Phantom comes to Teakland …

 

railfans do trips, for enjoying the rail and its ways..and the fans undertake quite a trouble to make it happen. teakland tour happened as an offshoot from another trip that some of us on railkerala had been planning. the beauty of this trip was that personal emergencies combined with calendars that show free slots, can still be a powerful combination that make a trip possible

feb 10th, 2012... one day before the 2nd saturday holiday in february and a day before the much planned kozhikode get-together of railkerala. jay-TVC, binai-TCR, vibin-SBC, we all decided to quickly visit the teakland, incidentally this has been a route that all three of us havent visited and each been longing to see. i had a personal emergency and had to be in palakkad, so just spun the idea around with jay & binai who immediately said yes. three of us decided to meet at shornur and then decide from thereon. i reached palakkad on 10th morning on the trivandrum weekly express... got a lift from my uncle, who took me straight to a idli & tea shop at sultanpet, it was just 0330 hrs. it was an awesome tea but couldnt bear the dreadful mosqi's enjoying themselves on my blood. cut it short, after giving some quick sleep, got ready and hit the olavakkot station, bought a express ticket. rapti was my train, however the cbe-maq passenger rolled in early to pf1 and the empty seats were too tempting, i decided to get in and seat myself. to my unpleasant experience, an old person was sitting opp me and he was drunk... so decided to move around and found another seat. couple of mins later, rapti rolled onto pf2 and i decided to make a run for it, as it would take me to srr faster. so off i went grabbed a seat on s6 coach. i was mindful of the fact that i was in kerala and weird rules exist where you cant board a particular coach with II class ticket... but i needed to rest for the 1 hour journey to srr, so i sat in and started reading my newspaper... times of india palakkad edition. the times looked thin and scantily colored horrible texture of the paper, in-comparison to what we get in bangalore. the train started its journey and i got into some bit of a conversation with my fellow passenger, who was a season ticket holder. our conversations stretched from american to iran and down to associated trouble from mullaperiyar. he was of the opinion that tamilnadu was ill-treating the malayali traders - his fraternity - in coimbatore and other parts of tn. he saw no justification in that, when tamils in kerala were not being harmed. kerala not accepting tn produces of vegetables, meat etc were good to him, as he felt imports from karnataka & ap were cheaper. i gave him a profoudn yes and opined that yes, its time tn's medhavittam is given a dust-bin and their goods be send back ... atleast then our kerala manavar's will cultivate and produce stuff. as a videsha malayali, i know its a bit over the moon to expect that but i guess its not a hype

mid-way through our conversation, my eyes was inspecting the beauty of bharathapuzha fed land.. they look haritha green, but have started drying up because the sun is already dressing to shine its armour. talking about the armour, who best can be the armour of railways, other than the tte... so incame with a bang, a lady about 45-50 yrs, wearing a bag and holding a receipt book, she came in and stretched a palm at me with her ball-point pen looking at my eyes. i realise then its for the travelling ticket, she collects it from me looks deeply at the paper and scribbles across it. next she asks my fellow passenger and he gives his season pass, which wasnt received well by the examiner. she takes a seat and then get the ticket of an other passenger duo, who was comfy sitting on the slb,... they were from north india and had boarded the train from cbe.. they guys were travelling with 2nd class ticket to ers and hence had to shell out 350 rs each... wow thats a loot. she didnt blink her eyes, took the money from the chaps and wrote out the receipt. in her passing comments to the st traveller, she said ' ningal idhil yatra cheyyan paadilla keto'

well im still reaching shornur... and as i enter the y, i can spot some locos in the yard, first i passed was a ers wdg3a just below the overbridge, then a wap1 from rpm and some more locos all around. my breakfast i realised wasnt done, so went about the station building and got myself a idlie, vada combo. starkly surprised at the size of the stuff, i just gobbled it up...

to reach teakland, we had to take the passenger and i went to the ticket counter to buy our tickets... the rush was nothing abnormal, its always crowded here i reckon. our nation is overflowing with people and no q at any place is short these days, as it seems. even at a kfc counter where 8 pieces of chicken is sold at 700 rs, you will find the rush being unbearable for comfort... well, reality bites... as i was waiting ernadu exp rolled into the station, after many other trains, one after other... srr is indeed a true junction and quite a busy one at that. i met up with jay & binai and then collected our parcels for lunch... our rake the passenger train was waiting on pf1.

the train left the station at 1200 hrs and it was a very quite starting....... we run right and ran parallel with the kozhikodan line for a while and then ran into the sidelined teak bunds. the run was quite a noisy and interesting one. the coaches were getting filled as we ran through the country side and that gave us a good sense that this line is very much in demand and teakland really yearns for some more trains, unfortunately the line is single and not maintained properly too.... kerala tiled houses passed by and some paddy fields which are already nearing being parched. the teaks have shed leaves and look woody. not a single place we had to wait for signals, except for the lone crossing station. we waited at this station for the pairing train to pass and then we chugged away, often clicking some pics and then a little later we decided to finish our lunch too. our non-veg lunch of rice & fish curry was quite a interesting pack.... there was one mathi fry and the ' fish curry ' had only chaar and no fish in it.. can you beat this, in the land of fish curry, we were given this raw deal.

pulled into teakland and it was a serene atmosphere there, we were greeted by a 140 yr old rosewood and a ers wdm3a with its rajya-rani rake. our rake parked onto the line, i say this because there is no platform per se to alight. the sun wasnt at its best, so it wasnt very hot, we bought some coke and the shutterbugs went clickety all around. we even spotted a sardarji at this station. it was time to say bye byes to teakland as our strong-man the wdm3a from ers koooooed and said, we need to go and back to srr.
jay & binai sat in the same rake that took them to ers, with a loco change. the single one gave way to a twin, well almost because the wdg3a had a dead wdm3a and i ran into the maq-cbe passenger which was already waiting at another pf.... my journey was quite interesting as it was all roachified, but thankfully exactly at 1740 i reached palakkad.

we planned overnight and made it happen and teakland travel was quite a good get-together for us, it gave me a good break and got 3 of us to cherish our wish. Nilambur we love you and may you be always the teakland of our country... may the rolls royce's and phantoms and beemers come to you for its wood and may you shine royally

Maintenance

What’s that lack the most on a Public property in India.. have you ever wondered ?

Maintenance, yes simply maintaining something that you already posses, sadly that's something grossly missing on any public property here in India. Buses, trains, train stations, office buildings, roads, medians, street lighting et all lack a good periodic upkeep. BMTC here in Bangalore ordered and had a large contingent of Swaraj Mazda vehicles which could seat about 30 people. The bus corporation used them as small shuttles. They would run swiftly and easily between two shorter destinations as against the larger buses. It was a brilliant idea and they ran well too, but for lack of proper upkeep these vehicles no longer are visible on Bangalore roads. When latches & bolts go missing, they were tied together with steel wires or shabbily welded together. The steel plates on the floor were all torn and they were not replaced, instead it was bandaged. A driver once told me that these vehicles needed good maintenance and a proper schedule needed to be adhered to. The corporation obviously never did these wholeheartedly

Street lighting is a big racket in itself. Light poles and its fittings are constantly replaced, rather than just maintaining it well. The best part is that new ones are installed and then they are left un-attended to. These lights may light up the roads for a few months at the best and when they are fused or something, its not looked into. Most recently new light poles and fittings were installed on the Old Madras road stretch from NGEF to Beninganahalli. They were supposed to illuminate the newly laid out broader road. However, yesterday as i passed through them, i found UNINOR ad’s fitted on these poles that were lit but not the lights. So much for the care authorities give to road users !

Railway stations or for that matter any Govt buildings get a do once in a lifetime it would appear. The Railways setup a automatic ticket vending machine at Krishnarajpuram station in Bangalore, these worked for couple of weeks and after which they were found not working. Now, they don't even exist there anymore. These machines during its good days provided an easy access to platform tickets, people didn’t need to wait at the counters

To have world class facilities is easy… procure them, set them up however to retain them in the same class the who’s who of governance have to make a change in attitude and approach. Isnt it cheaper to maintain than to keep setting up anew ?… it atleast would save the coffers of some un-wanted under the table payments

Kochuveli jinx

 

Kochuveli is a place near Trivandrum in the state of Kerala. Given its proximity to the Trivandrum Central railway station [TVC], Indian Railway is keenly developing the Kochuveli Railway station to be an alt terminus to TVC and as such there are many new trains that originate and terminate here

Of the many trains that originate here, three head to Bangalore City, the IT capital of India, which includes the new Super-fast that was introduced yesterday. These trains are to serve the purpose of transporting the Malayali based in Bangalore, however for two reasons I feel they don’t serve that purpose very well. [1] They are non daily and that means it’s got a limited run, audience etc when there is a huge population which definitely needs a daily train. [2] They are stingy when it comes to stops within Bangalore Urban & Rural – these trains must have more stops within Bangalore city than stops outside it, if the purpose is to be well served

Bangalore’s malayali population are all settled in the East of Bangalore and hence it’s a need that these trains have stops at Bangalore Cant [BNC], Krishnarajpuram [KJM] and increasingly Whitefield [WFD] is also becoming a host to a large malayali populace.

1. 6315 / 6316 – Kochuveli – Bangalore Exp :: After Bangalore city, it stops only at Salem
2. 2777 / 2778 – Kochuveli Super-fast :: After Yesvanthpur, it stops at Bangarpet which is 70 km outside of Bangalore
3. 2257 / 2258 – Kochuveli Garib Rath :: Just one stop at Banaswadi after Yesvanthpur [in Bangalore ]

Is this a Kochuveli Jinx on Bangalore?

Jinx - a person, thing, or influence supposed to bring bad luck

Conversation in a Locomotive

Folks.. its always interesting to note, what goes on inside the locomotive of a train. The communication between the Driver and his assistant. Here below i have provided a note as given by a IRFCA member, Mr Venkat Adurty

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The Guard kicks starts the process to start a train from the Halt. The Assistant Loco Pilot [ ALP] checks briefly if not too many passengers are trying to get in. The Loco Pilot then says "right" and starts moving. Once the entire load (rake) is on to the main line, the guard's voice crackles for the second time on the walkie-talkie saying "XXXX up/dn on mainline right" and the LP starts to accelerate.

Therafter the ALP keeps watch of the approaching signals and speed restrictions and announces the same to the LP. The LP while at the controls, on his part repeats the annoucement followed by a "RIGHT" as an acknowledgement.

The ALP honks at approaching level crossings, any infingements like cattle and people and exchanges signals at each station and passing trains. In routes with old signaling, he also has to collect the 'key' (token) at each station. And yes, at each halting station, the ALP gets down to conduct a brief check and acknowledges about everything being in order.

Therafter, the conversation is largely informal about colleagues experiences and events. One comical part is the trite way they say "right" as acknowledgement as it saying "rogers" to a given flight command!!

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