A Railfan’s plans are
subject to market risks. Read all train related updates carefully.
21st of March would be the day I say Tata to AIG.
Two days later, I’d ride from Coimbatore to Mysuru, then Bengaluru, a little
north to Hyderabad, and reach Chennai by the end of the week. My bike would
complete 50k on the odometer before it turns 5. Life’s good. Corona Virus says
hello.
The first change happens because of the pandemic. 20th
March, the Friday would be my last working day. I leave directly for Chennai on
the 21st. 493 kms and two halts at Salem and Ulundurpet would mean
approximately 8 hrs for the journey. This wasn’t exactly how I wanted it, but
who can fight COVID-19.
By Friday evening, there were more reasons to change plans
again. A Ghaziabad WAP5 class locomotive, usually rare in the southern part of
the country was coming with the Mumbai Nagercoil Express that goes via Salem,
Namakkal, and Madurai. Corona or not, I was not going to miss out on clicking
it. My railfanning stints are usually solo and with least possible human
contact, so if you’re planning to bash my ideas, do read on before you do.
Danishpet is a small village at the base of the Yercaud hills
in the Eastern Ghats. At km 310 from Chennai, it marks the end of the mini ghat
section that begins at Lokur. A very picturesque railway station, which, for
reasons unknown, has never attracted railfans in hordes. If not for Corona, a
railfan from Bengaluru and I would have trekked these hills a week from now,
but that’s now cancelled for good. Yet, if I make a small detour in my ride to
Chennai, I could still manage to capture the WAP5 here.
The train reaches Salem at 15.35 hours in the afternoon.
Salem is a two and half hour ride from
Coimbatore, and Chennai is a five and
half hour ride from Salem, on my Apache, at my lethargic pace. The perfectionist
in me comes out only when I travel. I should reach my spot neither early nor
late. A good 20 minutes is the minimum time I require as buffer and waiting for
more than an hour for a single train in any kind of weather is a strict No.
Exactly at 10 AM, Dhvani Bhanushali ka break up ho gaya. Half
an hour later, I left from RHR Singanallur for Chennai. My bike’s engine and
transmission weren’t exactly at their best. This meant that my Maximum
Permissible Speed was restricted to 80 kmph, just like the recently screwed up
Andhra Pradesh Express, but let’s keep that for later. A good breakfast and a
full tank meant I was all set to go.
Two and half hours later, as predicted, I was riding over
the numerous flyovers of Salem. Now, if there’s a ratio of Area of City to
Number of Flyovers, Salem would beat New Delhi hands down. I went past the
junction where the bypass to Chennai splits. Finally at Omalur, I stopped by to
have my lunch. National Train Enquiry System said the train I am supposed to
capture had departed from Kuppam, which gave me a good two hours before it
would reach Danishpet. I was 20 mins away.
Mushroom, as people close to me would know, is my favourite
food. Soup, Mushroom. Starters, Mushroom. Gravy, Mushroom. I understand that
the variety on my platter has mushroom for improvement, yet I chose Mushroom
Biryani for lunch again. 30 odd minutes to finish it and I hit the road again,
reaching Danishpet around 14.30 hrs. The train had just reached Doddampatti,
giving me ample time to set up camera and decide my angle of capture.
Meanwhile on whatsapp, new updates were received that the
Brindavan Express to Bengaluru had gone with Diesel locomotives. Tondiarpet
WDM3A twins had hauled Brindavan for the first time in decades. The last time
this happened as a regular event, I was not born. If at all such rare events
had occurred in the post 90’s era, I had either not been old enough to cover
it, or it just never happened. My point is, I had to witness and record this
once in a lifetime event. As it is, surviving Corona seems pretty bleak, so why
miss the action.
The WAP5 cleared with Nagercoil Express at 15.15 hrs, giving
me around two hours for the 125 kms to Patchur, where Brindavan is expected to
cross around 17.15 hours. Given the Thoppur ghats in the way, added to the
existing Permanent Speed Restriction (PSR) due to Engine issues, this seemed
pretty far fetched but I was willing to try. In a six lane road, if three
trucks are climbing on all the three lanes in one side, at 15, 16, and 17 kmph
respectively, it doesn’t matter if your MPS was 80 kmph or 130. This was
precisely what happened in the Thoppur ghats. Creating opportunities, I somehow
fought my way through the mighty trucks, reaching Krishnagiri junction by
16.30. Now it was time for Brindavan to depart from Kuppam, which it arrived at
16.45 hrs.
Leaving Krishnagiri after a short break, I accelerated along
the Bangalore – Chennai Highway. The highway crosses the Bangalore – Chennai rail
route at four places between Krishnagiri and Vellore, namely Patchur,
Kettandapatti, Vaniyambadi and Pachakuppam. If lucky, I could get the Brindavan
Express at at least two of these places. I reached the bridge at Patchur and
NTES said that Brindavan was 1 km to Somanayakampatti, which translated that I
had missed it by less than two minutes. The rail route from Patchur to
Vaniyambadi takes more than 30 minutes thanks to the useless detour via
Jollarpettai Junction, whereas the Highway continues straight and at 60 kmph,
one can easily reach in less than 20 minutes. The bridge at Kettandapatti is
the least aesthetic and in no time I went past it without bothering a second
glance.
As I glanced at the sunset that was going to be beautiful,
yet in the wrong angle for my video of Brindavan, a guy on his Fazer 250 hit
the divider at more than 130 kmph, less than 200 metres from me. Thankfully, a
good number of people gathered around him and called an ambulance which reached
the spot in less than 5 minutes. The last update I got is that he was alive
while being shifted to the ambulance and his helmet had pretty much been the only
reason he survived.
Meanwhile, Brindavan arrived and departed from Vaniyambadi.
The sunset was actually beautiful on the Tondiarpet WDM3A twins, and I did
regret being amateur with using the DSLR, while also regretting not even
attempting to click a photo along with the video I recorded. There are times
when you get greedy. Now I wanted to reach Pachakuppam before Brindavan departs
Ambur. Did I mention that there were clouds looming when I was clicking the
sunset at Vaniyambadi ?
The sky opened up and it was a downpour as I rode along in
the torrential rains towards Ambur. In less than five kilometres the skies were
clear and road dry, yet precious time was lost. As I came to a halt at one of
the two signals at Ambur, NTES confirmed that the train had already crossed
Pachakuppam. There was no race or chase, as for impact I brace. Home was the
only destination and at 1830 hours, I still had 150 kms to cover.
A dinner break at Ranipet meant I finally reach home at
22.15 hours, one full hour after Brindavan reached Chennai Central. As long as I
reached home before Corona struck, I should not be having much regret. 560
kilometres from my place of stay in Coimbatore, via Salem, Danishpet,
Vaniyambadi, and Vellore, I had reached home on my Apache. Safe, not sorry.
ABCD. Apache, Brindavan, Corona, Danishpet.
Wishing a Happy Quarantine’s to all the readers. Do watch
the video of the trains captured at https://youtu.be/NqdpvRCZx4o
