• To a smoker I meet everyday

    Every day you smoke that cigarette of yours Leaving the air around you full of toxic fumes Which coil into a gigantic serpent That turns its baleful eyes on my helpless form And slowly, but surely, slithers towards me Hissing evilly as it prepares to send me to my maker Before rearing sharply, and plunging…

  • A Saturday Night of Action at Manmad

    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…

  • Something has to give

    Something has to give After hours of frustration Hours of thankless toil Where are the fruits? Trust and rapport built Through days of understanding Days of convincing Evaporate at the eleventh hour Causing me to tear my hair out And start all over again   But are my efforts recognized? Do all those hours count?…

  • My first journey by Pragati express

    12125/26 Mumbai Pune Pragati express is one of the regular daytime intercity commuter trains serving the bustling Mumbai-Pune route. However, it is a train in which I had never travelled; until yesterday (from Pune to Mumbai). 12126 was parked on its customary platform 5; behind chocolate brown KYN WCAM2-6P 21864. My coach C2 was of…

  • My first tryst with LHB Panchavati – Part 2

    Well, much to my pleasure (being my first ever ride by this train 🙂 ); 12110 MMR CSMT Panchavati express had a swimmingly good run in BSL division i.e. upto IGP – here you will see how it fared in Mumbai division. Please don’t forget to check out Part 1 before reading on! https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2018/06/03/my-first-tryst-with-lhb-panchavati-part-1/ We departed…

  • My first tryst with LHB Panchavati – Part 1

    12110 Manmad Mumbai Panchavati express is an extremely popular commuter train – used by thousands of passengers mainly between Nasik and Mumbai. Recently the train got an LHB rake and there was a lot subsequent hype; unfortunately, the new LHB rake did not go well with many regular travellers; due to its cramped seating arrangement…

  • A long, dreary and forgettable journey – Part 2

    A 33 hours long train journey (from Trichy to Mumbai) makes for a similarly elephant-sized blog as well 😛 – as to how it started, please see https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2018/05/20/a-long-dreary-and-forgettable-journey-part-1/ . Where were we? Ah…at GY. As we departed after a halt of 3 mins, I saw GY WDP4D 40117 in the DLS. The twin GY WDG3As that I had…

  • A long, dreary and forgettable journey – Part 1

    Since when I have found train journeys “dreary” or “forgettable” ? Well, this one by 11044 MDU-LTT express was a notable exception. It is a weekly train with oodles of slack at quite a few points in its schedule: 5 hours 35 mins for a distance of 132 km (at an average speed of 23.64…

  • Rescheduled Train Blues – Part 2

    Where were we? Ah…at SUR; 18520 LTT-VSKP express having followed us all the way. To refer to how this began in the first place, please refer https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2018/05/11/rescheduled-train-blues-part-1/ . 11018 KIK-LTT express arrived on Platform 5 behind an EMD (with an electric type LT horn) at 15 10, 20 mins late. As I feared, 18520 finally overtook…

  • Rescheduled Train Blues : Part 1

    It was going to be yet another long train journey from Mumbai to Chennai – yep, you guessed it – by 11027 Mumbai Chennai Mail. The 4th time in 6 months – boringly predictable to most of you by now….or so it seemed. Early on the day of the journey (April 30) I was just…