Looking at the handiwork of the guys at Siliguri, I remember an old hindi proverb.."Langoor ke haath mein Angoor"

Posted by Herambh Patankar on 2010 Nov 09 20:59:09 +0000

Yes, beautiful!

Posted by Dr. Himagirish Rao on 2010 Nov 09 18:19:02 +0000

Very nice capture!

Posted by Abhinav Bhattacharjee on 2010 Nov 09 17:40:54 +0000

Karan, it had a composite 1AC-AC Chair Car coach. This disappeared when IR had this brainwave to put the train in the same slot as the Sarvodaya. That is when the rot started. Check this out - http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Misc/NewsClippings/BCT_JAT_superfast_2.jpg.html .

Posted by Mani Vijay on 2010 Nov 09 17:00:18 +0000

Jammu Tawi had 1AC those days? Wow! When was it taken away?

Posted by Karan Desai on 2010 Nov 09 16:17:49 +0000

fantastic

Posted by Nikhil Padinjaroot Karunakaran on 2010 Nov 09 15:58:44 +0000

Rightly said Mani. I agree with you. My passion for trains started with seeing Twin WDM2 hauled Bct Raj doing 120kph at Umargam in 1992. Diesel at 120kph is furious and brilliant too. You are correct that classy liveries will never come back. Take an example of Karnavati express today. No uniform livery.

Posted by Arzan Kotval on 2010 Nov 09 14:25:10 +0000

Arzan, I agree that the speeds are better now. But what about those classy liveries...will they ever come back? How about the sight of a double-headed Rajdhani blasting past you with a red-n-white rake? Of course, in 1977, Rajdhani was an 8-coach train with a single RTM WDM2...became double-headed in 1982.

Posted by Mani Vijay on 2010 Nov 09 14:12:31 +0000

I am sorry those days, Swaraj used to be 18 coaches. Today it's 24 coaches long. Saphale to Surat is 145kph fit by RDSO. It can be seen in RDSO website.

Posted by Arzan Kotval on 2010 Nov 09 14:07:14 +0000

Thanks Mani for uploading this. Frontier Mail TT was 30 minutes slower than what it is today. 24 coach Swaraj express had less halts those times but today it takes 5hrs 40 minutes with additional halts of Borivli, Bharuch and Vapi too. In terms of running speed, even today it is faster or as fast as trains performing more than 30 years. Wait for 5 months, AC power will rule entire Mumbai WR and trains will get speeded up by 15 minutes. Rajdhani and AK Raj end to end WAP7 and Saphale to Surat is 14kph fit by RDSO. The future is going to be the best.

Posted by Arzan Kotval on 2010 Nov 09 14:04:16 +0000