Well, I was thinking whether if that is a loco or simply a cute little snowball or a cotton ball like kitten, when this TATA WAP7 was coming towards me through PDPK! The lovely white loco coming in through lush green surroundings, was so beautiful to watch!
For sometime, our regular morning train from Shalimar, that I spot very frequently, ie. the 12885 Aranyak Express is getting a TATA WAP7 HOG loco (Read more about the WAP7 locomotive here). As I have observed often it is a different WAP7 loco, so not a same one is repeated - eg. earlier I spotted loco no 30558, and today it was 30535. Today I had the oppertunity to record the loco approaching SHM-Shalimar via PDPK Padmapukur Railway station. Last time when I was at SHM, the approach of the loco was blocked by a freight train (read the previous blog post here), so this is the first time I am uploading a video of a WAP7 loco (only, without a train) at this area.
The loco is a TATA WAP7 (no. 30535) of TATA - TATANAGAR Loco shed in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand under SER - South Eastern Railway Zone of the Indian Railways. Follow the RF data below.
You can see the approach of the loco towards SHM-Shalimar via PDPK - Padmapukur Railway Station here:
Here is the RF Data: Date: September 25, 2017 Place: Near PDPK - Padmapukur Railway Station Zone (Spotting location): SER - South Eastern Railway Loco:WAP7 no. 30535 Loco Shed: TATA - Tatanagar. Loco Zone: South Eastern Railway Assigned For Train: 12885 Aranyak Express Thanks for stopping by. As always, corrections, comments, suggestions new ideas, travel tips (or anything) are very much welcome and appreciated.
When this Bhilai WAG9-H loco along with the goods train was approaching me, seeing the front of the loco (especially the buffers & the cow catcher area), I felt like as if it resembled a skull face or a monster approaching with its mouth wide open - thus came idea of such description.
Anyway, this location near PDPK was a new change of location for my regular railfanning to Shalimar. This is closer to the Shalimar station, but just about at the outskirts of PDPK, in fact you can see the station in the video. I really liked the wide area to capture approach of the trains nicely. Again it was a severely hot morning as I mentioned in my last post, so I did not wait for the loco to return after its duty from the Shalimar yard. Another Bhilai WAG-9 was spotted earlier this same morning, but I am yet to upload that video. I shall update this post when I publish the Bhilai one on my Youtube.
You can watch this video by clicking on the thumbnail below:
RF Data: Date: September 25, 2017 Place: Near PDPK - Padmapukur Railway Station Zone (Spotting location): SER - South Eastern Railway Loco:WAG9-H no. 31285 Loco Shed: Bhilai. Loco Zone: South East Central Railway Assigned For Train: Inbound freight train to the Shalimar Yard.
For sometime, the photoblog section on my blog was inactive. Here is a photo of the PDPK - Padmapukur Railway Station under the SER - South Eastern Railway Zone.
Padmapukur is a very small and very sleepy railway station. As you can see people walking and some even sleeping on the benches. Lots of morning walkers and local people come to the station during morning and evening hours just to relax. This station is located approximately about 800 meters of walking distance from my home.
Padmapukur Station is situated very close to the SHM - Shalimar Railway Station. IndianRailinfo website mention this distance between these two stations to be of 03 km, but nevertheless this is a very short walk. If you look carefully, you can see PDPK from Shalimar and vice versa; and even if you hear carefully, under certain conditions, you can hear the platform announcements of Shalimar from Padmapukur at a whisper level. Yes this is true - just imagine, announcements of one station is being heard in another, even though it is no more than mere whisper. But this is not something abnormal to me as the space and the surroundings sets perfect conditions for the same.
PDPK is a stop for EMU local suburban trains, mainly Shalimar - Mecheda local and Shalimar Santragachi Local. Check the station page on IndianRailInfohere. No major express train halts or departs from this station. Nevertheless this station serves an important area that is adjacent to the roads connecting Kona Expressway Highway, direct road links to the city of Kolkata and the West Bengal Government Secretariat 'Nabanna' in Howrah.
Thanks for stopping by. As always, corrections, comments, suggestions new ideas, travel tips (or anything) are very much welcome and appreciated.
Today again I had a great morning walk cum RF/trainspotting session between the SHM-Shalimar and PDPK - Padmapukur Railway Stations. When I arrived at the station early in the morning, the first spotting was a SRC-Santragachi WAP4 which was coming in for the 22861 Shalimar Adra Rajya Rani Express scheduled to leave Shalimar at 0635 AM. I was a little disappointed, as there was no offlink loco today. However the SRC WAP4 is the normal expected loco link of this train. The SRC-WAP4s are pretty common locos as we all know. But later I had a great oppertunity to closely record the passing of this train near PDPK which was sort of a compensation to the SRC WAP4 loco today! You can watch the the Shalimar Adra Express passing me by clicking on the video thumbnail below:
As I am posting this blogpost, I am yet to edit and upload the video of the loco arriving at Shalimar railway station. As soon as I finish that, I shall update this blog and will list it here. There were some more interesting sightings of WAG9s, WAP7, etc which I shall also update in new blog posts in the next few days.
I wish you all a very happy 'Navaratri' and 'Durga Puja'! My hometown Howrah, along with the city of Kolkata is ready for the Durga Puja festival. Here on the right is picture of a Goddess Durga idol made by a local artist in his studio near the Shalimar Railway station. This was taken by me today while returning home after the RF session. The idol is ready to be shipped to a pandal for worshipping which begins tomorrow. This was very close to where I was railfanning today! RF Data: Date: September 25, 2017 Place: Near PDPK - Padmapukur Railway Station Zone: SER - South Eastern Railway Loco: SRC Santragachi WAP4 no. 22387 Loco Shed: South Eastern Railway. Assigned For Train: Outbound 22861 Shalimar Adra 'Rajya Rani Express' from Shalimar.
My Instagram to continues to be silent due to phone malfunction. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter & this Blog are updated as usual. Thanks for stopping by. As always, corrections, comments, suggestions new ideas, travel tips (or anything) are very much welcome and appreciated.
This is the first time I heard of the Gonda Loco Shed and Gonda Junction Railway Station after spotting this inbound loco with a freight train to Shalimar yard, which was probably carrying aluminium coils of some kind (not sure) inside box wagons. Gonda city and Gonda District is located in North Central Uttar Pradesh, about 125 km North East of Lucknow, and the loco shed and the junction railway station falls under the North Eastern Railway Zone of Indian railways.
I wish to quote the following from Wikipedia: "Diesel Shed Gonda was established in year 1982 with a small holding of 22 WDM1 locomotives. In the past 31 years, it has witnessed many technological changes and has emerged one of the major diesel shed for maintenance of BG locomotives. Gonda shed has distinction of maintaining wide range of rolling stocks starting from WDM1 locomotives, YDM4 locomotives, shunting locomotives, AC/DC WDM2 locomotives, WDM2 -2600 HP, WDM3A-3100 HP locomotives and latest WDM3D3300 HP locomotives and high adhesion WDG3A locomotive. As on date, Diesel shed is homing 160 BG locomotives against the berthing capacity of 130 locos. Diesel shed is also extending technical assistance to Chhapra Satellite Shed. Diesel shed gonda is also maintaining the 140 Ton crane stabled at GKP. Shed Loco Holdings: WDM2 - 40 loco, WDM3A - 94 loco, WDM3D - 15 loco, WDG3A - 05 loco, WDS6 - 04 loco, WDP-4D - 12 loco, Gonda also has a newly-inaugurated electric loco shed that holds 33 locos, which include 30 WAG-7 locos and 3 WAP-4 locos." I've been railfanning since February 2017, so I'm quite a new railfan compared to many veterans; but whatever be the duration of being in the trainspotting hobby, I have rarely spotted a loco from the NER Zone here in this part of the country. Hence it was a pleasant surprise to spot a rare guest to the home station and of course it was a good learning oppertunity as well.
Now something interesting happened, while I was recording the approach of the train via the PDPK station, the assistant LP was looking out of the door and might be thinking what I was doing there! You can watch the approach of the loco/ train and the LP watching me filming his train on the video thumbnail below:
RF Data: Date: September 11, 2017 Place: Near PDPK - Padmapukur & SHM - Shalimar Railway Stations Zone: SER - South Eastern Railway Loco: GONDA WAG7 no. 27216 Loco Shed: North Eastern Railway. Assigned For Train: Inbound Freight Train to Shalimar. A repeat note: My Instagram to continues to be silent due to phone malfunction. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter & this Blog are updated as usual. Thanks for stopping by. As always, corrections, comments, suggestions new ideas, travel tips (or anything) are very much welcome and appreciated.
Honestly when I first saw the loco, I was not aware that these are popularly known as "Barbie Dolls" (livery) *** . It was nevertheless great to see the rusty looking WAG-5A 23294 coming to haul the Shalimar Adra Rajya Rani Express (on September 11, see RF data below). My YouTube follower Mr. Rabin Saha comments "ET WAG 5 (23294) is the first WAG 5 class locomotive which was built in conventional shell as WAG 7 and WAP 4". He further adds, "... 23293 is the last WAG 5 built in WAM 4 shell which has round glass like WAM 4. It belongs to Asansol electric loco shed". This train along with the 12885 Aranyak Express is always a delight to spot as they get all sort of locomotives.
I was just right on time to the Shalimar Railway Station. I was so tired that morning and thought I would skip going for morning walk; then I finally decided to go and really the walk was really memorable with so many great sightings at the station area. For example, I was so surprised to find a WAP7 for the Aranyak Express a few hours later (read about it here). I am still yet to post some more interesting videos, I'd rather call them exclusives(!!). When I post them you can read them here. I'll also link those at this post as well.
Watch the Barbie doll approaching the SHM - Shalimar Railway Station from the link below:
- also, watch the loco leaving Shalimar with the 22861 Rajya Rani Express:
RF Data: Date: September 11, 2017 Place: Near PDPK - Padmapukur & SHM - Shalimar Railway Stations Zone: SER - South Eastern Railway Loco: ET ITARSI "Barbie Doll" WAG5 no. 23294 Loco Shed: West Central Railway. Assigned For Train:22861 Shalimar Adra Rajya Rani Express *** I am still not exactly sure why this is called Barbie Dolls (livery), apologies for ignorance. I shall ask and will update this blog later. Corrections & opinions are very much appreciated. PS: I may not be posting on Instagram temporarily due to phone malfunction. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter & this Blog would be updated as usual. Thanks for stopping by. Corrections, comments, suggestions new ideas, travel tips (or anything) are very much welcome and appreciated.
It was shocking to see the 12885 Aranyak Express getting a TATA WAP7 Power horse today. As I post this blog post and the video of my spotting, this loco is hauling the train towards Bhojudih.
Usually the 12885 Aranyak Express gets all kinds of locos while a SRC WAP4 is expected to be its regular one. I informally call it a 'Loco display express'. I have seen so many kinds of locos serving this train, it is infact not bad to monitor this train for different locos, but never a white horse was assigned to it in recent memory! In fact I am a local to Shalimar Railway Station, and this is also the first time I am spotting a WAP7 coming to the station (though it is very possible that a WAP7 has come to the station many times in the past - I'm saying this for my spotting experience). It is shocking in the sense that such a powerful modern locomotive is assigned to such an insignificant train of about 9-10 coaches (compared to many heavyweights which more deserves this loco).
The video of the loco hauling the train out of Shalimar Railway Station can be seen by clicking on the video thumbnail below. This was shot near PDPK - Padmapukur Railway Station. Unfortunately I could not capture the arrival of the loco as a freight train with box wagons was being shunted blocking the view.
Video - 12885 Aranyak Express with TATA WAP7 no. 30558:
And oh sure, I do remember this loco spotted some days ago with the Steel Express at KHAI: Watch that video here again:
Today's RF Data: Date: September 11, 2017 Place: Near PDPK - Padmapukur Railway Station Zone: SER - South Eastern Railway Train: 12885 Aranyak Express Loco: TATA Tatanagar WAP7 no. 30558
PS: I may not be posting on Instagram temporarily due to phone malfunction. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter & this Blog would be updated as usual. Thanks for stopping by. Corrections, comments, suggestions new ideas, travel tips (or anything) are very much welcome and appreciated.
It was such a great pleasure for me to welcome a special guest from Western coast. BL-VALSAD WAG7 (no 28615) from Valsad Shed of Gujarat state came in to Shalimar Railway Station to serve the 12885 Shalimar Bhojudih Aranyak Express that runs daily (except Sunday).
It is most likely that the locomotive came in with a freight train towards the Shalimar yard and today it was assigned to the 12885 Aranyak Express and in turn it is to return to its home shed/ zone.
You can watch BL-Valsad WAG7 coming in to Shalimar by clicking on the video link/ thumbnail below:
Big Oppertunity Missed:
Unfortunately I missed another big oppertunity yesterday. 18029 LTT Kurla - Shalimar Express was assigned with Vadodara WAP5 with its Special Amul Livery and it was the second time that in SER Zone the Vadodara WAP5 has came in. This was more special as it came with everybody's favourite "Amul" branded loco. Now this cannot be forgiven when you live just at a walkable distance to Shalimar.
The lovely BRC Amul WAP5 Livery:
Photo By Asseem Jindal on Flickr
The photo of Amul BRC WAP5 on left is by Asseem Jindal and here the photo is linked-shared directly from his Flickr. Check out his great Flickr account here.
However I had the oppertunity to videograph the very first arrival of BRC-Vadodara WAP5 (no. 30088) to Shalimar with 18029 LTT - Shalimar Express back in February this year, after getting a tip from Facebook group and that was a big buzz among local railfans and envy to not local railfans. You can check out the first arrival of BRC WAP5 loco with LTT Shalimar Kurla Express below. Note, the following videos are of February 2017, also one of my firsts at my YouTube Channel:
Here the loco standing at the extreme end of platform at Shalimar Railway Station:
Thanks for stopping by, the next loggings made today will follow in the upcoming blog posts.
Happy September everyone. If you have noticed me not posting since mid-August, it is because I decided to take a short break for health reasons. However today on the 02nd of September, I decided to go out and do some train spotting at the SHM-Kolkata Shalimar Railway Station and keep up the blog posts.
I spotted quite a few good locos today along with some regular trains (like the 22861 Shalimar Adra 'Rajya Rani' Express and 12885 Shalimar Bhojudih 'Aranyak Express') which I shall post in the next few days.
The video I want to share today is of a WAG-9 H locomotive (no. 31650) that brought in a freight train with rail tracks to Shalimar Railway Station yard.
WAG9 Locomotive is said to me the most powerful locomotive (freight) in Indian Railways fleet. It is said to be similar to the WAP-7 locomotive. WAG9-H, WAG9-Hi are some variants of the WAG9 locomotive.
More information about the WAG9 loco can be found here; and also if you have noticed in the picture on the left, some of the wagons that came in was made by the historic 'Burn Standard Company'located in my hometown Howrah! I find these markings on the freight wagons quite interesting and I was thinking to photograph and log such markings on the wagons in the future. I actually have quite a few of such photos in my archive.
The video of the train's approach can be seen by clicking on the link/ video thumbnail below:
Thanks for stopping by, the next loggings made today will follow in the upcoming blog posts.
