Morning of the 1st of May 2001, Shri and I take the
Dombivali - Vasai Road DMU, whose pics can be seen here. We met
Rajan on Vasai Road platform and then took an EMU to Virar. |
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From our Virar bound EMU — a Vatwa WDM2 coupled with an
Ernakulam power at the north end of Vasai road station. Trains
travelling to Konkan railways from the WR get a change from
electric to diesel here. |
After meeting Viraf and Venky at the north end of
pf 3 of Virar, we begin our trek. |
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As the dawn breaks, an empty container rakes arrives at Virar.
There is a C&W scrapping yard to the left of this
location. |
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The WCAM1 dual voltage loco gets an order to divert extreme
left at Virar home signal. |
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The desolate landscape at the site. |
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A crowded shuttle heading into the dead zone. |
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The 2952 Up Rajdhani approaches the Narangi creek bridge. Note
the pillars of the bridge. We used steel sheet laid between the up
track to cross over to the other side. This unsteady crossing is a
challenge which has to tackled to reach the dead zone from Virar.
Many mudskippers in the silt beneath! |
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We sighted only two WCAM2s that day — here is one of them
hauling the Mumbai bound Rajdhani with the DC panto already
up. |
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500 meters to the dead zone. The 'A' signifies the beginning of
the AC territory. |
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More warning signs — the top board asks the loco crew to
lower the DC panto, the middle is a graphical symbol of one
vertical line, one horizontal line and another vertical line. We
need some guidance about the meaning of these symbols. |
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More warning signs — this is the corroded sign by the
down track which states 'DEAD ZONE BEGINS'. |
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Still more signs by the down track — the first structure
states 'heavy saline pollution' while the up track side (not
visible in this pic) states 'heavy chemical pollution'. The second
structure has an 'A' as before, then there is a graphic asking the
loco crew to raise the AC panto. The lower most sign is three
vertical lines, one below another. |
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An out of sequence of pic showing the text on the earlier
'horizontal between vertical' sign — "OPEN DS FOR SPEED BELOW
40 K.M.P.H.". |
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A container train coasting at about 60 Kmph with both pantos
down — the pic shows the upper part of the warning sign. The
train is taking advantage of the slope from Vaitarna towards Virar
and the heavy laden weight of rake. |
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Another container train arrives in a similar fashion —
coasting at high speeds with the panto dropped. The pic shows the
view of the warnings from some distance. Now that we know what to
expect, another trip needs to be done to map the signs and correct
functioning of the dead zone. |
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In the correct sequence, the first to arrive after our arrival
at the dead zone was the 502 Up Dahanu - Virar 'DMU'. However the
first electric train to arrive was the 14 Up Valsad - MCT fast
passenger with double decker coaches. |
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The loco did not drop the panto where expected, but had the AC
panto up even at the location which we believed was the center of
the dead zone. I was trying to concentrate the camera on the panto
which should have dropped in front of me. The leading double bar DC
panto and the trailing single bar AC panto is clearly visible of
this WCAM1. |
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The train hurtles into the dead zone with the AC panto
extended. |
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The panto finally drops so far away from where we stood. |
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A selective scan of the dropped panto. |
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The DC panto finally raised. |
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King WDM2 does not care for this AC/DC nonsense. This is the
7018 Dn. Secunderabad - Rajkot weekly express proceeding at full
speed without any hindrance at the dead zone. |
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Guntakal shed WDM2 # 18898 pulls the 7018. These locos bear the
livery of Gooty shed from where they were transferred to GTL. I
believe the 'diamond in a circle' insignia of the GTL shed on the
hood used to cover the older GY shed logo is actually a decal. |
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More treats for a diesel nut — the Vatwa and Ernakulam
WDM2 seen the first pic arrive north-bound at the dead zone. Note
the 'D' on the up line — this must be signifying DC just as A
stands for AC. |
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I can understand the Vatwa power romping the WR lines, but what
is the Ernakulam power doing so far from its home? And why is it
being hauled towards further north? Normally the ERS power having
hauled trains from KR are cut off at Vasai Road and then sent to
Bandra diesel shed for trip maintenance. |
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More double deck coaches as the 9022 Up Surat - MCT Flying
Ranee arrives on the scene. |
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The desperation of having to reach Mumbai for one's vocation.
People undertake extreme danger like standing on the debris guards
of the lower deck windows. |
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Pressure of population — the toilet window glass is
missing and there are people in there too. |
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Many of these people would detrain from their dangerous perch
at Virar from where they can take an EMU to south Mumbai. |
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Breakfast at the dead zone — from left: Shri, Viraf,
Rajan and Venky. |
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The 9025 down Mumbai - Porbandar Saurashtra express arrives at
the dead zone. |
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The loco as yet does not drop the DC panto. |
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The DC panto going down at last. The dropping of the panto is a
slow graceful action, which reminded Rajan of the view from the
rear of an aircraft landing on a runway. By comparision, the panto
rises quite fast. |
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More down trains — the 9023 Mumbai - Firozpur Janata
express. |
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Panto is still up in this relatively empty train. As we found
that there is no uniformity about where the pantos would be dropped
and raised, we decided to split the group along the zone in the
hope that within all our pics we would get a complete
sequence. |
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Next a container train arrives from Vaitarna side. The AC panto
was dropped way before the dead zone. |
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Yet another container load which mimicked the earlier train in
dropping the AC panto very early. |
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The WCAM1 power of the container train coasting at high speeds.
The assistant waves at us. |
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The brake van of each container rake had the letters 'BLC'
written on them — is this a station code? |
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We saw this courageous procedure in a number of up as well as
down the trains. The assistant driver leans right of the door to
visually check the changed panto. You can barely make out the
assistant hanging out and having a look. |
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Wiser by experience, we spread out through the dead zone. You
can see Rajan and Shri catching the AC panto of the WCAM1 of the
9032 Up Kutch express lowering. |
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And the raising of the DC panto. |
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More Mumbai bound traffic — 4707 Up Bikaner - Mumbai
Ranakpur express. |
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We could not understand the function of this line side box. The
flat cover can be slip upwards revealing a large unmarked plastic
box inside. The box emits a tiny beeping sound which we took for a
'train on line' indicator. However the sound is so tiny that it may
not warn anyone who is not listening carefully. |
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On the way back from the trek — the 45 down Bandra
Terminus - Vapi passenger at the Narangi level crossing north of
Virar. |
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The WCAM1 locos of the 45 down shuttle. The WR takes wayward
stone protection seriously — even the 'portholes' of the loco
have been guarded. |