Nanded station yard at wee hours just before sunrise. Taken from 7605 Nandigram exp, behind the unnamed passenger rake, ASR-NED Sachkhand exp rake can be seen far away. Dr Akash Bang

Another view of the Nanded station yard in the wee hours. The train on the right is 7605 CSTM-NED-NGP Nandigram exp with the pune WDM3A at its helm. On the left is an unnamed passenger rake. Dr Akash Bang

Sunrise at the Mudkhed Junction- after the gauge conversion, few platforms seem to have been added. Note the clean new benches. Dr Akash Bang

As Pune WDM3A pulls 7605 Nandigram exp on the virgin Mudkhed (MUE) – Kinvat (KNVT) section, note the 1st Km mark in the backdrop of the rising sun. After gauge conversion of the MUE-KNVT stretch, the distance marking has been done from zero from MUE. Dr

Pune WDM3A pulling the 7605 straight towards the sun just after Mudkhed Jn. Dr Akash Bang

Bhokar (BOKR) is the first scheduled stop of 7605 at 06.50 on the MUE-KNVT section after gauge conversion. Note the brand new look of the platforms as well as the tracks and the sleepers. The IR searchable stations code list doesn’t show this station na

Bhokar station towards its Mudkhed side. Note the brand new platform with blue-white striped brand new benches. Dr Akash Bang

Khadki Bazar- a small halt station on MUE-KNVT section just before Himayat nagar. Almost all the stations on this gauge converted section are newly painted. Note the beautiful blue-white fence. Also note the smart but less visible “blue on yellow” sch

Himayatnagar (HEM) is the 2nd scheduled stop of 7605 at 07.35 on MUE-KNVT section. Even this is not shown as a stop by the SZ TT! Note the presence of Urdu on the station board. This seems to be a random feature- as Bhokar, Mudkhed had Urdu script whereas

The brand new Himayatnagar station with “chakaa-chak” white washed fence! Dr Akash Bang

The train timings board at Himayatnagar! Note the timings of 7609 Patna-Purna written as arrival- 04.05, departure- Direct; 7610 timings: Direct 20.21. Does that mean that the 7609/7610 don’t stop and just pass by HEM at these timings? Then why do these

The brand new and stylish boards on the 7605 read “Nagpur- Mumbai- Nagpur” (via Nanded). Dr Akash Bang

Nature in its full form! At Sahasrakund, suddenly spotted this big (?Peepal) tree with lots of bee hives! Dr Akash Bang

The beautiful Sahasrakund station is an ideal example of a small beautiful wayside station. Dr Akash Bang

Small is really beautiful: Sahasrakund station with its blue on yellow board, a blue central shed, and 6 big trees- 3 green and 3 totally dried! Dr Akash Bang