Sri Kalahasti-Part I

October 11th, 2008, Saturday.
Time: 03:59hrs.

The alarm rang! I woke up instantly. Around 04:50hrs I boarded a bus to Saidapet. From there I boarded a Chennai bound EMU to Mambalam and I got down at Mambalam. I was to meet Ram Karthik at Mambalam Railway station. Together with Ramkarthik and Nishant a.k.a Shivaramakrishnan I visited Kalahasti. Ramkarthik(RK) was my friend who is doing Ph.D in IIT and Nishant is one of my friends who visists temples often! I arrived on time at Mambalam and as usual Ramkarthik was not present in the station. I knew the guy would take his own sweet time. I was suprised to see Pandian Express at MBM. I felt it was a bit early. It came with a WDP-4#20046. I had vada and sambar at Mambalam station. Having Vada/Sambar in a railway station at 5AM in the morning is something divine and you really need to experience it. I can't explain that in words. I couldn't believe that I was doing a railfanning trip with RK. The reason is of late we have planned a lot but not even one trip was done. Either I would be at work or RK would be busy with his IIT Ph.D. I got an SMS from RK saying that he was directly from IIT. Gosh! He has stayed awake the whole night and didn't sleep for a day and he was coming for a hectic train trip!


The train starts. Ram Karthik and Nishanth take their places near the door while I stand behind them.

We reached Egmore on time and we found AJJ WAP-1#22005 "Jawahar". The engine was looking brave and majestic as our Rajnikanth. Old, but still going on. Ram Karthik has got fond memories with this engine. Nishant was bang on time and he arrived at 06:15hrs. I suggested that we should take the last coach. I felt the front would be crowded. Around 06:47hrs we entered into the second coach as Nishant personally suggested that it would be better. Ashwin Kumar offered to wave at me at Korattur. He is one of my friends and I wave to him each time when I cross Korattur in train. I asked him to stand near the station board of Korattur Railway station.


Beach bound EMU running parallel to us near Chennai Fort.

The train started bang on time and soon we were chugging along. RK and Nishant were sitting at the door. I warned RK and Nishant about passengers who would board the train in running as it crosses Chennai Fort, Chennai Beach as the train won't go fast and many passengers are known to board RU bound trains in running.. Surprisingly, those platforms were empty. Though, I had the other door for myself, I didn't go to it, as I wanted to stay with RK and also wave at Ashwin. WAG-9#31070 was waiting at Royapuram with a freight rake. Royapuram shed was being constructed.

Pic taken by RK while our train goes towards Vyasarpadi Jeeva. Our friend Ranganath Eunny was travelling in this train. It is the Chennai-Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express hauled by AJJ WAM-4#21228. He was doing a ring trip MAS-GDR-RU-AJJ-CGL-MS.



There were four TTE's in disguise inside our coaches. They started checking our tickets. They looked like typical bank office-goers of the 1970's and I couldn't even identify. The smart thing they did was to check the tickets after Royapuram. The next halt was at RU and the train doesn't stops at AJJ. So the offender could be caught quite easily.



Royapuram Shed. Our train is now crossing Royapuram.

RK took a pic of Jan Shatbadi with AJJ WAM-4#21228. As our coach crossed over the bridge, Ranga's Jan Shatabdi(JS) crossed beneath us. The JS was doing decent speed in my opinion. We entered into the main line and we were soon accelerating. It was loads of fun overtaking EMU's. I remembered my friend Sridhar when my train crossed Perambur and I remembered my friend Gowri when my train crossed Villivakkam. WAP-1's acceleration was simply fantastic! I waved at Ashwin at Korattur. We crossed all the stations in a flash. The speed was fantastic. I always find that trains in MAS-AJJ-KPD-JTJ doing more speed than the ones in MAS-GDR-NLR, but I like the latter more though.


WAG-9#31070 was spotted near Royapuram. I took this photo standing near the door.

Near Hindu College, WAP-1 won the race at a ferocious speed sending a message to all cute EMU's and fierce tiger faced WAG-7's, "அதிகமா ஆசை படர EMU'வும், அதிகமா கோப படர WAG-கும் என் கூட மோதி ஜெயிச்சதா சரித்திரமே இல்லை".


WAP-1#22005 "Jawahar" hauls 2164 Dadar Superfast towards Renigunta. Pic taken after Arokkonam.


The train was negotiating a long curve.

The train crossed Arokkonam(AJJ) at a slow speed. Suddenly, it stopped and we all felt a jerk. I couldn't believe that the train has actually halted at Arokkonam it wasn't a halt as per the Timetable. After two minutes, we started again and very soon we were doing great speeds. We crossed Tiruttani at a good speed. Freights took the loop and we got the preference. I never knew that WAP-1 can run so fast.


What a nice place. Icchiputtur is the station name. I love such lonely places.

As my train crossed the wayside stations, I observed the scenery around and the nearby village. The stations were nice. Most of them were deserted. Greenery everywhere. Ideal spot for railfanning. Peace! Nothing more and nothing less. I was amazed at the speed and the rapid moving scenery. I was eager and excited as I would be entering into one of my beloved neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh soon. I was even excited to observe Renigunta-Gudur. I never knew that later on in my life Renigunta-Gudur section(70km) would impress me so much and the impact was tremendous. As we neared Renigunta I saw a board saying, "South Central Railway welcomes you". Right from my childhood days, it's been a great pleasure for me to observe this particular board each time when my train travels into Andhra Pradesh.



"South Central Railway welcomes you". This board is found just before Renigunta Jn.

We got down at Renigunta Jn. Kalahasti would be a half an hour train journey from Renigunta. Taking a bus from Koyambedu is the best option, but since I am a railfan, I would rather take a train. After Renigunta, trains bound towards Mumbai change locomotives. Electric locomotives are detached and mostly WDM-2's or WDM-3A diesel locomotives take charge all the way till Pune or sometimes even till the destination. RK, Nishant and myself walked to the front and waited there to watch the loco-changing ceremony. No immediate efforts were taken for loco change at RU. They wasted at least 10minutes. Later WAP-1#22005 was removed and WDM-2#16500 came to take over the job. We moved over to the next platform and had our breakfast! I had poori masala and vada while Ram Karthik and Nishant preferred dosas. After having dosas, Ramkarthik suggested that Gudur dosa was better. I asked him what was so special about Gudur dosa. He said that it could be felt only by experience and not by words.The ticket to Kalahasti cost Rs.19 per head. The distance was 24km from Renigunta. We boarded another train called Tirupati-Puri Express. It was Tirupati-Puri Express.

WAG-9 hauled freight was waiting outside Renigunta. Ramkarthik took this photo from Tirupati-Puri Express. Ramkarthik isn't a big railfan, but I forced him to take this shot


AJJ WAP-1#22005 that hauled our Egmore-Dadar Superfast


WDM-2#16500 would be the power for the train from Renigunta to Pune.

Video taken by Ram Karthik Seshadri as our train negotiates a curve at an high speed.
-Trip Report Continued in Part II