# Caravanman in India



## caravanman (Nov 30, 2011)

Hi Folks,

While I have not yet written up a trip report, I thought a few photos might be of interest... You can compare the Amtrak breakfast with the Indian one, and also observe me at rest on the A/C 2 tier sleeping berth. I am currently one week into my trip, arrived into Goa, and took the train up to Delhi, a two night trip, then to Amritsar and back in chair car, then on to Calcutta, where I arrived this morning into Howrah station, a fast Rhajdani Express taking just one night to make the journey. Staying in the Fairlawns hotel, a rather quaint old place... one of my hero's Michael Palin stayed here, amongst many other famous people, guess he did not have my budget price single room!

Next stop will be Madras, or Chennai as it is known now. (More specific rail pics will follow!)

Indian trip pics so far...

Cheers,

Ed


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## jis (Nov 30, 2011)

caravanman said:


> Hi Folks,
> 
> While I have not yet written up a trip report, I thought a few photos might be of interest... You can compare the Amtrak breakfast with the Indian one, and also observe me at rest on the A/C 2 tier sleeping berth. I am currently one week into my trip, arrived into Goa, and took the train up to Delhi, a two night trip, then to Amritsar and back in chair car, then on to Calcutta, where I arrived this morning into Howrah station, a fast Rhajdani Express taking just one night to make the journey. Staying in the Fairlawns hotel, a rather quaint old place... one of my hero's Michael Palin stayed here, amongst many other famous people, guess he did not have my budget price single room!
> 
> ...


Neat! Nice picture of Howrah Bridge! I see you visited Wagah Border to see the change of guards ritual. When even the Taxi Union displays a tricolor sign instead of red, you know for sure that the Communists have been ousted for good from the Government of West Bengal. 

That AC2 appears to be an LHB Car, so presumably that is on the Rajdhani, and since you arrived at Howrah that would be 12302 I presume?

How long will you be in India. I fly into Delhi late evening of the 15th of Dec, on the non-stop from Newark. Of course when in Calcutta I get to stay at the Chez Mukerji  In Delhi it will be at the Hilton Garden Inn in Saket - free stay using points.


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## caravanman (Nov 30, 2011)

Hi Jis,

I am in India for a month, arrived in Goa on 22 Nov and fly back to UK on 20 Dec from Goa...

I will probably be spending the rest of my time in the south of India... need to chill out on a beach as

well as on the trains!

I have now made a start on my travel diary, which you can find here: Indian rail journal...

You are quite right about the Rajdhanni being number 12302... did you know that, or have you a copy

of the indispensible "trains at a glance"???

Staying in a Hilton in India? now that is just wrong!

Cheers,

Ed


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## jis (Nov 30, 2011)

caravanman said:


> You are quite right about the Rajdhanni being number 12302... did you know that, or have you a copy
> 
> of the indispensible "trains at a glance"???


I do have a Trains at a Glance, but I don't need to look this one up. 

That particular Rajdhani - Howrah - New Delhi - Howrah via Grand Chord, used to be my old stomping grounds. It was introduced in 1969, the first Rajdhani Express, which inaugurated a whole new class of trains. Originally its number was 101up/102down. Then during the great India train number rationalization it became 2301up/2302down (23 designating that the special express consists are homed and maintained in Howrah/Sealdah ER). And finally last year when they extended all train numbers to 5 digits it became 12301up/12302down. I regularly rode it 2 to 4 times each year between 1969 and 1977 when I left India for the US. I have ridden it several times since then on various visits to India.

When it was originally introduced it was pulled by a LeGrange built EMD IR Class WDM-4. Of course these days it gets a WAP-5 or WAP-7, the electric passenger workhorses of IR. You can see one of them, I think it is a WAP-5, in my avatar above.

Reading your writeup, sounds like you took the Amritsar Shatabdi from New Delhi? Even though there is nothing spectacularly noticeable on the way, you actually passed through some very historic locations, starting with Panipat, where anyone that ever managed to conquer Delhi had to fight a battle to get to Delhi. We jokingly used to talk about the n-th Battle of Panipat in our high school history classes. Then you passed through Kurukshetra where the epic battle of Mahabharata took place and the encounter between Arjuna and his estranged cousins that led to the composition of the Bhagavad Gita took place. Then Ambala which had a huge British Cantonment which exists to this day but now occupied by the Indian armed forces. The station is still called Ambala Cantonment. And finally of course Amritsar the home of Sikhism and its Golden Temple which you visited, and the border with Pakistan at Wagah which has seen military confrontation both in 1965 and 1971.


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## caravanman (Dec 1, 2011)

Hi,

Ok on the info on train re-numbering, I seem to remember that on my first visit here over 25 years ago, I took the train no. 1 up Kalka Mail en route to Shimla. Sadly noticed that a Kalka train was recently involved in a derailment killing many passengers, including tourists.

I hope to add a bit more to the travel diary while I have internet access, so do check back... I am just off for lunch, pakoras and finger chips...

Cheers,

Ed


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## jis (Dec 1, 2011)

caravanman said:


> Ok on the info on train re-numbering, I seem to remember that on my first visit here over 25 years ago, I took the train no. 1 up Kalka Mail en route to Shimla. Sadly noticed that a Kalka train was recently involved in a derailment killing many passengers, including tourists.


1up/2down Howrah - Delhi - Kalka Mail via Grand Chord, I believe is now 12311 up and 12312 down, but I need to check to make sure. It was one of the three original EIR (now Eastern Railway) Mail trains from Howrah. The other two being Punjab Mail now Amritsar Mail, (via Main Line) which ran to Peshawar Cantt. before partition and Bombay Mail via Allahabad (and Grand Chord). In addition Howrah has two original Mail trains on BNR (now South Eastern Railway), still running, those being Bombay Mail via Nagpur and Madras Mail.


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## caravanman (Dec 4, 2011)

Hi Folks,

Arrived in Chennai (formerly Madras) yesterday evening. Having internet just now, I have added a few more travel pics:

View from a bridge...

Cheers,

Ed


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## jis (Dec 4, 2011)

Wow! Pretty light traffic on Howrah Bridge that day!


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## caravanman (Dec 6, 2011)

Hi Folks,

Today is the halfway mark of my trip, time wise... two weeks gone already.

I have been taking it easy in Madras (Chennai), a very different feel to the north. I even noticed some traffic obeying the rules of the road... stopping at lights, crossings, etc. Feels a little less frantic. My hotel is about a mile from the sea, so I took a rather hot walk there and back on Sunday afternoon. Beach and sea, Madras.

There is a degree of unrest in India, with different factions agitating for their demands to be heard, so while not too OTT, the photographing of stations and rail property is frowned upon.

This afternoon I will make my way to the Egmore station and board the train which takes me down to Kanyakamari, the southernmost tip of India, where 3 seas meet. It is an overnight trip, arriving mid morning tomorrow.

I am updating my travel diary as I go, so if you are interested you can check it by following the link on my post of 30th Nov.(Post number 3).

Cheers,

Ed


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## Texan Eagle (Dec 12, 2011)

Hello Caravanman

Late to jump onto the bandwagon but just now I finished seeing all your photos and reading everything from your travel diary from the India trip. Beautiful set of photos and writing. Being born and raised in India, I have a special love for Indian trains and somehow for me Amtrak trains fail to recreate the same feeling that train travel in India has. Looking forward to more photos and writ-ups from your India trip. I am myself traveling to India in late January 2012 and will be taking train from Bombay to Calcutta and back, by two different routes. I will share my photos and experience here too.


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## jis (Dec 12, 2011)

Texan Eagle said:


> I am myself traveling to India in late January 2012 and will be taking train from Bombay to Calcutta and back, by two different routes. I will share my photos and experience here too.


Are you planning to be at the IRFCA Convention in Kolkata the last weekend of January. I am very likely to be there too.


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## caravanman (Dec 18, 2011)

Hi Folks,

I have finished my trip now, and finished the trip report, the whole report is here: Caravanman's Indian Summer...

Thanks for reading it, any comments most welcome.

Ed 

PS I look forward to Texan Eagle's report too!


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 18, 2011)

caravanman said:


> Hi Folks,
> 
> I have finished my trip now, and finished the trip report, the whole report is here: Caravanman's Indian Summer...
> 
> ...


:hi: As always Well Done Eddie! Those of us that cant travel abroad get to esperience trips like this and it is the next best thing to being there! Guess you're back in Jolly OLd England by now, hope you can enjoy the Holiday Spirit, after all Scrooge did come from England! :lol: Hope to see you in the Colonies next year, pretty good chance that the Gathering will be in Philadelphia!!! Jim


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