New Delhi Station was absolutely empty at 0500 PM! Now thats news! I went to NDLS today to drop my cousin who was traveling to Secunderabad on AP Express scheduled for departure at 0535 pm. I reached NDLS (Ajmeri Gate) at 0500pm and it was announced that the AP Express has been brought in at Platform 4, which is quite a long way of from Ajmeri Gate.
No platform tickets were available from 04 dec to 31 dec. I wasn't aware of it but then it struck me that I could pick up an EMU ticket to Shivaji Bridge and walk down from NDLS. I might be able to catch some locos as well. Well! the railway guys didn't have change on them and so I had to pick up 2 platform tickets for Ghaziabad (Rs. 10/-). Once I was at platform 4, my cousins coach A2 was just under the FB (foot bridge), so it was an easy walk. My cousin was carrying an over loaded suitcase of books and clothes.
The A2 coach of AP Express looked quite neat and clean and had a fresh coat of yellow paint on the inside. The Loo was neat and clean rubber mats just under the sink. Once my cousin was aboard, I left to check the loco and it was the Lalguda (LGD) WAP 4 - 22322.
This WAP4 has had the distinction of pulling East Coast Express and Coromandel Express to Howrah on quite a few occassions. I politely asked the pilot if I could take a picture of him and the loco and with a smile on his face, he replied with a polite "No".
So I moved on from Platform 4 towards Shivaji bridge. Now here's the strange part. I saw Gomti Express standing on Platform 5 for departure and guess whic
h loco did the honors? An ED (Erode) Wappie! The ED WAP4 22654 is a total offlink but I guess the winter delays are causing quite a few off linkers to work overtime :)
NDLS was quite empty in terms of people and trains (must be the delays!!). The only other train was on Platform 10 and it was the Shiv Ganga Express with CNB (Kanpur) WAP 4 22282. The only other locos were the WDS happily doing their job of shunting trains in and out. There was a train in the yard with IC AC coaches and an LHB Rajdhani coach bang in the middle. I couldn't see the name or number.
Since there were no trains in sight except for the ASR-Saharsa Garibrath, which came in with a LDH WDM-2 17483; I decide to walk down from NDLS to Shivaji bridge. It was a nice walk and the sunset just added more color to everything around me. On the way, I met Mr. Vishwanathan, an elderly gentleman who is also into railfanning. After exchanging pleasantries and talking about IR, we parted ways. It took me not more than 10 mins to walk down and yes, I also had the opportunity to take a picture of the traffic below from the Minto Railway Bridge.
So that was all the railfanning I could do thanks to the trains running late by hours and some by even a day!
You can check some of the low-res pics at: Indian Railways
No platform tickets were available from 04 dec to 31 dec. I wasn't aware of it but then it struck me that I could pick up an EMU ticket to Shivaji Bridge and walk down from NDLS. I might be able to catch some locos as well. Well! the railway guys didn't have change on them and so I had to pick up 2 platform tickets for Ghaziabad (Rs. 10/-). Once I was at platform 4, my cousins coach A2 was just under the FB (foot bridge), so it was an easy walk. My cousin was carrying an over loaded suitcase of books and clothes.
The A2 coach of AP Express looked quite neat and clean and had a fresh coat of yellow paint on the inside. The Loo was neat and clean rubber mats just under the sink. Once my cousin was aboard, I left to check the loco and it was the Lalguda (LGD) WAP 4 - 22322.
This WAP4 has had the distinction of pulling East Coast Express and Coromandel Express to Howrah on quite a few occassions. I politely asked the pilot if I could take a picture of him and the loco and with a smile on his face, he replied with a polite "No".
So I moved on from Platform 4 towards Shivaji bridge. Now here's the strange part. I saw Gomti Express standing on Platform 5 for departure and guess whic
h loco did the honors? An ED (Erode) Wappie! The ED WAP4 22654 is a total offlink but I guess the winter delays are causing quite a few off linkers to work overtime :)NDLS was quite empty in terms of people and trains (must be the delays!!). The only other train was on Platform 10 and it was the Shiv Ganga Express with CNB (Kanpur) WAP 4 22282. The only other locos were the WDS happily doing their job of shunting trains in and out. There was a train in the yard with IC AC coaches and an LHB Rajdhani coach bang in the middle. I couldn't see the name or number.
Since there were no trains in sight except for the ASR-Saharsa Garibrath, which came in with a LDH WDM-2 17483; I decide to walk down from NDLS to Shivaji bridge. It was a nice walk and the sunset just added more color to everything around me. On the way, I met Mr. Vishwanathan, an elderly gentleman who is also into railfanning. After exchanging pleasantries and talking about IR, we parted ways. It took me not more than 10 mins to walk down and yes, I also had the opportunity to take a picture of the traffic below from the Minto Railway Bridge.
So that was all the railfanning I could do thanks to the trains running late by hours and some by even a day!
You can check some of the low-res pics at: Indian Railways
