Our life is all about handling impromptu activities. I‘d such an unplanned trip from trichy to melmaruvathur this Saturday. All my plans were collapsed in a short notice but the blessing in disguise is the train journey.
After a long.....ggggggggg gap, the day dawned at 5 in the morning for this lazy guy. I started from room at 5.40 and after parking my bike in the two storied parking arena, I made my way into the station sharply at 6.10.
Surprisingly the crowd was less and got my UR ticket quickly. Pallavan was docked on PF1. Continuous announcements were made in the PA regarding the arrival of 12793 MS-MDU exp, 16701 MS-RMM exp ,56706 MDU-VM passenger and for the departure of 56854 Nagore pass, 56829 Rameswaram pass and of course for the pallavan. Coupling works of ED WAP4 22255 was going on as it was the spearhead of 12606 that day. 56841 Erode pass was on PF1A with ED WDM2 18697 as the lead. Wappies 22764 and 22698 were waiting on the adjacent line. Double headed GOC WDP3As- leading 15535 and 15515 were seen in the distant. 12793 came at 6.25 behind WDM2 17793 on PF2.
In the meantime, I was quite disappointed on not getting a window seat but a gentleman who came to send-off his mother did a noble help to me by rendering his seat.
We started bang on time. Our immediate encounter was with a 30+ BOXN wagons just outside the station. We started blasting through the outskirts of trichy and entered srirangam at 6.45 for a 2 minute halt which produced a decent patronage. We passed valadi at 7 and in another 10 minutes, we stopped at lalgudi. After LLI, there was no backtracking and our train meant business. Just before dalmiapuram, we’d a series of crossings, first with a WAG headed BOXN rake and then with a WAP powered VM-TPJ pass. Our next stop was Ariyalur at 7.45 and the station looked quite clean.
You board, you travel, you speak about the alliance between AIADMK & DMDK, you discuss about England’s misery performance against the tigers, you debate on the storyline of Rajni’s upcoming ‘Raana’, you exchange magazines and weeklies, you argue on the probability of tsunami attacking the Indian coast, you seek for a humane touch, You brush upon each and every aspect, above all you allow strangers to come into your comfort and intimate zone, you then alight with the enchanting memories of travel... I was thinking about how trains (or to be precise train journeys) give a sense of belongingness to the society but the stench emanated from an adjacent sugar factory due to the molasses treatment diverted my attention.
It was then 11043 LTT- MDU express crossed us (I guess the location to be ottakovil) with an orange loco (presumably ERS WDM3A). We whizzed through a boxn rake led by WDG3As 13207 and 13451 at mathur. Seems freight traffic is comparatively high in this region. WDM2 led 56805 CUPJ-TPJ pass was waiting for us at eechangadu. We meandered into VRI at 8.30 and proceeded further after a short stay of 2 minutes. Not much action after vriddhachalam and we entered villupuram at 9.15. Though not busy as in the night, the vendors were trying to make the best out of their business. Departed after a halt of 5 minutes.
A young cute girl (oh, don’t get me wrong – she is 5 years old) sitting diagonally across me was so adamant in getting a window seat (so as me). Her mother politely asked me my destination and then she instructed her daughter to grab my seat after MLMR. Never did i think that piece of information will be of immense help to me in the near future.
MS-PDY pass led by (TNP?) WDM2 17714 ran parallel to us at Mundiyambakkam. And then we slowed down for an unscheduled halt at mailam so as not to interrupt the journey of RPM WAP4 22767 powered 16127 MS-GUV express. It was a period of transition then.
Ambience is so cool. I’m sweating profusely.
I’m sitting inside an air-conditioned coach. People are making noise in the pathway.
Someone is serving me hot palatable dishes. Someone is almost yelling at me,”Thambi Thambi”.
A sudden adrenaline rush made me to enter the real world after a powerful catnap. I slowly rolled my eyes and found the train to be stationary when that lady said, “Thambi, Melamruvathur vandha maadiri irukudhu (seems melmaruvathur has arrived)”. For a moment, i ignored her statement thinking that we’re halting at Tindivanam (I forgot the halt pattern) but somehow my intuition told me to check. When I poked around, an instantaneous sense of urgency prevailed all over my body and I was out of the train in a jiffy after thanking her
.
The clock was ticking 10.40 which meant that we've covered 245 kms in 250 minutes and I saw ED WAG7 27578 with a BOXN rake waiting for the signal to turn amber.
After a long.....ggggggggg gap, the day dawned at 5 in the morning for this lazy guy. I started from room at 5.40 and after parking my bike in the two storied parking arena, I made my way into the station sharply at 6.10.
Surprisingly the crowd was less and got my UR ticket quickly. Pallavan was docked on PF1. Continuous announcements were made in the PA regarding the arrival of 12793 MS-MDU exp, 16701 MS-RMM exp ,56706 MDU-VM passenger and for the departure of 56854 Nagore pass, 56829 Rameswaram pass and of course for the pallavan. Coupling works of ED WAP4 22255 was going on as it was the spearhead of 12606 that day. 56841 Erode pass was on PF1A with ED WDM2 18697 as the lead. Wappies 22764 and 22698 were waiting on the adjacent line. Double headed GOC WDP3As- leading 15535 and 15515 were seen in the distant. 12793 came at 6.25 behind WDM2 17793 on PF2.
In the meantime, I was quite disappointed on not getting a window seat but a gentleman who came to send-off his mother did a noble help to me by rendering his seat.
We started bang on time. Our immediate encounter was with a 30+ BOXN wagons just outside the station. We started blasting through the outskirts of trichy and entered srirangam at 6.45 for a 2 minute halt which produced a decent patronage. We passed valadi at 7 and in another 10 minutes, we stopped at lalgudi. After LLI, there was no backtracking and our train meant business. Just before dalmiapuram, we’d a series of crossings, first with a WAG headed BOXN rake and then with a WAP powered VM-TPJ pass. Our next stop was Ariyalur at 7.45 and the station looked quite clean.
You board, you travel, you speak about the alliance between AIADMK & DMDK, you discuss about England’s misery performance against the tigers, you debate on the storyline of Rajni’s upcoming ‘Raana’, you exchange magazines and weeklies, you argue on the probability of tsunami attacking the Indian coast, you seek for a humane touch, You brush upon each and every aspect, above all you allow strangers to come into your comfort and intimate zone, you then alight with the enchanting memories of travel... I was thinking about how trains (or to be precise train journeys) give a sense of belongingness to the society but the stench emanated from an adjacent sugar factory due to the molasses treatment diverted my attention.
It was then 11043 LTT- MDU express crossed us (I guess the location to be ottakovil) with an orange loco (presumably ERS WDM3A). We whizzed through a boxn rake led by WDG3As 13207 and 13451 at mathur. Seems freight traffic is comparatively high in this region. WDM2 led 56805 CUPJ-TPJ pass was waiting for us at eechangadu. We meandered into VRI at 8.30 and proceeded further after a short stay of 2 minutes. Not much action after vriddhachalam and we entered villupuram at 9.15. Though not busy as in the night, the vendors were trying to make the best out of their business. Departed after a halt of 5 minutes.
A young cute girl (oh, don’t get me wrong – she is 5 years old) sitting diagonally across me was so adamant in getting a window seat (so as me). Her mother politely asked me my destination and then she instructed her daughter to grab my seat after MLMR. Never did i think that piece of information will be of immense help to me in the near future.
MS-PDY pass led by (TNP?) WDM2 17714 ran parallel to us at Mundiyambakkam. And then we slowed down for an unscheduled halt at mailam so as not to interrupt the journey of RPM WAP4 22767 powered 16127 MS-GUV express. It was a period of transition then.
Ambience is so cool. I’m sweating profusely.
I’m sitting inside an air-conditioned coach. People are making noise in the pathway.
Someone is serving me hot palatable dishes. Someone is almost yelling at me,”Thambi Thambi”.
A sudden adrenaline rush made me to enter the real world after a powerful catnap. I slowly rolled my eyes and found the train to be stationary when that lady said, “Thambi, Melamruvathur vandha maadiri irukudhu (seems melmaruvathur has arrived)”. For a moment, i ignored her statement thinking that we’re halting at Tindivanam (I forgot the halt pattern) but somehow my intuition told me to check. When I poked around, an instantaneous sense of urgency prevailed all over my body and I was out of the train in a jiffy after thanking her
.The clock was ticking 10.40 which meant that we've covered 245 kms in 250 minutes and I saw ED WAG7 27578 with a BOXN rake waiting for the signal to turn amber.
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