Various Reports
by Subbu
2000/2001
Chennai - Salem - Coimbatore - Bangalore - Chennai: 2000-12-05
Left on 29th morning by 2675 express ,from chennai amidst warnings of a cyclone.
The trai kept to its booked time till Jolarpettai after which it got delayed by about 10 min due to goods rakes which forced us on the loop line and a few works between Morappur and Bommidi in a short stretch of 10 kms forced the delay even further. Howver a bout of fast running at 110 kmph ( 5 kms above max speed) between Dnaishpet and salem saw the delay coming down to about 10 minutes.
Lots of double headed freighters ( 2 WAG7 or 2 WAG 5).
Now noticed a couple of WAG 5 AT's and 5 HDS , any idea what they are for. ALso a lot of double headed WDG2'2 and WDM2's hauling freight.
From CBE to SBC by 1014 express , no great runs. Just booked speed runs , howvever recovery times kicked in , train being 35 minutes late in BNC was only 5 minutes late in SBC.
Has 1 SLr , 4 SL, 1 2AC , 2 3AC and 7 Sl , 2 General , 1 SLR.
REturn from bangalore by 6024.
funny train with a pantry car but no service. Was hauled by WAP1 22052. The same that used to do the work on 2023/24 Coimbatore shatabdi .
Kept some good speed but got stuck behind a Goods before AJJ delaying us by about 30 minutes.
Reached Chennai by 15:15 pm.
Went to station again to receive a friend by 2640. Chennai express ( 1063/64) now has 2 3AC coaches.
Earlier the trains between Lonavala and Karjat had a max of 17 bogies , has it been increased now to 18 ? . Anybody has info. Because both 1013/1014 had 18 bogies.
Cochin - Bangalore: 2001-03-04
Back from a trip to cochin and bangalore where i met srinivas at SBC station.
From Madras to Kochi by 19 mail hauled by a WAP4 of ED loco shed. Rake was 2 SLR , 4 GS , 1 Composite 1 cum 2 ac , 1 2ac , 2 3 AC and rest sleeper. Train did good runs reaching ERN in time .
In Kochi did not get time for trainspotting , i should do that next time. But lots of diesel powers. Incidentally 1081/82 is i think compeltely diesel hauled between Cape and Pune.
From Kochi to SBC by 6526 ISland express and was twin WDM2 alco with smoke belching. It was a lovely treat as i saw the pair at front since the line between ERN and SRR has lot of curves.
SBC is the best place to spot diesels. Lovely satain where u can see so many diesels. Including double headed ones for ISLANd and KK express.
Salem: 2001-04-09
I had a very quick trip to salem yesterday. This is town about 334 kilometres from Madras and the 2675/76 Kovai express is a convenient train for a day round trip.
Please ignore if you find this boring
We reached station at around 5:35 in the morning. The first trainto arrive was 6606 Nilgiri express. This was followed by 7054 Hyderabad express which came in hauled by WAP4 Twin beam headlight 22312 of LGD shed.
I was disappointed to find that Kovai express did not get a loco like WAP4 it had only a WAM4 PE ( air brake only) the sign airbrake only made me feel happy since i assumed that it has to be a better loco or well maintained one at least. Am i right?
Then came 6009 which was hauled by 20500 ET shed WAM4 , the same loco which hauled the train the previous day morning when i had been to central to see a friend off.
Then as we were leaving 23686 WAG5 came in to power 1064 UP. The Hazrat Nizamuddin RAj had a WAP4 power attached to it( surprising , since it always gets a WAP1) number 22263.
As we left central GT came in about 10 minutes late .
The train was fairly crowded, most superfast trains out of madras to JTJ are fairly crowded nowadays , cant say why though? may be because bus fares were increased tremendorously in 1997 and this meant a fast train which does a stretch in 2 hrs is likely to be better than a bus which takes 3 - 3.5 hrs for the same stretch at nearly the same cost.
So i had to remain seated sine the doors and the aisle was pretty crowded.
The first surprise was at Villivakkam where i spotted a WDG2 in what is essentially a Electric Territory. The last time i saw a diesel power in AJJ - MAS stretch was in 1996 when it a KJM power hauled a Container cargo.
We crossed a goods train which was followed by 2674 and 6320. SHould i say efficient or faulty planning that a goods train was allowed to proceed just before a SF train.
With very few Works being carried out the train generally kept to time as per working TT and we arrived at AJJ at 7:19 sharp. We left AJJ after a 2 minute stop.
At AJJ i noticed some work going on adjacent to the Loco shed for what looked like a pit line. Is it because a couple of Passenger trains are based at AJJ this work is being carried out.
We then proceeded to overtake a POL rake and AJJ KPD MEMU . The rest of the trip till KPD and beyond was uneventful till we reached Vaniyambadi where we crossed 2608 hauled by 22381 ED shed WAP4 which simple zoomed past us. THis is was fun 2 trains crossing each other at 105 KMPH .
At 9:05 we crossed the 200 km milestone gieving an average of 70 kmph.
We reached JTJ at 9:15 am .Ave speed by now was 71.33 kmph not bad at all since the fare ( reserved ) is only about 85 Rs. Here i found quite a few WAG5's and a WAG7 from BRC. HOw did it land up here , since to land up at SR on its own power it would have to come via Ratlam Bhopal Route.
However by the time we reached salem we lost a few more minutes ending up being about 5 minutes late.
A 334 km journey in 285 minutes at ave speed of 70 kmph. Fare of Rs 106.