Pophlaj Scissor crossing

Pophlaj is a small station located between Kurduwadi and Daund on the Solapur division of the Central Railways. The unique feature of this station is the method it employs to deal with single-line crossings. These are the pics from the morning of 29th of June 2001 from the 6012 Up in which I was traveling.

Pophdiag.png (8274 bytes)

An attempt to explain the sequence in graphics - The main line is below and symmetrical loop line with crossovers is on the top.

If the PNG image [8 KB] doesn't work, try this JPEG copy [54 KB] instead.

  1. 6012 Up gets a signal to divert to the loop line while the 6009 Dn. waits at Pophlaj home signal.
  2. 6012 Up moves totally in the loop.
  3. 6012 Up reverses towards Kurduwadi end while the 6009 Dn. starts moving on the main line.
  4. Once the 6009 Dn. has cleared the section, the 6012 Up uses the other crossover to get to the main line towards Daund.
poph2.jpg (77586 bytes) View from the reversing 6012 Up. The main line is to the left while we are on the loop line. The 6012 Up has entered the loop using the crossover away from us. As the main line is clear of the 6012 Up, the advanced starter of the main line clears the 6009 Dn. to proceed at full speed.
poph3.jpg (48657 bytes) The 6012 Up rake at the end of the reverse. This point is almost at the Pophlaj distant signal from the Kurduwadi side. The 6009 Dn. is yet to come. The difference between the two levels is obvious. However there seemed no apparent reason for having the regular loop lines in which the 6012 Up would have entered the loop line in the normal way from the KWD end and exited at the DD end. In the sense that there is no outstanding geographical feature which forces this sort of rare crossing arrangement.
poph4.jpg (81401 bytes) The 6009 down roars by our side even as we continue to reverse.
poph5.jpg (104599 bytes) The Guntakal shed WDM2 # 17153 hauls the 6009 Dn between Pune and Renigunta. At the Mumbai end, the 6012 rake returns to Chennai as the 6009 and vice versa.
poph6.jpg (110950 bytes) Once the track is clear, the 6012 Up uses the second crossover to join the main line once again.
poph7.jpg (122051 bytes) poph8.jpg (138986 bytes) Lovely ancient buildings! The signal box and the station master's office at Pophlaj.

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