A Visit to Western Railway Exhibition on Indian Railways' 158th Birthday

A week full of hectic work had just come to an end. I was doing an 8.30 am shift in office. When I reached Dombivali station to catch a CST Mumbai Slow local of 06:52 hrs, accidentally met Abhishek Tamhankar waiting for the same train. While we were commuting to work, we discussed the normal stuff a Railfan is known to do. That’s when we decided to go & visit the Western Railway (WR) exhibition on the 158th Birthday of Indian Railways (IR). Accordingly, we informed other Railfans. Many of them had prior commitments, so couldn’t make it except, Karthik Gopalan, Mohit Tandel & Sekharan Sir.

Yours truly and Abhishek Tamhankar were supposed to take the 10.57 CSTM local from Pf 2 at Dombivali. The 10:57 local was a 9 car Jessop rake. We occupied a window seat facing the fast tracks. We saw the Howrah-Mumbai Mail speeding past us on fast tracks behind a WCAM3. We had a close look at the earthwork on the Kalva Side of the twin tunnels of the slow tracks. As we were joining the fast tracks near Thane outer, saw a WCAM3 with Sewagram Express grinding to halt. It was made to halt at Thane outer as Chhapra Express from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) was negotiating a 10kmph turnout out of Thane Pf 7. As we came to a halt on Pf 4, we saw a fast MRVC EMU waiting on Pf 5, followed by another fast MRVC EMU on the south end of the station on the down fast line.

The simple inference out of these observations is that, Central Railway (CR) has managed to shift the traffic congestion from Vidyavihar(VVH) to Thane(TNA), because the benefits of commissioning of the 5th-6th lines haven’t accrued as exit of Pf 7 still continues to be a painful 10kmph. We had a parallel run with Gyaneshwari Express on 6th line. We also spotted the LHB SG coaches bound for Gorakhpur from LTT on 5th line between Kanjurmarg and Bhandup. As we were about to reach VVH, a WDM3D hauled Netravathi Express was making its way out of LTT on 5th line. A lot of rail personnel were working on connecting the freight lines to the new 5th-6th lines. Then between Sion & Dadar we had parallel run with incoming Jabalpur Garibrath, which had 15 3-Tier AC coaches with 78 seat configuration and 2 EOGs. We won the race as it was made to wait at Dadar outer.

As we were approaching Byculla, we saw Sahyadri Express negotiating a turnout from a loop line of Chinchpokli sidings to enter up fast UP line, which meant, it was put on the loop for an overtake. There were 2 AC pantry cars of Northern Railway, just behind the WCAM3 loco. One of the pantry cars was in the standard Yellow-Red Livery, whereas the other one had the Chalo-Kerala Livery. What was it doing here, is a question we will have to investigate. Maybe a replacement or spare for the LTT-Haridwar AC Superfast! As we got down at CSTM on Pf 5, we ran towards the Pf 7 to capture the twin AC pantry cars. There were a lot of RPF personnel waiting near the entrance of Pf7, so we had to point and shoot from a point near the ATM stalls. The Train Management System (TMS) was supposed to be inaugurated on 16th April, so there were a few rail officials making their way in and out of the new TMS building constructed on Pf 7.

I had to renew by Season ticket, so made by way to the ticket counter. Surprisingly, there was no line and I managed to buy the season ticket in 2 minutes. We ventured out and took a BEST BUS 138 to Churchgate. Got down at the EROS Cinema Signal, took the subway to reach the Main Concourse. That’s where we met Karthik Gopalan, Mohit Tandel and Sekharan Sir. The exhibition area wasn’t very big. There were 2 LCD screens at the entrance and 2 vertical sliders depicting the glorious years of Indian railways. The focus certainly was on BB & CI railways. Then, there were many old B & W pictures of WP and WG steam locos hauling passengers & freights. Bassein Bridge, Mahalaxmi Station, Mumbai Central, Bandra and Churchgate station pictures were also on display. Then the 6 car, 8 car , 12 car & finally 15 car rake pictures were on display. A replica of the Bandra Terminus & Churchgate with glass façade was on display.

The most important part of the exhibition was a model train loop with miniature working models of Plasser, Rajdhani , Duranto, etc along with a TGV France rake. It operated on 12 V DC current and landscaping included 2 platforms, a dual track tunnel, siding lines and two 180 deg curves. The kids watching the models were all gung-ho about the action on the miniature section. I did manage to capture a few videos and finally decided to call it a day. As I was doing an afternoon shift at office, took a cab and reached office, whereas Abhishek left for Dombivali.