A tribute to KK and D locos

The ALP carries out his checks. The flasher light is switched on, checked, headlamps checked, brake pipe and feed pipe checked, sand and air checked. The loco meanwhile is humming away merrily, waiting to be unleashed.

In the olden days, when this train was fresh off the block, she used to get shiny matching diesel locos all the way from the capital of India to a then sleepy town, the capital of Karnataka.

As time flew by, the train became more popular and the catenaries reared their heads. The traction change point was shifted to that station which heralds the Vindhyas, a town that developed due to the Railways, Itarsi. And for decades, the colorful ALCO twins from the shed that bears the letters ET were synonymous with the Karnataka Express, also called as KK.

Electrification had long reached the town of Manmad ,but KK still went with ET twins to Itarsi, chugging away merrily and caring nothing about the wires that ran above it.

And then, one fine day, a white beast silently hauled the KK to Manmad. A new era had begun, for the ET twins were replaced by twin diesel ALCOs from the city of the Nizams. Moula Ali did the honors for some time before the lads from Guntakal took over. By now, the wires spread fast. The Makali Ghats where railfans once stood for hours together to pay tribute to the king of the line was electrified and the pantographed beasts encroached upon the land of the EMDs and ALCOs.

Prasanthi, Yesvantpur Kacheguda, Duronto and Rajdhani all were now hauled by the white locos, from the north , and the south, but KK still went proudly with twin ALCOs.

But alas, the loco changing point kept moving south, Manmad made way for Daund. And now the new big brash modern American hulk from Pune was given the honors of hauling this prestigious train but the days were numbered for the Diesel locos.

One fine day, the gods who make the rules decided that KK too would get E locos from Bangalore. And thus,for a train which has been synonymous with diesels, that too Itarsi diesels, it would now be electric locos.

From tomorrow, KK will depart as usual,on the dot at 19:20 from PF 1 at Bangalore, but there will be a difference. The hum shall be replaced by a whine. The pistons shall no longer move up and down in the cylinder, instead, micro controllers will do the job. The white and blue will.be replaced by the white and red or the red and cream. The hums and the chugs will be gone. The train shall arrive and depart quietly.

Those loud and smoke belching beasts will be missed. Goodbye diesels and KK. A love story to be cherished