A FOND REMNESCIENCE OF A HISTORICAL RAILWAY LINE, SOON TO BE EXTINCT!
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It was a normal monday! I had been home for a while and went off to see my friend and Ex-IRI 'Hotshot' Suriender Singh...
Suriender had encountered a challan for rash-driving and had to surrender his 'Driving license' to ASDP Police...and had to pay off his fines to clear his name...
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and ID :P
And being his 'jigra Bangali dost', he almost compelled me to accompany him to Asansol! So we set up for a chain journey to Asansol by catching up the MURI-DHN passenger up to DHN and then subsequent journey upto ASN would been be covered up by the RNC-HWH intercity...
So we bought an express ticket from SJA-ASN, how we made this journey is a tale for some other day,and I am attaching the same as a fond memory, as from tomorrow onwards such tickets won't be available in any of the plethora of stations lying on the DHN-CRP railway line stretch....
It is my deep regret that inspite of covering many journeys on this track section countless time, I never considered saving a ticket as a souveneir....
This line along with the DHN-JRI-PTD lines have given me some of my fondest childhood memories and at this juncture, when this line is said to become inoperational from tomorrow, and while I lie musing about it in Hyderabad, I confess that I have been overcome with moments of poigant sorrow and fond remnisciences....
Yes the line had to be closed, yes it's mere operational existence was akin to gambling with people's lives......but still deep down somewhere in my heart, there is a small child crying out, lamenting that a railway line that provided him with some of his most cherished memories....a railway line where he saw the last surviving legacy of the 'Steam Engines'......a railway line where he saw his favourite ALCOs being towed to trains like 'Shaktipunj' and 'Maurya'.....a railway line that made him a ferroequinologist in the first place......and most importantly a rail-line where his 'Late grandfather' would often spend puttering around as a guard of the great 'Eastern Railways'!!!
Alas, all good things must come to an end. At the stroke of midnight tonight a chapter, a legacy, a 130 year endeavour that started during the days of slavery in the 1880s under the reigns of 'Eastern Indian Railways' would fade into the pages of history..........
Farewell 'DHN-CRP' line, thee served well!!!
In forever fond remembrance
Arnab

Watch as dusky red HWH WAP-4 numbered 22509 looks frustrated and dejected as it draws in 12020 Ranchi Howrah Shatabdi, into and out of the Sijua Station on the Chandrapura-Dhanbad section of the Singrauli-Dhanbad CIC line.
This area is affected by underground fires, and trains pass these very precariously with an PSR of not exceeding 50Kmph at any instant.
Even the Shatabdi literally crawls through this section...
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Courtesy :- My Friend who took this wonderful videos this evening, He whatsapped these videos to me,knowing that I would be deeply interested.........

PART 2:-
THE MEETING WITH SINGH:-
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DATE OF ACTION :- 26/12/2015
TIME :- 12:00-6:00 PM
PLACE...
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:- SIJUA (SJA)
DISTRICT :- DHANBAD
RAILWAY DIVISION :- DHANBAD
ZONE :- EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY.
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PART 1 has already been posted here.... /blog/post/1729957
26th December, it had been 11 years since that devastating 'tsunami' hit several countries on the Indian Ocean. However as I made my way to DHN JN people seemed oblivious to the tragedy that happened that day. Everyone had been consumed by the 'Boxing Day' fever though the 'Christmas fervour' had yet to let the 'coal city' off it's grips. Bells in the cathedrals and churches still chimed, Christmas carols could still be heard...and a 'cake consuming endemic' had plagued the city. I guess people worldwide consume more cakes from the 20th december to 1st of January than all the remaining days put multiple times over........
It is human nature to forget about the bad and look forward to the future! It is this nature that enables us to stay optimistic........
The DHN-CRP passenger has to be one of the slowest passenger trains operated by the Indian Railways. With a creepy average speed of 18kmph it takes 2 hours to go from Dhanbad to Chandrapura......My destination though was a 20 minutes ride to SJA station. Though only 11 kms away from DHN there is a marked geographical change. As the city scape gives away the dust and smoke begin to fill.
Being on this route a numerous time it didn't interest me that much but it would be quite a sight for anyone making his debut journey through here. Like with all the trains passing through here, this train too reaches this peak speed of maybe 50kmph between DHN & KDS. From there onwards it seems like an eternal crawl.......
For more details about the DHN-CRP section please see my earlier post here /blog/post/1587845
Regardless of that I met ex-IRI member member Suriender Singh here......
Suriender is a kinda a combo of both 'Singh is King' as well as 'Singh is Bling':P
On meeting Suriender we spent some time chatting and then set off for TSAH. The rest of our adventures has been already covered in part 1.
After returning back to SJA at around 6:30PM, we sat there to have a chat.....Singh had already suggested me to take an auto home but the ' Ferroequinologist ' in me took over and I waited for the HTE-DHN passenger....fortunately it was only 10 minutes...
Bidding Singh adieu, I took a seat in the near empty train which reaches DHN at 8:30 PM.......
Here are some of the photographs I took that day. My only regret is that I took such few pictures.....Looking forward to an SJA re-visit soon, when I get home........
Now the photo counts....
1. PHOTOGRAPH 1 :- AJNI 'HULK' 31040 WITH LOADED COAL LADEN RAKES. (#admins can update the station board pic if found suitable)
2. PHOTOGRAPH 2 :- ASANSOL WAG-5H TWINS 23595 PASSING THROUGH THE STATION (Forgot the number of the 1st loco)
3. PHOTOGRAPH 3 :- AN 'OHE' INSPECTION VEHICLE. (Such vehicles are fairly common on this stretch as this railway line is on the verge of a collapse and the Divisional authorities have to extra vigilant all times.)
4. PHOTOGRAPH 4 :- AND FINALLY A NIGHT TIME SHOT OF 'GMO' HULK 31019, LOOKING DOWN AT THE 'PUNY HUMAN':P
I promise to be back with more pictures soon.....
Arnab

Lol, first they lift up my pictures, pictures that I have shared here through my old IRI account, and then they taag me in the same post on Facebook...
Some of the posts from which the photographs have been lifted are :-
/blog/post/1665606/0
/blog/post/1587845
I...
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guess this is what being blissfully ironic must mean :P