Good snap..Good decorations..Any photo of the AC Chair car interior on the birthday?

That is the Queen's style. No paper plates and plastic cutlery. Only ceramic and stainless steel.

atleast its not Dakhan Chi Rani!!! :P

Ah I guess they don't call Her Queen for Nothing! Really a traveler's delight:-)

@Karan, By saying "we IRFCAns" I hope you're not speaking on behalf of all IRFCA-ians and certainly not the regular travellers. For one, your perception of the "enthusiasm dying down" is downright rubbish - because that's not the case, and if you see some snaps, it does the daily travellers at the loco which I think automatically stands to rubbish your claim.

If on Sunday 1st June 2008 we've had the GM, DRM, ADRM, PRO & CPRO present in the morning , and they even let Me, Abhishek Waykole, Subodh Raje, Ameya Tipnis & Girish Gopalakrishnan go to the shed at decorate the loco of the outbound 2123. You too were present that day in the evening if my memory serves me right. The only thing needed is a precedent to be set, after which it will become a habit. Think otherwise for once. We didn't know Chaitanya then nor did he know us, else he probably would've been a part of it then - incidently Chaitanya and a few other Mumbai members were in Mumbai on 1st June 2009.

@Chaitanya: The celebration on 2123 is not that much because the enthusiasm among daily travellers kinda dies down after morning celebration and tiring day at work, and we IRFCAns prefer attending one big celebration rather than having a "repeat telecast" celebration of the same rituals performed in Pune in the morning. If you are so much interested in knowing about celebration on 2123, you should personally travel to Mumbai and cover the same.

Apurva, a couple of years back in 2008, when 1st June fell on a Sunday, a handful of us including me, Abhishek Waykole, Girish Gopalakrishnan, Subodh and Ameya had been to Mumbai, such was the reception, that the then GM and DRM alongwith PRO and CPRO were present to receive the DQ, and we were invited to the shed at CST to decorate the loco of the outgoing DQ.

@ Karan :- From past two years Mumbai members [including you] have been coming to Pune for celebration rather than covering the 2123 Celebrations fully at CSTM. There is more than enough coverage of DQ's birthday here in Pune , we need more from the 2123 Down DQ's celebration from the Platform number 8 of CSTM , that's what Appu sir meant and nothing wrong.

@Apurva: Sir, Mumbai gang did its bit- we travelled to Pune at midnight just to be present at the celebration and take the Queen back home. Isn't it better for all railfans to come together and have one consolidated celebration rather than two different ones?
BTW, did not spot you at Pune. Were you somewhere else?

@Anant: Sir, that is why Deccan Queen's Dining Car (NOT Pantry) is so popular! The menu also includes other "unusual" items like Veg. Pizza, Cheese Toast, Chicken Cutlets in addition to usual Veg. Cutlet, Omelets, Toast Butter etc, all served in fine china crockery, not aluminium foil boxes.