D's Day Out 2016

Regular subscribers will be aware that on every Radinja trip D gets a day out to ride on smelly narrow gauge trains. It's been a long wait this year but today is the day. As usual R claims to have a note saying that she is too well to attend. It is almost exactly a year to the day since D travelled on the Kangra Valley line on a day rather spoiled by heavy rain. Today's weather forecast is good but it is too dark at 5 am to confirm this. Unlike last night Kangra is eerily quiet and there are few people about. Some of the shops opposite the bus stand are rolling up the shutters and getting ready to trade. The auto stand down the road is vacant but D manages to flag one on the street. The ride to the drop off for Kangra Mandir station is about 3km, through darkened streets. Having been dropped it is necessary to walk through a sleeping bazaar and then over a rickety suspension bridge. While D is crossing this a man rides the other way on a motorbike.

Kangra Mandir station is only a single track, single platform halt but is surprisingly busy at 5.30 am. D grabs a chai and gets second position in the ticket queue. The window is supposed to open thirty minutes before the train is due but here it is more like ten minutes. Even with only two us in the queue somebody feels the need to push in at the front when the window opens. There have been reports that trains on this line carry a First Class coach and this can be availed on payment of a supplement to the TTE.

The train is due at 5.50 and we can actually hear its hooter at that time. It pulls in five minutes later and D heads towards the back of the train. There is just one person in the coach selected although two others get in along with D. All the shutters are down but that is easily remedied. It is still too dark for good photography, which is a bit of a shame as we quite soon cross a really spectacular viaduct high above the Baner Khad, a tributary of the Beas River. There will be another chance on the return trip and just to be sure we will revisit tomorrow.

After the viaduct there is a long climb up to Jwalamukhi Road, where we have a long halt waiting to cross an eastbound train. The light is much better now and there is a chance to check out the loco and the rest of the train. The coach behind D's is a brake composite and, although not obviously signed as such, is being used as a Ladies Only coach which includes male children up to the age of twelve. The loco is a ZDM3 in Northern Railway blue and white. You no doubt remember that the ZDM classification means 2'6" gauge, diesel, mixed traffic although there is not much evidence of goods traffic on this line.

The signals change, the second train arrives, the token is changed over, signals reset, it departs and still we tarry. When we do get under way our route takes us close to the rim of the Baner Khad gorge giving brief but spectacular glimpses of its scenic delights. The train slowly fills up as it meanders westward and somewhere along the line D loses his seat to a young woman with a babe in arms. Not a problem as both doors at this end of the coach are free for photos and filming although people are standing at the far end. Around the half way point of this trip is Jawan Wala Shehar where the train virtually empties and D reclaims a seat. This is another long halt to cross another train and chance for a chai. We have put yesterday's fatigue and loss of appetite down to dehydration as we failed to take into account the higher temperatures at the lower altitudes that we now reside at. D is under strict instructions to keep up his fluid intake.

Once again the train starts to fill up but not quite so full as before. Unusually for one of these trips nobody has asked D what he is doing or why he is doing it (difficult to answer that one) or even "What country?". Most people on the train seem to be doing day trips or commutes. There are luggage racks but they are mostly empty. The last stop before Pathankot, the terminus, is Dalhousie Road where there is another long wait to cross an outbound. This is distinguished by being double headed and the second loco is one that has recently been transferred from the now closed Satpura Lines, scene of last year's NG epic trip. D is a big fan of maroon as a loco livery, the local blue and white being a bit wishy washy. The final few kilometres into Pathankot are the usual unedifying journey through rubbish and graffiti that urban railways worldwide seem to attract. The one memorable moment was when the train halted for no obvious reason next to a road and half of the occupants deboarded.

We were at Pathankot Junction last year and not impressed by standards. In the daylight it looked even grubbier. The NG station is a little separate to the main one and connected by footbridge. This is crossed and the ticket office located. The lady clerk has good English and hopes that D enjoys his journey. The catering facilities do not appeal at all so lunch is water and the remains of yesterday's cake

There is a not of shunting to watch on the narrow gauge side and D has just set out to look more closely at the loco shed when a set of carriages is reversed into the platform. There is a surge onto the train but D is able to get the seat that he wants - a double at the end of a four door coach so there is ready access to both sides of the train. Leaving a bag as place keep it is time for loco photos. D is invited onto the footplate to take more photos and has his hand shaken by the driver who seems pleased to be driving one of the ex Satpura locos.  Having said earlier that there id no evidence of freight traffic a rake of three bogie box cars in good repair sits on a siding and there is a mountain of parcels to be loaded into the brake van. Back in the coach seats are filling up. An old chap joins D so there is somebody to repel boarders. By the time we leave all seats are taken and there are people sitting in the doors. At each stop more get on until we are approaching crush loading. Unlike the Gwalior line nobody climbs on the roof. At Jawan Wala Shahar the crowd thins a bit but there are still no spare seats. All photography has to be done from the seat but there is plenty to look at.

The line is quite a switchback with steep descents to and climbs away from the numerous viaducts crossing virtually dry riverbeds. Washouts and bridge failures are frequent on this line during the monsoon. The steepest gradient board spotted is 1 in 40 although some seem steeper than this. Our ZDM4a has to work quite hard at times. Slowly the train empties and by the time we get to Jwalamukhi Road there are just three people in the coach. The train in the opposite direction is already in waiting and the platform vendors are doing a roaring trade in little cardboard bowls of curried chickpeas. D consults the online timetable and discovers that we are ten minutes early, which we sit out at the platform. Then we are off, rattling down the bank to the big viaduct and then chugging up the far side. At the next station we are again early and wait as the light fades. Finally we pull in to Kangra where D gets off hoping to find an auto. No chance. It's even more in the sticks than Kangra Mandir.A walk down to the main road does not help much but fortunately a young man off the train has good English and is hoping to get a bus into the town. We wait for a few minutes in the darkness with a couple of false alarms then one comes. The ride is about 5km so well worth the wait and D thanks the young man as we get off.

A brilliant day out. Auto 3km, 100 rupees, train 192km , 50 rupees, bus 5km, 7 rupees. Isn't India great? R has had a good day too , see next post. We adjourn to the restaurant and manage to do justice to the food tonight. Peas and mince, jeera rice and spicy yellow dal go down well. No rocking required tonight, just earplugs.