Members present: Aravind S, Ashwanth R, Harish K(myself) and Naveen.
Photo courtesy: Aravind S
This is the diesel turtle that had taken us to Arakkonam.
We started roaming about in Arakkonam station.And soon it was brunch time.We ventured outside the station in search of a vegetarian refuelling point.Aravind,with his usual bank of knowledge was quick to locate a street which had plenty of hotels.
We entered one of the hotels.All of us had our fill of the usual South-Indian delicacies of Masala Dosa,Idlies,Vadas.We left the hotel with a bottle of Slice(mango juice) which got empty even before we reached the borders of Arakkonam station.Now we had quite some time left before our return train's arrival(Hubli Express).So we decided to do some surveillance work around the station.
One should be reminded that Arakkonam is a strong hold of our dear big brothers - the RPF.So Aravind did not take out his camera.Even a rifle or a pistol is allowed but a camera will be treated on par with RDX by our dear cops.Everything is for the safety of the stations/trains and its users but picking on innocent railfans like us is a point to be pondered into.
So we just had to capture the action with our natural camera - our eyes.We saw a clean and freshly painted WAM-4 in the typical green and yellow livery of the Chennai Central - Thirupathi Sapthagiri Express and a very dirty electric loco from a shed in South Central Railway.
Now,it was time for arrival of our train.So we seated ourselves at the bench of platform 2 of Arakkonam station.The train arrived on time behind a WDM-2A 16603 from Guntakal.Aravind managed to capture the train.
Meanwhile,myself and Naveen boarded the train and caught a door for each of us for peeping out.The train departed after a halt of couple of minutes.The pick up of the loco was excellent and we were soon doing maximum speed.The horn of the loco was also splendid.Aravind had recorded the horn of the same loco at an earlier occasion.
We came across a tanker load behind a WAG-5HA 23537 from Arakkonam shed after Manavur.The run was extremely good and I was surprised at how a diesel loco could have such a good pick up.Before long,we reached Thiruvallur(Thiruvellore).After that,we saw a BOX-N rake behind a Tigerface loco 27467 from Erode.
The run was eventless for sometime and myself,Naveen and Ashwanth were having a chat at the door.Aravind was having a constant watch over the door at the track side and was having his camera ready.Suddenly,we heard a horn.We assumed that it was a train.But, it was a single wagon behind the loco 11010.This was after a station called Putlur.
After this,we saw a variety of traffic:
1) WAM-4 21363(Barbie) from Arakkonam shed with WAP-4 22697 in the fast line after Sevvapet road.
2) Saw West-Coast Express on the slow line behind WAP-4 22572 from Erode shed.
3) We overtook MEMU near the TI cycle factory.
4) Train no. 6011 was crossing to slow line behind a ET WAM-4 near Pattabiram.
5) WAG-5A 23294 from Bhilai near ICF.
6) WAG-7 27757(Blue) from Erode shed with BOX-N rake of coal at Perambur.
Our spottings at Basin Bridge Junction(BBQ) trip shed:
- 22223
- 22027
- brc wap4
- 21297
- 20523
- 21304 (transferred from TATA)
- 22590
- wap4 ed
We reached the entrance of Chennai Central station.Ashwanth departed by bus.Naveen was in search of TAAG but did not get it there.He left for Pondicherry by bus that evening.Myself and Aravind took and EMU to Saidapet from the Park station opposite to Chennai Central.Thus,the railfanning session came to an end at the scheduled time of 1325 hrs.
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