SLR is a general one. The train is nearly empty.
We go to pf4.But so far no announcement of Brindavan. The sch.time is 10.25. In the pf4, I see an old type bell (Temple bell). But it is not used now. 10.45 2680 Kovai-Chennai Intercity Exp is coming to pf3 with any announcement. Not many to board this train. Just in a minute, 2607 SBC-Chennai IC is announced and it comes to pf5.There is a lot of people to enter this train. But Kovai- Chennai is the first to go. I take a look at the SBC-Chennai Exp. There are a number of tourists in this.

I can hear the whistling from Asansol twins now. It is a peculiar sound, quite different from the sound of other Electric locos. And more interesting, these two had different whistling sounds. The twins move, leaving the wagons in the line. Surprise, there is a JHS WAG 5HB in the next line. It was not there when I looked earlier. May have come from some faraway corner of the yard in the meantime.
Now it is 11.45 and the Brindavan is announced. There is no late announcement or announcement on the position of the reserved coaches.

Brindavan comes to PF no.4.As the vendor had told me, the D2 coach is just in front of me. No difficulty in finding out our seats. But they are already occupied by a family. They politely ask me tom have another seat, their. No objection. But now another man comes and asks me to vacate the seat. Hearing this, a girl belonging to the family comes out and exchanges a few words with the man and he goes to another seat. The problem is thus solved. Opposite to me is a middle aged lady, sleeping. A man comes out from nowhere and asks her to vacate the seat as the TTE has given him the same seat. She is not willing as she also has the same argument; the TTE has given her the seat. The man next to her stands up and offers his seat to the new man, as he has no reservation at all. But quite interestingly, at the same moment, another one comes and claims the same seat showing all of us a true reservation ticket. The lady is not ready to hear his arguments and donot vacate the seat. This leads to an exchange of harsh words between them and at last, the man goes back, saying that he would come with the TTE. TTE comes with the man and examines all the tickets, including ours. Only two has reserved seats, Mr. and Mrs.Venugopal. He finds that the reservation tkt holder was expected to board the train from Katpadi but he did not turn up. Thus he has lost his right over the seat. That is why he gave the seat to the lady. Then what about the man who claimed the seat first? It was just a clerical mistake. The man with the reservation tkt has no claim to make, but the TTE is magnanimous and he allows the man to have a vacant seat in D1 . The TTE collects reservation charges from all the passengers having seats in the compartment. But no receipt to any body and no one demands a receipt. After collecting money he goes over to the next coach. Those who are standing in the corridor or at the door are still there and the TTE doesn’t look at them. Any how seats are given to all who have paid the fee and all are happy. Socialism is just this.

The lady opposite to me opens her mind to my wife. She is from Tamil nadu and her daughter is in Bangalore. So she is a regular traveler in this route, and in this train. But never reserved a seat. Her usual practice is to enter the train, occupy a vacant seat and give the reservation fee as and when the TTE comes. It is Rs15/ -. But we have to keep the exact change with us, other wise no balance returned. All of us laugh but our co passengers agree with her. The train is very fast, and I cannot even read the names of the stns. Through the window, I can see paddy fields, corn fields and sugarcane cultivations, Mango plantations and small villages pass by. After Bangarapet, White field is the stop. The timetable doesn’t mention a stop here. There is an empty rake in one of the lines but no name plates. Next stop is KJM. A Kazipet WAG 7 twins is there. Next stop is Bangalore Cantt, where I see the rake of 2658 SBC-CHENNAI Mail. And on the opposite side, I see seven new bogies, out of which five are the new type SLRs. At last SBC. It is 2.30 pm. The train comes to PF 1. What a scene I am having! There is a WDP 4 in PF2 attached to Kacheguda Exp. But I have no time now to go there and have a look at my beloved Dulhan. I want to go to the Hotel with my wife and then to the hostel of my daughter. Then I will come back to the stn, I decide.
When in the hostel, with my daughter, I disclose the plans. We are going to the hotel room and they can have a nice time there. I will go to the stn. My daughter laughs and laughs again and again, especially hearing about the antics I did make at JTJ. She equates me with Sivan Pillai, the lunatic of our locality, who always carried a pad with him to write down the numbers of the vehicles he come across. Her mother enjoys this. On our way back from her hostel, we see the ground where the cricket match is going on, and I predict a rain. How you can predict a rain, my daughter asks, and me keeps mum. Just we reach the hotel room in the Majestic area, it starts to rain and my wife and daughter looks at me with admiration. So the plan to go the SBC stn has to be cancelled. I am lost. We sit in the hotel room exchanging stories. When they ask me about the prediction of the rains, I tell them the Neville Cardus story of Africans equating cricket with a rain dance. 30th morning, nothing is there to be done. After the breakfast, I go to a nearby Cyber café and check the mail. There is one from Vibin asking me to be in PF7 by 4 pm. MYS-CHENNAI Sathabdi Exp is coming to that pf with a WDP4. Back in the hotel room we change our plans and decide to go back to Kerala by the Island Exp. No plan to stay for Monday as my daughter has to report for duty on that day.

>10 am- I call Vibin to ask him whether he would be available by 12 noon. But no reply except a beautiful ring tone, Halleluiah (Vibin, is the spelling correct?)
>11 am, once again a call to Vibin, but the same ring tone, so I send a message to him. But now quite unexpectedly a phone call comes, not from Vibin, but (believe me), it was a marriage proposal for my daughter. 2 pm-My wife and daughter returns to the hostel room leaving me for rail fanning with or without Vibin. Wife will come back to SBC So that we can return by Island Exp. I am now walking here and there around Majestic, looking at the people and shops. I go to the interstate bus terminal and gather the information that there are a few buses to Kerala by 6 pm. 3.30pm- I am heading towards SBC stn with no hope of getting a connection to Vibin. Then suddenly a call, from Vibin. He is coming back from his Church and will be there at the stn by 4.15.And he makes a suggestion, why can’t you go back by 6315 KCVL Exp? I never thought of such an alternative. I call my wife again and again but no answer from her phone. So I give up the idea.
I take a pf ticket and enter the PF1. Goes straight to pf2. There is the Kacheguda Exp with the WDP4.. I am having a close look at the beauty for which I took all the pains. But actually I felt lost. In the irfca pics and videos, it was a fantastic look but it is not so attractive in appearance. The lofted front part, the Gopuram is not at all suited to her. Now, after once again looking at her, I leave for other PFs where there are a few locos. And I go to the old stn building, from where MG Trains used to start in the old days. It was from here that I decades ago went MYS with my students.Anyhow, they have preserved the stn building without great modifications.

I can see the rake of Raj in a distant line. From the FOB, I can see two Pass. trains, waiting to depart. The Karnataka Exp rake is also there.
Expecting Vibin, I come out of the PF and waits for him. He comes by 4.15 itself, typically in irfca style, with a timetable in his hand. The first thing I ask him is not about trains but about his ringtone.No, it cannot be downloaded to my handset. We go inside the stn.The first we see is the 1014 LTT rake which came just now. The loco is to be of ERS, but it is not. It is a WDM3A from ED.Going near to the loco, we can see that its logo is peeled of and Vibin is sure that it is one which is just transferred to ERS, but not repainted. Then we go to the yard and have a look at the rakes of Island, Karnataka and the Udyan. And there is a fresh painted WDS6 KJM. Vibin takes my photo standing with this cute one. He shows me the blue parcel van kept in one corner of the yard. He has sent a mail to irfca referring to this. Kacheguda is still in the PF2 with the WDP4, 20029. My first encounter with this Dulhan is immortalized by Vibin. 6315 KCVL is announced again .But to the SBC authorities, it is still a special train. They may have no idea that it is made a regular weekly Exp. MYS- MAS Shatabdhi is on PF7. The last van is of a GR, Vibin says. I am seeing a GR Coach for the first time. The WDP4 came with this from MYS is there in another line. We witness the departure of the Sathabdi. Immediately, the coach indicators of the pf are illuminated with the number of Raj.It may be brought to the pf any time. A Kazipet WDM 2 is waiting there for this train.

Another WDP4, (20024) is seen at the IOH shed. Karnataka Exp rake is coming to the PF 1. The UR coaches are already packed.
After all these me and Vibin are coming out of the stn. My wife is waiting there. We say goodbye to Vibin and walks back to the hotel room. On the way, we take a foolish decision. Thinking that the Island may be packed and if we take a bus, we can reach our home a bit early, we decide to go by an airbus. There is one by 6.45. The journey in this bus was the most horrible bus journey in my life. The roads, especially in Kerala is in a dangerous condition. At last we reach home by noon, Monday, after the scheduled time of Island Exp. We lost money and time. But the positive side is also there. We got a lesson that we should not have faith in a bus journey.

Back to Trip Reports