Metric sojurn in the land of Awadh Part 2

Continuing from where I left off, daylight gradually started getting brighter and alongwith that the temperature started rising too. The cloud was a cool azure blue, with a few stratus clouds. The weather started getting slick and I was getting restless to hop onto a moving train. The pleasing sight of rain bearing clouds were nowhere to be seen and I had to submit myself to the slick weather at 6:30 am in the morning. Since I had time at my hand, I decided to reconnoiter around. Bhojipura is a small 3 platform affair guarded by an elegant semaphore mast housing multiple semaphore hands. Just adjacent to Platform 3 is a 3 track yard on which a few wagons lay derelict on a track just in front of the various railway offices.

It was 7am, and I was starting to get restless due to the slick weather. The urge to do photography and rail-fanning was completely dead thanks to the slick weather and reluctance of my train to arrive. Finally, at 7:30, the much awaited Gokul Exp pulled in a full 2 ½ hours late, much to my relief. Headed immediately for the sleeper class coach wherein I bumped into a grumpy looking TTE who was shooing away people from boarding. Apparently, the locals cannot differentiate between an Ordinary ticket and a Mail/Exp ticket since the no of passengers running in this part of the country heavily outnumber the quantity of express trains. Coming back to the TTE, he refused to let me board the coach saying it was reservation. I retorted back saying that I've got a M/E ticket and am fully entitled to board this coach. Apparently, our man wasn't agreeing to let me in, so I just shoved my way past him. Once inside the coach, I grilled him asking for his ID and rebuked him for not wearing his uniform since the region is rife for impersonators out to make a quick buck from the semi-literate village folk.

All said and done, I made myself comfortable near a door and the train finally left after an exchange of loud horn signals. Just after Bhojipura, a beautiful tree lined section is encountered with tall trees. The YDM4 took full advantage of the clear track and made short work of the small run between Bhojipura and Izzatnagar. Just before entering Izzatnagar, a BG line came from the left and cut across the MG lines and proceeded towards the IZN workshop. This line is used by BG locos to head towards the IZN diesel shed. We finally pulled into Izzatnagar at 7:50AM.

Izzatnagar is by far a biggish junction and since it is a divisional HQ, it had all the 'facilities' like LCD monitors showing train status and a fully functional PA system. IZN has 2 MG platforms and a through line with a small yard behind the station. The Pantnagar-Bareilly road runs exactly behind the station and there was the usual compliment of auto rickshaws to ferry people to Bareilly. Luckily, IZN had a good refreshment stall where I could stack up on some grub and water. Since I was not in a mood to consume contaminated fried stuff in the morning, I make do with biscuits and water.I head across the station to the booking office from where I pick up a Rs75/- unreserved M/E ticket to Lucknow Aishbagh, a distance of 310kms.

My train which would take me to Aishbagh was the 5309 Ruhelkhand Exp. Prior to the trip, I confirmed with Samar about the presence of a First Class carriage in the consist, but after querying a TTE about this, he replied that the FC is no longer running on the Ruhelkhand and that the Ruhelkhand Exp shares its consist with the all unreserved Bareilly-Aishbagh Exp. This proved to be a real morale downer as I had to now slog the journey out in unpadded unreserved for the next 8 ½ hours in stifling heat. To add insult to injury, a HUGE compliment of 'jantaa' was waiting on the platform designated for the Ruhelkhand.

All sorts of crazy thoughts started to run in my head. I was expecting an already jam-packed Ruhelkhand pulling into Izzatnagar with the morning office crowd to Pilibhit. I was ready to hurl myself towards the door and grab a seat; If unsuccessful I was even ready to head to Bareilly and hop onto the next BG train to Lucknow. However, all these speculations were confined to the trash as an empty Ruhelkhand Exp pulled in with skeletal crowd in it. I waited on the platform so that the crowd can settle themselves in and the well wishers disembark. Made myself comfortable in a bay near the door, locked my luggage, fished out my camera and settled down for a good time on board. After a small 5 min stop, the YDM4 let out a honk and we were off. As we made our way onto the mainline, I saw IZN WDM3D 11170, waiting for clearance to proceed to its home shed on the BG track. At the door, I had a UP Home Guard constable as company who very kindly obliged to my request to yield the door. So, I was now set for a great metric sojurn ahead.

But first, the much needed visit to the loo. Since luck was on my side, the loo's turned out to be clean and I could finish the job without a hitch. Just as I exited the loo, we pulled into Bhojipura. The platform this time bore a jam packed appearance with school kids and office goers waiting to head to Bareilly for the daily routine. Luckily, none of that huge crowd boarded my train and I could commandeer the doors on both sides.....

Thats all in this part.....stay tuned for more.....

Metric sojurn in the land of Awadh Part 1

The recent adventures of Mohan Bhuyan and Bharat Vohra came to my mind as my 2107 LTT-LKO superfast pulled into Lucknow on a sultry and humid July afternoon. Made my way towards the eponymous Lucknow Charbagh structure and took an auto to Indiranagar C block where I was met by Mr Samar Hussain(ZRUCC, LKO/NR) who took me to the nearby Dilkusha cabin which overlooks the lines to places like Allahabad, Varanasi, Faizabad, Rae Bareilly etc. After spending the evening there we headed to the Tundey Kababi restaurant in Ameenabad where we had an excellent Beef kabab for a measly Rs20/- Samar was kind enough to drop me to the nearby Lucknow City railway station from where I was supposed to catch the 5307 Nainital Exp to Bhojipura.

At about 20:45, a dark blue colored YDM4 loco pulled in with the Nainital Exp. I was booked in the First class in which Cabin A was allotted in which an upper berth was assigned to me, much to my disappointment. Anyways, the FC coach was just divine on the inside. Each cabin had 3 windows and large berths. The sight took me back in time and I felt like I was on a long metre gauge journey on a train in the 1990's. We pulled out of Lucknow City station and maintained a decent pace till Daliganj Jn from where the BG line running parallel to us bifurcates and heads towards Badshahnagar and then on to Burhwal Jn. Once out of Daliganj we were doing a good clip and I opened up all the windows and shooed away the RPF constables since the slick weather was starting to make me restless. Meanwhile, the Lucknow-Sitapur highway ran constantly parallel to us. The entire route has color light signalling but still has the old Nielle's ball token system which is given to the driver with the help of a 'mashaal' lit on the side of the track next to which a 'khalasi' stands on a raised platform with the token.

It was getting late and I had to rise early the next morning, so I called it a day and hit the berth. Thanks to the movable heads of the ceiling mounted fans I was able to get some good sleep and also due to the soft spongy and clean berths. Roused early next day at around 4:35 to find ourselves entering Bhojipura Jn. Here the nainital exp has a reversal so that he can proceed towards Lalkuan. Bhojipura is by far a typical MG junction with 3 platforms and a lone yet useless foot over bridge. At the north end of the station, 2 lines proceed to Lalkuan and the other towards Pilibhit while on the south end a lone MG single proceeds further onto Izzatnagar, Bareilly and Kasganj.

My onward connection to Izzatnagar was the Gokul Exp from Gonda which happened to be 2 hours late. Went to the ticket office and purchased a ticket to Izzatnagar as dawn broke over the horizon at 5:10am. The sea of sleeping bodies slowly started to rise while the monkeys at the station took advantage of the morning time to run amock around the station and also perform the occasional moments of love. As time passes by people start to gather for the morning departures out of Bhojipura while a bovine gives me company on a bench that I am perched on. The 'facilities' at the station tempt me to do my morning rituals there but I would rather prefer to do my morning ablutions in the confines of a train since the on-board facilities are comparatively cleaner than a place used by multiple belly sporting uncles in their chaddi's waiting in line with small plastic buckets.

Thats all for this part people....To be continued....