Roni
Member
Hi,
The previous trip report part:
India 2012 - 23: Goa VI - On Water, Rails and Elephant (50 p.)
http://railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40594
The accompanying video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln9ntoVBVts&hd=1
February 20 2012
We return to the morning taxi ride back to the hotel, passing an elephant on donation collecting mission.
Another day of relaxation was planned - I was on holiday after all - before the final spurt at Mumbai. I had to check out of my room at 11 a.m. but still could stay at the resort until afternoon. The departure of Konkan Kanya Express I would take to Mumbai from Madgaon was scheduled for 18:00.
Resort-impressions.
You could find a chaotic mix of styles, this amphora showed cryptic hieroglyphs probably originating directly from Lost-island...
Nobody really needed the pool.
In Russian it was explained in more detail that swimming in the sea was not safe after 8 p.m..
Walking to the beach dune you dunked back into Indian reality.
At the beach I came across the Indian contrast hammer again, this time even more extreme: Fishermen had pulled their outrigger boat ashore and hauled in their nets after drying them on the sand - all taking place inbetween tourist deckchairs!
Oriental veil-dance?
Crows waited for final fish leftovers in vain.
The air was slightly clearer than the last days, you could spot the big complex at Sankval even better.
Proper Goan fishermen.
I was especially fascinated by the spraying of the sand.
After retrieving and storing the nets inside the boats the fishermen pedalled home, in the meantime I sat down at the Fishermens Kafe (cyrillic).
Later I took a nap in the palm tree garden of the resort.
As promised in an earlier travelogue part, we would see it by daylight as well!
After four o'clock I seeked out my taxidriver, and he led me into Madgaon via back roads. We came across a fish market, the smell was correspondent. The town itself proved to be quite interesting, with some colonial buidlings. It took some time and driving across a few hills until we reached the station as it was situated at the other end of town.
Relaxed atmosphere predominated at the station, nothing much happened, only a two coach DMU shunted at the far end.
In case you asked yourself what these packages contained in one of the previous travelogue parts, this time I can give a definitive answer: dried fish! Obviously the overnight express to Mumbai still was one of the best means to get fish to market.
Carts loaded with over a ton of fish received a banker, even without grade...
Soon my train was displayed on the platform, but it still took almost an hour until it arrived from the stabling line hauled by KJM WDP-4B 40016 built in 2010.
My seat was located inside the interesting coach HA1 consisting half of AC I and in my half of AC II, to be seen here.
My berth could be found exactly at the centre of the coach, which resulted in a half-compartment cut off by a wall. I only had one berth above me which stayed empty at Madgaon. Punctually at 18:00 my train was set into motion north- and Mumbai-bound, from now on I would only travel homewards, to the last three days in India. Exactly at sunset featuring a red fireball we traversed the Zuari bridges I had visited that morning. At nine o'clock the conductor turned up accompanied by a gentleman and a bunch of kids, asking if I would trade places, into first class.
So, I changed to compartment B, seat 8, an upper berth. Of course there was no big difference in comfort, mainly the compartment door could be closed and the berths were a little wider, also you were spared snorers or rampaging children as long as they did not stay in your own compartment.
Additionally I was later told by the railfans that Konkan Railway, which did not own rolling stock at first, now was receiving only the worst second hand material from other companies.
February 21 2012
We reached Mumbai suburbs 45 minutes delayed. Through the not very clean, tinted windows it was difficult to see in the dark exactly where you were. Still, I got out correctly at chaotic Dadar Junction and took a taxi to the apartment of my friend IS Anand. After having arrived I could sleep on due to the early hour. For later we had planned to visit our friends in Pune.
At about 11 a.m. we boarded Anand's decorated Skoda Yeti and after a short breakfast at a restaurant headed towards the Mumbai Pune Expressway.
Mumbai city traffic.
En route we met a truck loaded with railway bogies.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway had shortened driving time between the two cities to 1 1/2 hours, at least if you were scraping on the 170 kph mark as we were from time to time. This posed no problem, as the day and night before the important Maha Shivaratri festival had taken place, during which believers were supposed to stay awake for the whole night - resulting in an empty motorway. Only uphill towards the summit near Lonavla creeping trucks held up traffic. The expressway took some tight bends with a 30 kph limit here, which of course no car driver was sticking to. The old railway embankment had been partly used to build the motorway.
As announced we reached Pune, however, none of our friends was ready as everyone had expected us hours later. We only met Lalam shortly, then entered Pune and visited Shivaji Nagar station to spend the rest of the waiting time.
Anand had not been to Pune city centre for 15 years, since then the main traffic arteries had been switched to a one way system, which had improved traffic flow. In the meantime the outside thermometer reached 39 degress C, at Mumbai 39,5 degrees were measured that day, a record temperature for February.
We shortly had to look for Shivaji Nagar but found it soon, the railway pics including the "Inspection Special" are already known from report part 17. Later we moved on to Apurva's apartment who took us by Tata Nano to the restaurant where he had reserved a table. Seven more IRFCAns showed up, in total about 60 organised railfans were living in Pune and meeting regularly. I had to think of the Central Railway "intelligence" officer at Khandwa who had claimed that there were no railfans to be found in India. We spent a nice, albeit short time, as it was a workingday. We exchanged gifts, then returned to Apurva's home.
An old post office building from 1923.
At 6 p.m. we set out on our drive home. After having tackled Pune, traffic was hardly an issue.
Evening traffic in Pune.
Various speeds.
View out of a city bus.
Ermmm... it wasn't me!
A few more cars than at noon could found on the Mumbai - Pune Expressway, but not by much. Only the great number of drivers neglecting the rule of driving on the left and using the rightmost of the three lanes with the slowest vehicles proved to be a hindrance. Joking with Anand we assessed that all those trucks driving on the right might remind me of home. We fuelled up shortly at the only Shell station in the area and headed into the night. Of course we had to fight our way through Mumbai traffic, but overall the journey from house to house took less than three hours. The fastest trains travelled the same distance in about four hours, and then you still had to transfer to your city destinations. I went to bed soon, as I would have an early start to the last excursion of the journey next morning.
The previous trip report part:
India 2012 - 23: Goa VI - On Water, Rails and Elephant (50 p.)
http://railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40594
The accompanying video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln9ntoVBVts&hd=1
February 20 2012
We return to the morning taxi ride back to the hotel, passing an elephant on donation collecting mission.
Another day of relaxation was planned - I was on holiday after all - before the final spurt at Mumbai. I had to check out of my room at 11 a.m. but still could stay at the resort until afternoon. The departure of Konkan Kanya Express I would take to Mumbai from Madgaon was scheduled for 18:00.
Resort-impressions.
You could find a chaotic mix of styles, this amphora showed cryptic hieroglyphs probably originating directly from Lost-island...
Nobody really needed the pool.
In Russian it was explained in more detail that swimming in the sea was not safe after 8 p.m..
Walking to the beach dune you dunked back into Indian reality.
At the beach I came across the Indian contrast hammer again, this time even more extreme: Fishermen had pulled their outrigger boat ashore and hauled in their nets after drying them on the sand - all taking place inbetween tourist deckchairs!
Oriental veil-dance?
Crows waited for final fish leftovers in vain.
The air was slightly clearer than the last days, you could spot the big complex at Sankval even better.
Proper Goan fishermen.
I was especially fascinated by the spraying of the sand.
After retrieving and storing the nets inside the boats the fishermen pedalled home, in the meantime I sat down at the Fishermens Kafe (cyrillic).
Later I took a nap in the palm tree garden of the resort.
As promised in an earlier travelogue part, we would see it by daylight as well!
After four o'clock I seeked out my taxidriver, and he led me into Madgaon via back roads. We came across a fish market, the smell was correspondent. The town itself proved to be quite interesting, with some colonial buidlings. It took some time and driving across a few hills until we reached the station as it was situated at the other end of town.
Relaxed atmosphere predominated at the station, nothing much happened, only a two coach DMU shunted at the far end.
In case you asked yourself what these packages contained in one of the previous travelogue parts, this time I can give a definitive answer: dried fish! Obviously the overnight express to Mumbai still was one of the best means to get fish to market.
Carts loaded with over a ton of fish received a banker, even without grade...
Soon my train was displayed on the platform, but it still took almost an hour until it arrived from the stabling line hauled by KJM WDP-4B 40016 built in 2010.
My seat was located inside the interesting coach HA1 consisting half of AC I and in my half of AC II, to be seen here.
Code:
10112 KONKAN KANYA EXPRESS
1 MAO Madgaon 18:00 KRCL 0 1
2 KRMI Karmali 18:36 18:38 2 KRCL 41 1
3 THVM Thivim 18:58 19:00 2 KRCL 65 1
4 PERN Pernem 19:12 19:14 2 KRCL 80 1
5 SWV Sawantwadi Road 19:36 19:38 2 KRCL 111 1
6 KUDL Kudal 19:56 19:58 2 KRCL 140 1
7 SNDD Sindhudurg 20:08 20:10 2 KRCL 154 1
8 KKW Kankavli 20:24 20:26 2 KRCL 179 1
9 VBW Vaibhavwadi Road20:54 20:56 2 KRCL 222 1
10 RAJP Rajapur Road 21:08 21:10 2 KRCL 246 1
11 VID Vilavade 21:28 21:30 2 KRCL 269 1
12 RN Ratnagiri 23:00 23:05 5 KRCL 335 1
13 SGR Sangmeshwar 23:38 23:40 2 KRCL 382 1
14 CHI Chiplun 00:10 00:12 2 KRCL 441 2
15 KHED Khed 00:40 00:42 2 KRCL 482 2
16 MNI Mangaon 01:43 01:45 2 KRCL 578 2
17 PNVL Panvel 04:05 04:10 5 CR 697 2
18 TNA Thane 04:53 04:55 2 CR 732 2
19 DR Dadar Cr 05:17 05:20 3 CR 756 2
20 CSTM Mumbai CST 05:50 Last Stn CR 765 2My berth could be found exactly at the centre of the coach, which resulted in a half-compartment cut off by a wall. I only had one berth above me which stayed empty at Madgaon. Punctually at 18:00 my train was set into motion north- and Mumbai-bound, from now on I would only travel homewards, to the last three days in India. Exactly at sunset featuring a red fireball we traversed the Zuari bridges I had visited that morning. At nine o'clock the conductor turned up accompanied by a gentleman and a bunch of kids, asking if I would trade places, into first class.
So, I changed to compartment B, seat 8, an upper berth. Of course there was no big difference in comfort, mainly the compartment door could be closed and the berths were a little wider, also you were spared snorers or rampaging children as long as they did not stay in your own compartment.
Additionally I was later told by the railfans that Konkan Railway, which did not own rolling stock at first, now was receiving only the worst second hand material from other companies.
February 21 2012
We reached Mumbai suburbs 45 minutes delayed. Through the not very clean, tinted windows it was difficult to see in the dark exactly where you were. Still, I got out correctly at chaotic Dadar Junction and took a taxi to the apartment of my friend IS Anand. After having arrived I could sleep on due to the early hour. For later we had planned to visit our friends in Pune.
At about 11 a.m. we boarded Anand's decorated Skoda Yeti and after a short breakfast at a restaurant headed towards the Mumbai Pune Expressway.
Mumbai city traffic.
En route we met a truck loaded with railway bogies.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway had shortened driving time between the two cities to 1 1/2 hours, at least if you were scraping on the 170 kph mark as we were from time to time. This posed no problem, as the day and night before the important Maha Shivaratri festival had taken place, during which believers were supposed to stay awake for the whole night - resulting in an empty motorway. Only uphill towards the summit near Lonavla creeping trucks held up traffic. The expressway took some tight bends with a 30 kph limit here, which of course no car driver was sticking to. The old railway embankment had been partly used to build the motorway.
As announced we reached Pune, however, none of our friends was ready as everyone had expected us hours later. We only met Lalam shortly, then entered Pune and visited Shivaji Nagar station to spend the rest of the waiting time.
Anand had not been to Pune city centre for 15 years, since then the main traffic arteries had been switched to a one way system, which had improved traffic flow. In the meantime the outside thermometer reached 39 degress C, at Mumbai 39,5 degrees were measured that day, a record temperature for February.
We shortly had to look for Shivaji Nagar but found it soon, the railway pics including the "Inspection Special" are already known from report part 17. Later we moved on to Apurva's apartment who took us by Tata Nano to the restaurant where he had reserved a table. Seven more IRFCAns showed up, in total about 60 organised railfans were living in Pune and meeting regularly. I had to think of the Central Railway "intelligence" officer at Khandwa who had claimed that there were no railfans to be found in India. We spent a nice, albeit short time, as it was a workingday. We exchanged gifts, then returned to Apurva's home.
An old post office building from 1923.
At 6 p.m. we set out on our drive home. After having tackled Pune, traffic was hardly an issue.
Evening traffic in Pune.
Various speeds.
View out of a city bus.
Ermmm... it wasn't me!
A few more cars than at noon could found on the Mumbai - Pune Expressway, but not by much. Only the great number of drivers neglecting the rule of driving on the left and using the rightmost of the three lanes with the slowest vehicles proved to be a hindrance. Joking with Anand we assessed that all those trucks driving on the right might remind me of home. We fuelled up shortly at the only Shell station in the area and headed into the night. Of course we had to fight our way through Mumbai traffic, but overall the journey from house to house took less than three hours. The fastest trains travelled the same distance in about four hours, and then you still had to transfer to your city destinations. I went to bed soon, as I would have an early start to the last excursion of the journey next morning.