A trip to enjoy last few days of diesel action in konkan railway

This trip was done on 26 December 2021

As i got the news of crs inspection from Ratnagiri-madagoan would be done at February 2022. I wasted no time and took this as now or never to explore konkan railway in diesel avatar

It all started on 26 December 2021 my train to konkan was from Ernakulam junction. So i started my journey to Ernakulam from Thiruvananthapuram in the 12624 Trivandrum-chennai mail it was lead by Royapuram wap7 30331. I reached Ernakulam Town Railway station. Where i met Railfan Pranav T. S who then took me to Ernakulam junction railway station.

From Ernakulam junction k vijay anand joined who came from nilambur and we boarded the 12224 Ernakulam-Lokmanya tilak terminus duronto express till Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. The duronto was lead by a kalyan wdp4d 40312. We took the sleeper class in the duronto express. This was my first experience in duronto express train.

We departed Ernakulam junction railway station at 9:30 pm for our journey towards konkan railway. The duronto express skipped railway station of kerala like Thrissur, Shoranur, Kannur, Kasargod. We overtook the marusagar express bound to ajmer between kannur and Mangalore junction. We reached Mangalore Junction at 3:30 am 30 minutes before time. The marusagar express which we overtook before Mangalore Junction arrived Mangalore junction behind us lead by Erode wap7 37292 (Which had NGA TMT advertisement) and a dead ratlam wdm3d 11500. We then departed Mangalore junction at 4:00 am and met the netravati express bound to Thiruvananthapuram lead by a Golden rock wdp4d. I then went to sleep. Then i woke up near karwar Railway station around 8:00 am where the pune-ernakulam express lead by an Ernakulam alco crossed us. We departed karwar after the crossing and got looped for the konkan king ie the Thiruvananthapuram bound rajdhani express. The rajdhani was lead by a wdp4d of Ernakulam shed (40100). After that we where looped at Balli station for Csmt-Mangalore express which skipped balli station with a lhf kyn wdm3d. The skip itself made the trip worth. At around 9:20 am we reached madagaon station. Where we had a light breakfast which consists of bread and cutlet. After departing madagaon we crossed at roro frieght. We where then looped at verna railway station where the Nizamuddin bound rajdhani from madagaon overtook us thanks to legendary controlling by konkan Railway. We then met hubali shed celebrity wdg4 named as pulikeshi at verna due to that overtake. We then departed verna after an delay of 1hr. We where looped for almost all crossing till Ratnagiri. Near Ratnagiri we ordered for lunch i ordered a chicken biriyani which was made in bhatkali style. Which i personaly didn't liked. We then reached Ratnagiri station at 3:25 pm delayed by almost 2hours. Many people told me to try the vadapav from Ratnagiri station and i bought 2 vadapav for 50rs which was a little expensive. But the vadapav was excellent it made for the disappointment of the biriyani. We then crossed the famous ukshi railway station. At chiplun we crossed the netravati express with diesel locomotive for the second time. As we reached panvel junction it was nearly 7:30 pm. We had connecting train which would depart dadar at 8:15. When the train approached punvel station the signal was red so we decided if the train stops here we would deboard. For our horror the signal turned green at the very last moment. So we didn't deboarded at panvel. Next place to have a hope was thane. The train arrived thane slowly but later accelerated. Just as we left hope of boarding the hubbali express. Some one pulled the chain and the train came to halt at thane we then deboarded the train. A lucky escape

Photos of the trip