|| UP & DOWN LOOPS ||

Just when you assume you have left some things behind, quite suddenly you are face to face with the same things again. We usually see this kind of looping treatment a lot in the S.C.R. zone, both the mainline and loop line in a particular direction are occupied, by freights mostly. A train that has to pass through the station in the same direction has to take the painfully slow process of switching lines twice, at both ends of the station; entering the other line loop....
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I like to call this 'reverse looping', sending a train in the loop line, on the opposite side of conventional direction of movement.

Seen here is the 20504 New Delhi - Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express, negotiating the switches to move out of Sudhani Railway Station. The down mainline was occupied by a BOXN freight led by Roza (ROZA) WDG-4G 49124, while the loop line was occupied by a LHB Parcel Express, led by Lallaguda (LGD) WAG-9 31152; forcing my Rajdhani Express to skip through the up line loop. An already delayed Rajdhani lost a few more minutes in this process.

Sudhani Railway Station, Katihar dt., BR
28.04.2022

|| DELHI BOUND ||

Every evening at 8pm, the Superfast Rajdhani Express bound for the National Capital Delhi, gears up for departure on pf8 of KSR Bengaluru. I have seen this train from the time it used to depart at 18:35 hrs, a 17 or 18 coach train, it was usually hauled by a Kazipet (KZJ) ALCo. Over the years, the departure time went from 18:35 hrs to 20:20 hrs and is now 20:00 hrs. The loco link also changed; Krishnarajapuram (KJM) EMDs took over from the KZJ ALCos. And now,...
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the electric link which used to bring it upto Secunderabad Jn. is continuing all the way, the Lallaguda (LGD) WAP-7s are in charge. As for the rolling stock, that went from the classic cream & orange ICF to the red & grey LHB coaches in April 2012. The train also saw some alterations in frequency, from four days a week during the ICF days, to running with a different train number on other three days, with a small change in the route; to now running daily with the same number throughout. But the one thing that remained constant over the years is, the departure from pf-8; which, to the best of my memory, hasn't changed any time.

Seen here is LGD's white stallion, WAP-7 30713, all set to depart with the 22691 KSR Bengaluru - H. Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express.

KSR Bengaluru Railway Station, Bengaluru, KA
26.06.2022

|| FIRST WICKET DOWN ||

12677 KSR Bengaluru - Ernakulam Intercity Express accelerates out of Karmelaram station, led by Golden Rock/Ponmalai (GOC) WDP-4D 40099. This was captured this morning. I saw a notice which said that this train will be getting Electric traction, from the 1st of July; making it the first e-loco hauled train to cover the Bengaluru Salem route via Hosur, Dharmapuri. So, I decided to capture it once before it went electric.
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Karmelaram Railway Station, Bengaluru, KA
29.06.2022

Here I present, the second clip from my Chennai trip last month. As I waited for my local train at Korattur R.S., the Chennai Mangaluru SF showed up first and bolted past, with some fantastic tracksounds.

What I didn't realize at that time was, that the horribly late running 22160 MGR Chennai Central - Mumbai CSMT SF Express was also coming soon. It was rescheduled by about 3 hrs that day, due to late arrival of the pairing train.
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Offlink Bhusaval (BSL) WAP-4 22203 thundered through the fast line making similar track sounds. The train usually gets a WAP-4 from Erode/Arakkonam as its regular link.

Hope you enjoy the action.

The video was taken on 18.05.2022. If anyone knows why the 22159 was delayed that day, please let me know in the comments. Apparently, the 22159 Mumbai Chennai SF that departed Mumbai the previous day (17.05.2022), was heavily delayed between Pune Jn. & Daund Jn.

Video link - click here

During a trip to the Northeast, I made a pit stop at Delhi for a day to visit my friend Nitin (YT - Xtreme Railroads ). The two of us went to explore some of our old haunts, spots where we went for some railfanning during my stay in Delhi many years ago. As a part of that, putting up with the late April heat, we visited Shahbad Mohammadpur [SMDP], to catch up with the latest developments in the line.

SMDP isn't what it used to be earlier, for that matter...
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of fact, is any line in India, save the heritage ones, the same as what it used to be a few years ago? One of the few diesel actions we could spot in this route was the 12259 Sealdah - Bikaner Duronto Express, led majestically by a honking Tughlakabad (TKD) WDP-4B 40019, Long Hood Forward.

The honking wasn't as celebratory as we would have hoped to hear, but it was good to see the LHF Hunk belligerently stomp ahead with the Duronto Exp. This action was one of the perks we got for venturing out there, bearing the heat of Delhi.

12259 Sealdah - Bikaner Duronto Express rushing out of Delhi led by TKD WDP-4B

YT Link - click here