[Asish_VK]

Nice write up !

It's great to see our railway stations are improved so much in cleanliness and overall appearance.
Trains too are maintained in acdeptable neatness (atleast at the start of the journey).

I used to travel Bangalore to Kochi most of the weekends till covid, and 90% of the time trains reach destination on time.

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I don't have a diorama going on. Only a custom built a wooden table top for the railway. As I live in a rental, its not easy to expand and move this stuff around. Even in its current basic form, it is enjoyable. Trouble is, there is no limit to how much you can spend on track and rolling stock. The variety is just crazy.

Lovely sets and yes, this is rabbit hole that goes deep. Once you get into this, there is no turning back. I see that you are also into American diesel engines, my father has several of them. It is very enjoyable to see the trains running around with the lights and sounds.

[Simhi]

Originally Posted by vigsom

A truly memorable journey on a picturesque sector after a long time – the journey through the ghat and the Mumbai bypass was truly different.

A very nice write up accompanied with excellent videos and pictures. It has been a long time since I traveled between Pune and Chennai via Train.

A query though - Is the track doubling done between Pune and Renigunta? Since there was a change in engine from electric to diesel and vice versa, I am assuming it is still not complete.
Though, I may be wrong and it is possible that track doubling is done but not electrification. Kindly share your inputs.

[rpads1]

Nice post and brought back some memories of train travel. Time to jump onto a train.

[Stribog]

TBHP is becoming like a Wiki now, questions and answers to so many different topics under the sun.

I was just thinking of doing a 2 tier AC / 1st AC train drive from Mumbai to Chennai in Dec end and here is this post.

Questions though-

1 - do 1st AC's have a shower? Google tells me only Rajdhani 1st AC has, but unfortunately there is no Rajdhani between Bom and Maa.

2- Is there any different in comfort levels between 1 AC and 2nd AC for a solo traveler?

3 - If I can't pack food (will be returning from Mumbai so no lovely homemade Idlies for me), and I know IR has stopped serving food after COVID19, how can we manage our mealtimes?

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by Simhi

A very nice write up accompanied with excellent videos and pictures. It has been a long time since I traveled between Pune and Chennai via Train.

A query though - Is the track doubling done between Pune and Renigunta? Since there was a change in engine from electric to diesel and vice versa, I am assuming it is still not complete.
Though, I may be wrong and it is possible that track doubling is done but not electrification. Kindly share your inputs.

Only 29 kms of track doubling pending on Mumbai Chennai line, rest all done. Should get completed next year. See: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threa...post-175849326

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Stribog

1 - do 1st AC's have a shower? Google tells me only Rajdhani 1st AC has, but unfortunately there is no Rajdhani between Bom and Maa.

Conventional superfast doesn't. Even a famous train like TN express did not have.

2- Is there any different in comfort levels between 1 AC and 2nd AC for a solo traveler?

2A is basically a shorter-wider version of 3A with 2 tiers. You get a screen shielding from the walkway. So berth comfort is more or less par with 3A is what I thought. Infact for tallboys its a tighter fit in 2A.

1A gets a proper sliding door. Seat comfort depends on the train. On TN express, 1A is a huge step up. On Jaisalmer-Delhi 1A was appalling.

3 - If I can't pack food (will be returning from Mumbai so no lovely homemade Idlies for me), and I know IR has stopped serving food after COVID19, how can we manage our mealtimes?

Online food ordering is also stopped? This is how we used to buy in 2018.

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by Crow

reminded me of my childhood when you mentioned Navjivan Express. everyone in Chennai was shocked because the train arrived sharp on time. I still wonder why there isn’t a train faster than Dadar-Chennai Superfast between Mumbai and Chennai. It takes 24 hours for that train to complete its journey

Thank You, @Crow. In the 80s, Navajivan used to do the Chennai - Daund - Jalgaon - Surat - Ahmedabad and wasn't a daily train.

In the 90s, it used to be 2641 Navajivan Superfast, would run on its current route via Jalgaon - Wardha - Vijayawada 4 days a week and was notorious for delays - so notorious that I have seen delays of between 2 and 12 hours whenever I've travelled. I preferred to go from Surat to Mumbai and take one of the trains from there to Chennai and use Navajivan only on the return just for the convenience of doing a point to point journey without a changeover. Reliability of this train became top notch when it became a daily train. From being habitually late, it became habitually on time. Its track record of time upkeep is good even till date.

Post Covid19, the LTT-Chennai Express does the journey in a mere 21 hours, and I think the railways has introduced another daily train now which takes 22 hours. The Mail is yet to resume duty.

Originally Posted by Simhi

Is the track doubling done between Pune and Renigunta?

Originally Posted by vharihar

Only 29 kms of track doubling pending on Mumbai Chennai line, rest all done

True, @vharihar. If you see my pics, we were stopped at Washimbe for a freight train crossing and that sector from there to Bhigwan is yet to be doubled. In fact, a few trains on this route including the Humsafar are being diverted over the last 3 weeks to facilitate doubling work. Don't know how long this will last.

Originally Posted by Stribog

do 1st AC's have a shower?

Yes, 1st ACs do (at least I've seen the shower operate on a conventional First AC in Navajivan Exp.) but currently no train on Mumbai - Chennai operates a First AC. Dadar-Chennai had a First AC pre-Covid but not there now.

Is there any different in comfort levels between 1 AC and 2nd AC for a solo traveler

There certainly is a difference in comfort - berths in the first AC are longer and wider, plus the cabin is better too and every cabin of 4 or a coupe can be isolated. Having said that, 2AC is comfortable too, and worth trying - side lower and side upper are best avoided since they aren't that wide and long.

If I can't pack food; how can we manage our mealtimes?

No worries - no dearth of food options en-route. Meal orders are taken by the on board catering staff and fulfilled. I understand one can order food via the irctc app using one's PNR and it gets delivered at the seat too with a COD option. I brought my own food because I wasn't sure of meal services on board and at the limited stations this train stops at. However, when I was on board the Humsafar, I saw enough food options at Renigunta, Solapur, and Pune. Tea, coffee, water, soft drinks, biscuits were anyways available on board. I had fresh guavas, bhel and tea at Pune Jn.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Conventional superfast doesn't. Even a famous train like TN express did not have.



2A is basically a shorter-wider version of 3A with 2 tiers. You get a screen shielding from the walkway. So berth comfort is more or less par with 3A is what I thought. Infact for tallboys its a tighter fit in 2A.

1A gets a proper sliding door. Seat comfort depends on the train. On TN express, 1A is a huge step up. On Jaisalmer-Delhi 1A was appalling.

Online food ordering is also stopped? This is how we used to buy in 2018.

I didnt even know you could order food online and get it delivered at a station - have not traveled in a train in 20 odd years I think (car for distances upto 750 KM and plane for anything more), but this is good to know info.

Btw sir, your tip on PUC is much appreciated (on my Chennai to Mumbai road trip), just saw the fines for not having a PUC cert and it is nutso! Have 5 copies of my PUC cert now scattered around my car

Originally Posted by vigsom

Yes, 1st ACs do (at least I've seen the shower operate on a conventional First AC in Navajivan Exp.) but currently no train on Mumbai - Chennai operates a First AC. Dadar-Chennai had a First AC pre-Covid but not there now.



There certainly is a difference in comfort - berths in the first AC are longer and wider, plus the cabin is better too and every cabin of 4 or a coupe can be isolated. Having said that, 2AC is comfortable too, and worth trying - side lower and side upper are best avoided since they aren't that wide and long.



No worries - no dearth of food options en-route. Meal orders are taken by the on board catering staff and fulfilled. I understand one can order food via the irctc app using one's PNR and it gets delivered at the seat too with a COD option. I brought my own food because I wasn't sure of meal services on board and at the limited stations this train stops at. However, when I was on board the Humsafar, I saw enough food options at Renigunta, Solapur, and Pune. Tea, coffee, water, soft drinks, biscuits were anyways available on board. I had fresh guavas, bhel and tea at Pune Jn.

Given that I max out at 5'6, even side lowers are a very nice fit for me

But food and showers were the question on my mind (have a near OCD issue with showers and shower 3-4 times a day on average), but I guess will have to make do with food as showers seem ruled out.

That then begs the question, 1 AC or 2 AC. 1 AC seems to average Rs 3,800 while 2 AC averages Rs 2,400. Is the Rs 1,400 worth the trade off?

But I have decided now that my Bom - Maa leg in Dec will be in a train.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Stribog

1 AC or 2 AC

1A is purely for experience. It should also be in a popular train. Otherwise experience will vary. Rates are on par with economy class in flights

Poor patronage the availability will be very low, even a popular train like TN express had a HA* (composite 2A and 1A coach) not an exclusive 1A. If I remember correctly there were only 10 seats.

I found 2A convenient when travelling with kids that can't sleep alone. Also if you are a group of 4 or 2 you get some 'privacy'. Berth is slightly wider.

For mundane trips, even 3A works.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by vigsom

[b]

The train was welcomed in Solapur 20 minutes before scheduled arrival. Since there was ample time to departure, I made my way to the front to see if our loco was a WDM or a WDP, and found two locos there. To me it seemed that the pilot loco was the one on and the second loco was shutdown in Solapur and was going to ride idle till Pune Jn.



The diesel locos piloting our train
Attachment 2226586

Nicely narrated trip, enjoyed reading it.

The diesel loco's that hauled the train from MAS will be a pair mostly with both running, a good reason why it was ripping with the 18 coach rake and doing before time at most of the stations although that can be matched by a WAP7.

It can be seen here hauling another Humsafar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adRkuv-zwpg

The long station name you saw before Renigunta, I think holds the record for the longest rail station name in IR.
I had passed by the station once when I returned from Chennai via Tirupathi to Bangalore by road.

[Lalitha Venkat]

The Average speed that the trains end up on a per trip basis works less than 60 kms/ hour. The coaches and the tracks can withstand 130 kms at a minimum. Not sure why there is significant drop in average speed. The way fuel prices are going looks like we are going to a lot of train discussions going forward

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by no_fear

I see that you are also into American diesel engines, my father has several of them.

I switched over to American as I felt they were more authentic. I started with Hornby as that's where you always begin. They are easy set up and expand, however, I later realized the rolling stock available was just British (being a British brand) and the couplers were kinda fiddly (more secure and robust though). When I attended Rail Ex in 2018, I took my entire Hornby stock and traded it for used American rolling stock. It was at a loss but I just wanted to dump them. American model rail road usually have better detail on their rolling stock and they also use the authentic knuckle couplers, like a real railroad.

Another brand that does even better detail are Marklin from Germany. Expensive and beautiful. Attention to detail is the best I've seen.

Mixing and matching is a challenge and I've burnt my fingers and my wallet far too many times to make this mistake again. Its best to stick to just one scale or brand if you are getting into this. Couplers change, track changes and its a headache. I've also realized that US Rail road stock are the most sought after and lots of custom fitments are all available.

Its a fun hobby. Something that keeps me and my son away from our screens. Whenever he asks me to buy more Roblox, I ask him if he would rather buy a wagon or save up that money for a locomotive or some new track sometime later. Its usually the latter that he picks.

[jigar1791@gmail]

Originally Posted by Lalitha Venkat

The Average speed that the trains end up on a per trip basis works less than 60 kms/ hour. The coaches and the tracks can withstand 130 kms at a minimum

Our tracks can withstands constant speeds of upto 160 kmph. Even our trains (LHB coaches) are designed and capable to sustain such speeds. Average speed of BOM-DEL Rajdhani is 90 kmph.

Not sure why there is significant drop in average speed. The way fuel prices are going looks like we are going to a lot of train discussions going forward

It's the disturbances in between that don't allow our trains to sustain higher speeds at a constant.
Eg - you have short bursts of speed >100 kmph for 20 mins, then your train slows down to about 50 kmph for the next 15 mins OR stops at a signal for 10 mins. This brings the average speed down to about 70 kmph.

Reason for such disturbances are aplenty - IR is anyway a saturated rail network, all major railway lines are seeing over-capacity, track utilization ratio is >100%, slower freight trains occupy the tracks for long, you have passenger trains stopping on all stations en-route, bringing in cascading delays to superfasts trailing them..add to it the routine track maintenance works scheduled frequently.

The DFCs are game changers in many ways. They are slated to take away about 80% of freight traffic on BOM-DEL route, freeing up our already saturated tracks to a great extent. That should bump up our trains' average speeds by a noticeable margin.

Regards,
Jigar Shah

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by tharian

The diesel locos that hauled the train from MAS will be a pair mostly with both running. It can be seen here hauling another Humsafar

Thank You, @tharian. Yes, probably two locos took the train from Guntakal to Pune.( The MAS - ADI Humsafar has a WAP7 from MAS to GTL, then diesel(s) from GTL to Pune, and then again a WAP7 from Pune to ADI). The train in the link you'd attached looks like the TPJ - SriGanganagar Humsafar special. And a coincidence - the pilot loco in the YouTube link you attached is #11378, the same loco that was on our Humsafar that day. Pic attached.