The Chronicles of Chaos Part 2 - The 130 overnighter

PART 2:

…continued

A wise man Murphy said, "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong". This adage neatly sums up the first day of our trip. 

My GoAir udaan sankhya G8123 landed at Kolkata without any delay and drama, despite a couple of passengers suffering from nausea and fainting. A little while later, the dynamic duo and our crew chiefs for the trip, Abhilash Triambak and Pawan Koppa reached Kolkata by udaan sankhya I5 2472. Strange was the fact that three brothers from the same city met up at a city 2000 kms from their home - such are the ways of life! After a fond catchup at the airport, we met Avishek Basu who had come to receive us and had kindly agreed to be our charming host for half of the day. Looking back, our flights to Kolkata was the only leg of the journey, where we had no delays.

Heading out of the airport and unsuccessfully attempting to flag down the iconic Kolkata yellow Amby, Avishek guided us to ‘Putiram’ on College Street in a pre-paid cab for a hearty Bengali breakfast that consisted of several rounds of Kachori, Singhara (Bengali for Samosa), Gud (jaggery) Rosogollas, Kala Jamun and Mishti Doi. 

Akshay Inamdar, who had landed in Kolkata the previous day joined us here. With our stomachs fully content, we were ready for the day’s grind, thus far unknown to us. Having waited long for the elusive tram, Abhilash and I took a quick taxi ride to Esplanade, this time in an Amby. After a quick shopping to pick up a small sling bag and a muffler, we caught up with Akshay, Pawan and Avishek who had dispersed after breakfast to attend to some other plan.

At Esplanade, things seemingly started going south. Where is my Train app (WIMT) showed that 12042, the incoming Shatabdi from NJP, had been held up at Banshlai Bridge for over an hour. A quick call by Avishek to Milan, who stays in Murarai, confirmed our worst fears. The train was indeed held up by protesters but thankfully, the train was not going the Coromandel way at least.

Dejected and morose, we went to the historic Prinsep Ghat to take a picture of the iconic Palladian porch structure with the magnificent Vidyasagar Setu (2nd Hooghly Bridge) in the background. That was not to be as a makeshift stage erected for some function earlier in front of the structure was being dismantled. Moods further down, we settled by the banks of Hooghly, trying to recoup and figure out a way to reach NJP. So desperate were we that we even explored the possibility of taking a bus to NJP. Did I mention that earlier in the day, I had accidentally stamped upon a ‘nimbu mirchi’ on the road? Talk about bad luck!

After spending sometime by the Hooghly, and in the true Railfans’ spirit, we boarded a Kolkata Circular Railway EMU from Prinsep Ghat to BBD Bag where Suraj Iyer was to meet us. 

We hopped on to the puny 8-car EMU, trundling along the river, on a single line electrified section, passing by the iconic Eden Gardens where VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid made the Aussies dance to their tune 18 summers ago. At BBD Bag, we were greeted by Suraj and made our way to the Fairlie Place jetty. After a quick 10 minutes ride on the Ferry, we reached Howrah on the opposite bank of the Hooghly. The very sight of the majestic Howrah station complex strengthened our resolve to make this trip a success. We got more desperate on learning that the Shatabdi was yet to move. Kanchan Kanya, Uttar Banga, Padatik and Darjeeling Mail were some of the alternate options we looked at before heading inside Howrah station to check if our Shatabdi was being cancelled. But to our respite, the answer was a balm to our wounds, "Gaadi aayega, cancel nahi hua". And shortly after that, the most pleasant news came in - 12042 has departed Banshlai Bridge towards Howrah. Deciding to have lunch, we first dumped our luggage at the cloak room. Avishek took our leave at this point and we proceeded to fill our tummies at the Food Plaza where we settled for a Chinese combo.

We had a fulfilling lunch of Fried Rice, Paneer Curry, Veg Manchurian and Gulab Jamun. As we had ample time in hand, we decided to walk to the Rail Museum nearby, to pay homage to the various locos of yore like Jagjivan Ram (WAM 1 20202), Indraprastha (WDS 4 19057), Lokmanya (WCM 5 20103), the first Metro coach built for Kolkata Metro and other exhibits.

 Ours mood improved and I had a nice discussion with Suraj on the various trips he had undertaken in the past. Meanwhile, a glance at WIMT revealed that 12042 was rather flying now and before we knew it, it was nearing Khana Jn. A few more minutes later, we were back at Howrah station, collected our luggage and waited eagerly for the arrival of our incoming pairing train. 

The SHF beam of the headlamps of the loco came into focus, the loco was humming away, having made a long and strenuous journey. As the clock stuck 17:25, the train arrived led by SGUJ WDP 4 20002, (for us SWR boys, ex-UBL) an original imported WDP 4, delayed by 4 hours, and now ready to return back to NJP with a full load of anxious passengers. No sight was more please for the four of us than a darshana of the divine SHF twin-beam headlamps which was a signal that our trip was finally going to commence!

We bid goodbye to Akshay and Suraj here, with Akshay planned to board the Kanchan Kanya later that evening and we were to join him at NJP the next day on board the same train. We railfans do not plan things the simple way, isn’t it!

Passengers boarded, loco coupled (ex-UBL, now SGUJ WDP 4 20014 LHF), food loaded, we finally departed at 18:00, delayed by 3.5 hours. Soon after departure, the Rail Neer bottle was served along with biscuits, creamer and tea bag (a stark indicator that north of Vindhyas, coffee is not a preferred drink). The evening snacks consisted of a pack of caramel popcorn, a greasy Samosa with a sachet of Tomato Ketchup, a tasteless bread sandwich and a small pack of namkeen.

Post Bally, the chief at the helm of the loco notched up, and we were literally flying. Ulysse Speedometer steadily picked up the clicks. 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 124, 125, 127, 128, 129 and after what seemed like an eternal wait, the magical number 130 was touched. Having achieved this milestone and not having had much sleep, we slept until dinner was served. Dinner was the standard Shatabdi fare, better than the snacks but would have been better had it been heated a bit more.

Morpheus took over again, and we slept till we reached Farakka where we had a long halt for want of clearance. Thereafter, Farakka Barrage over the Ganga was cleared and we entered Malda, the last town in ER before NFR took over. We had caught up with Saraighat Express here and it was given clearance first. A quick visit to Morpheus' land again, we reached NJP, our first destination in NFR at 04:20, delayed by 6 hours now. What should have been a day / evening ride, turned out to be an overnighter in the Shatabdi in seated posture - talk about luck, 10 hours and 20 minutes since we boarded our train! Weary, tired and in need of a hot shower, we started walking up the foot over bridge, to get to our hotel, when we spotted a beam of light heading towards us from the SGUJ end. I stopped by to click its pic. Lo and behold, it was none other than the famed 20012, SGUJ (for SWR boys, it will always be ex-UBL) WDP 4, affectionately called Baaz – the Bird of Prey. Back in its hey days, in its earlier avatar, it had a lovely orange blue livery, with a fibre glass cab, but now it looks pretty much like any other EMD.

Spirits freshened by the sight of Baaz and the beautiful MAWD steam loco plinthed outside the station, we headed to our hotel, for a hot shower and a quick power nap, before boarding Kanchan Kanya Express and to begin our sojourn deep into NFR.

Or did we?

…to be continued.