I will begin with the disclaimer that this is purely for railfans and rail enthusiasts; so others can read this if they like; but they are really better off giving it a pass – so that they don’t get bamboozled by all the technical jargon here! 😛 Anyway, there is a legend at the bottom for all technical terms (not all, mind you! 😛 ) and station codes. I had gone to MMR (as usual, one of my train trips!) by 12117 LTT-MMR Godavari express yesterday, returning by 18030 Shalimar-LTT express. Godavari had reached MMR at 20 04, 39 mins late. I had had a dinner at a restaurant just outside the station, before returning for some railfanning. 18030 was supposed to depart MMR at 23 10, but was running late by close to 2 hours; leaving me with quite some time to kill. Thus were my observations during a  night of railfanning:

1)22846 Hatia Pune superfast was on Platform 5, running more than 2 hours late.

2)12150 Danapur Pune superfast was announced as running 1 hour 15 mins late.

3)A BCNHL freight with Bhilai WAG9 31396 stopped on PF3 and then started after half a minute. Strangely, it was banked by JHS WAG5-HB 24056; and even more curiously, the loco had a very different sound as compared to most WAG5s ! :O

4)11062 DBG-LTT Pawan express was announced as running 1 hour 40 mins late.

5)Announcements were repeatedly made for 11040 Gondia Kolhapur Maharashtra express arriving on PF3 instead of PF4. The train eventually came at 21 54, 54 mins late; behind BSL WAP4 22834.

6)Similar announcements were made for 11205 LTT-Nizamabad express arriving on PF4 instead of PF5; which was occupied by 11401 Mumbai Nagpur Nandigram express. 11205 arrived at 22 02 (8 mins early) with twin KYN WDG3A ‘Shaktis’ 13427 and 13551. The locos were incorrectly coupled; with the Long Hood of 13427 coupled to the Short Hood of 13551.

7)Maharashtra express left at the same time as 11205 arrived, with the LP blowing 3 long horns and a short horn – all HT and very melodious! 🙂

8)Nandigram express had come with an electric loco; which had been replaced with an ALCO. The train departed with a pure EMD horn from the diesel beast.

9)A BOXN rake headed by LGD WAG9 31237 skipped the junction in style through PF2 with continuous sore throat whining 😛 . At the same time, 11058 ASR-CSMT ‘Pathankot’ express glided on to PF3 with GZB WAP7 30255, and came to a smooth stop. It departed at 22 23 (33 mins late) after a halt of only 4 mins.

10)11205 departed at 22 26 after a long stop of 24 mins, with the LP blowing the LT horn (which sounded like that of an electric loco), followed by a combination of the HT ‘horn’ (which sounded more like a donkey braying 😛 ) and the LT horn; and finally the LT horn alone again. Soon after, I went to the waiting room on PF3 to catch forty winks; which wasn’t too successful – sitting and sleeping (especially on steel seats) is never easy! 😛

11)51182 Bhusaval Devlali passenger pulled into PF3 behind KYN WCAM3 21895 at 23 48, 3 hours 8 mins late! :O It left after a halt of 7 mins, with a melodious HT horn followed by an LT horn.

12)12105 Mumbai Gondia Vidarbha express came on PF2 at 23 58 (25 mins late) with Ajni WAP7 30267.

13)11402 Nandigram express (counterpart of 11401 Nandigram express) arrived on PF4 at 00 01 (24 mins early! :O ) led by a red and yellow WDM3D 1145X. At the same time, Vidarbha departed with an LT horn, after a stop of only 3 mins! :O

14)11016 GKP-LTT Kushinagar express pulled into PF3 at a good speed, led by a big offlink LGD WAP7 30611; and slowed smoothly to a stop.

15)12113 Pune Nagpur Garib Rath arrived on PF1, hauled by a WAP7; at 00 09, 14 mins late. 5 minutes later, Kushinagar express departed – running 1 hour 54 mins late. I went back to the waiting room for a nap, and had slightly better results this time! 😀

16)My train 18030 finally came on PF3 at 00 58 (1 hour 53 mins late) headed by another offlink NKJ WAG9H 32017.

There is also a short video featuring a bit of all this action:

Technical Terms

HT – High Tone

LT – Low Tone

LP – Loco Pilot

ALCO – American Locomotive Company (and an old class of diesel engines of the 1960s)

EMD – Electromotive Diesel (and a modern class of diesel engines)

Station Codes

LTT – Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (or just Kurla Terminus 😛 )

MMR – Manmad

JHS – Jhansi

DBG – Darbhanga

BSL – Bhusaval

KYN – Kalyan

LGD – Lallaguda

ASR – Amritsar

CSMT – Mumbai CST

GZB – Ghaziabad

GKP – Gorakhpur

NKJ – New Katni Junction