| An Unforgettable Journey |
Chapter- 3
Priceless Happiness :)
28-04-2018
(The most beautiful and also the last part of this travelogue)
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my eyes,saw the watch,it ticked 5:30.Just climbed down the berth slowly and sat by the window seat.I guess I woke just before Adarki.Freshened myself and stood by the door.I was the first one in the entire coach to wake up,the whole coach was silent and lights were off.Witnessed one of the best ever sceneries of the entire Indian Railways 💓
Ran to the right door and left door and was just awestruck with the gigantic curves,the beautiful hills and the rural views!Then came the famous Daundaj curve!Man that's just one of the best curves in the whole India!Also I went before the doubling work started.Pure bliss!
Then came the hero of the section,and the section I wanted to admire.The Shindawane Ghats 💓.Felt blessed as I was able to go through the section before OHE poles invaded this evergreen ghat section.Had a beautiful sunrise yesterday,had an even more better one today around Shindawane!The viaducts,the tunnels.Was just speechless and I'm short of words appreciating the scenery!Slowly people started waking up and everyone's eyes was stuck to the window.Slowly entered Ghorpadi.Saw a golf club and no mention the Pune Diesel Loco shed :)
Also found a marking in the Ghorpadi yard which mentioned shunters to work with Front Panto on,experts may put light on why front panto is used for shunting there(Pic attached below).
Finally reached Pune PF-3 at 08:10 hours.The Indore-Pune Express arrived at PF-2 with a BRC WAP-4 at helm.
The pure melodies started when the vendors entered the coach for the second time after Hubballi,no vendors were allowed to enter and the coach was locked most of the time and was opened only when the train reached the station.Nandini Dharwad Peda vendor came at UBL."Chai bolo chai!!Vada Pav Vada Pav,garma garam Vada Pav"Filled the air and gave one of the best vibes in the journey😇
I was eager and was anxious about the loco change,as I knew that this train regularly got WAP-5s and WAP-4Es from BRC,was praying that we should get a WAP-5 :D In the meanwhile,the Ahmedabad-Pune Duronto was shunted from PF-5 towards the yard.Then at 09:20,late by an hour,the train departed with a 3 Phaser honk.Become too happy upon hearing that and ran to the door on the left side as there was a switch towards the left.And yes!!!It happened and it was a double dhamaka for me as a Vadodara WAP-5 with Amul Livery was hauling my Humsafar,literally went berserk on seeing it🤩.Immediately dialled my cousin who was coming to pick us up at KYN to capture the loco so that I could find it's road number!And immediately upon crossing Mutha River Bridge,witnessed one of the maddest accelerations I've ever witnessed!Started to rip apart right from Shivajinagar :D I just become like a child and just fell in love with the WAP-5 in the maiden haul itself.The WAP-5 left no station unturned,Khadki,Dapodi,Kasarwadi,Pimpri-Chinchwad,Akurdi,Dehu Road(A small video of the skip of Dehu Road given below).Every single station was just zoomed past in MPS🔥Also a regular sight in Indian Railways,there was these group of senior citizens and a youngster beside us who had a heated political discussion.Felt like Arnab Goswami was seating beside us :p The mad run came to an end at Lonavala and it was time for the downhill run from there.The P5 sedately crossed the Bhor Ghats,which was the fourth Ghat in the 1584 km journey.Last time when I went through Bhor Ghats was in 2015 and at evening time in 16352.Enjoyed the section more this time :) Also got to see the expressway more clear this time from there and also the breathtaking views of the ghats around Khandala.
Done with the braking test at Monkey Hill Cabin and was ready to roll off from the ghats.Just when the train crossed Palasdhari and the board read "End Of Ghat Section",the WAP-5 entered Beast Mode soon after the sedate skip of Karjat,went near the doors and the vestibules were just shaking madly due to the crossing on the switches at mad pace,my mom was actually scared on seeing the shaking :p Neral,Sheral,Vangani,Badlapur were just zipped past at MPS leaving no mercy!Finally as we entered Mumbai Suburbs,Mumbai ka asli Baap aka Mumbai Locals entered the scene :D
Looped first for a unscheduled halt at Ambernath for 2 mins.Then again at Ulhasnagar for the same time and again at Vithalwadi,just for the Locals :D Then was caught at Kalyan Home again :p
Then got an entry into the PF-7 of Kalyan and arrived at 11:00 hrs finally :) The last 138 km was done in 2 hrs at a pretty good average of 69 km/ph!Got off the Humsafar and the first thing I asked to my cousin who came to pick me up after greeting was the road number of the WAP-5 and then he showed me the picture of the Loco and it was 30053 :)
Bade farewell to Humsafar then,for one of the most best 31 hours,1584 kms of my life :)
--Caution Unwired Switch ahead--
End of my first ever travelogue.Please bear with the slow narration as this is my first attempt in making one such.Also I forgot the road numbers of the locos I spotted in PUNE,didn't use a notepad then to write down the loco numbers.
Would love to hear your reviews on this and would like to hear your suggestions to improve.
Thank you :)