Day 1: Part 2:
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Recap: Amidst some problems and initial hiccups, I boarded my train which departed YPR at 0830 hrs. Train stops at JTJ and KPD till now and some unscheduled halts before Chennai. My train reached MAS 5 mins late. Here, my train will undergo rake reversal and a loco change. Suspense was left for the next loco to be attached now.
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So, today's grand offlink came as soon as I put my foot on the platform. A faded rajdhani liveried loco was marching towards my train to get coupled. Yes, it was a WAP1 of AJJ shed. Crowd gathered to witness the grand coupling. After reversal, my coach got positioned at 4th from loco, but unfortunately my seat got onto the non-track side (this bad followed me in all the train trips since July, BBS Raj, Puru, Puri Shatabdi and now this, in all I got a non-track seat). Loco coupled, rake reversed. Some checks done. Are we ready to depart? My answer was a big YES. Starter given to the loco. A honk and all pax loaded into the train, so was I.
Train started accelerating and moving out of the platform. As we exited, a WDM7 (I never heard of DMs of more 2!!!) pulled into station with a train. Slowly the train started snaking out of all the loop lines and proceeded to the main lines. And then CBE-ADI Express too crossed us led by ED WAP 4. Train crawled through Basin Bridge. After crossing BBQ, we crossed an ultra modern looking EMU. Real face of Chennai floods came before my eyes after going ahead of station. The train was moving carefully through the flooded areas of Chennai. WAP 1 gave full throttle after getting out of troubled waters. On the way, saw a mega power plant. WAP 1 was showing its real power now. MPS show started now. Train was cutting through all the stations at MPS. Due to this, the train recovered a lot of time. Night began falling in due course of time. After night fell, I went out for some doorplating. Loco was pulling the train with raw power. Near about Akkampeta, mega sparks started flying off from the pantographs, by mega I mean that the intensity of spark was such that it was lighting the whole area around it. I thought of informing this to some train officials, but none of them were there. Train slowed down as it entered Akkampeta and it took the down line and almost stopped. But it didn't stop, accelerated a little, went back to its original track and continued its journey (I just thought why the train was taken to other line when it had no work there?). Fast forward to Odur, a small station before Gudur. The granpa showed such a speed show that the train was stood there before time. Checked IRI, the TT was saved already, so net was required for it. This is the site for a mega crossing, Chennai Raj was coming. I can't afford to miss this crossing, I said to myself. Got ready with my camera, positioned it and now was waiting for the golden moment. A small beam of light appeared. SR king is coming. WAP 7 started honking and telling me about its arrival. Light, Camera and Action......whoa!!!! Chennai Rajdhani stormed past us at MPS, flew past in just 15 seconds showing a blinking red light at back. Now, we were waiting for the starter to signal us to enter Gudur. At last we started off to enter Gudur Jn.
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Fourth Stop: Gudur Jn, Andhra Pradesh, 503 km from YPR, 351 km from JTJ, 267 km from KPD and 137 from MAS at 1850 hrs. Train was now running more than 20 mins late. Ittu sa halt and departed.
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Now I needed some rest so decided not to doorplating now. And sat back on my seat calmly. At around 2030 hrs, dinner came and was just pissed off. It was same as the lunch and cold too. After dinner, passengers started making their respective beds, ready to go to sleep. Lucky me, got the lower berth, can at least see the outside visuals, even if its dark. But then I realised that I didn't have a confirmed berth, it was a RAC one because I had to share my berth with number of cockroaches. There were number of slowdowns and even unscheduled stops. Train was stopping in middle of pitch darkness, no sign of human were there (nor any paranormal activity....:p). Like this we reached near BZA. Crossed a river bridge, which I thought of the famous Rajahmundry bridge, but was proved wrong during the return journey (will write about it too). Just after crossing the bridge, we were stopped at the outer for a very very long time with some of the coaches still on the bridge. Two trains, both with WAP4, crossed us. But, we were still stuck. After about 15-20 mins we finally started moving towards the station of Vijayawada.
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Fifth Stop: Vijayawada Jn., Andhra Pradesh, 796 km from YPR, 644 km from KPD, 560 km from JTJ, 431 km from MAS and 293 km from GDR. Arrived there at 2334 hrs and stood there for 25 mins and departed at 2358 hrs. Now, we are more than 1 hour behind schedule.
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So, an eventful day came to an end so does this part of the trip report. Tomorrow we will get to see that WAP 1 is no less than a WAP 7 with those high speed encounters and astounding speed shows. Till then, bear with me.
Please put your valuable comments and suggestions, it will inspire me to write better blogs and reports. And thanks for those greats and _/\_, lots of thanks.

Day 2:
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Recap:
Till the end of day 1 of the journey, we reached Vijayawada almost at midnight, and departed Vijayawada about 1 hour late. Saw big station of Chennai. WAP 1 was now heading our train. So, here's the next episode.
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After leaving BZA behind, the train started tearing into pitch darkness. WAP 1 was maintaining a constant speed. By now, the gravity was pulling down my eyelids and telling me to sleep. Though I was fighting with it for long even before BZA, the sleep finally won. And I went to deep sleep.
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Sixth Stop: Samalkot, Andhra Pradesh, 996 km from YPR, 852 km from JTJ, 761 km from KPD, 632 km from MAS, 495 km from GDR and 200 km from BZA, reached at 0300 hrs. Train was now running more than 90 mins late. A small halt and train departed.
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Sleep again ruled my eyes, so slept. Sleep shortly broke at Duvvada, the big skip arrived. Vishakapatnam. From Duvvada, lines to VSKP dispersed. So we skip VSKP and race straight to Vizianagram. Rocked all through night to reach Vizianagaram.
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Seventh Stop: Vizianagaram Jn.,Andhra Pradesh, 1191 km from YPR, 1039 km from JTJ, 955 km from KPD, 826 km from MAS, 687 km from GDR, 396 km from BZA and 195 km from SLO. Reached there at 0605 hrs, about 90 mins behind schedule. So it was clear that the train didn't delay further. Good job, WAP 1. More than 12 hrs went by, train is still in AP. AP is really a big state.
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This is final stop in AP. So we now move to conquer the next state, the state of Jagganath - Odisha. Still we had good 2.30 hrs to explore AP. We went past small and big stations. Some were thrashed and some were handled with care. Had breakfast from the things I bought from Bangalore as I knew the train's breakfast would be something pathetic and would surely empty my purse. Time went on and on, till we finally enter Odisha.
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Eighth Stop: Brahmapur, Odisha. 1408 km from YPR, 1256 km from JTJ, 1172 km from KPD, 1043 km from MAS, 905 km from GDR, 612 km from BZA, 412 km from SLO and 216 km from VZM. Arrived there at 0855 hrs. Still a 90 mins. delay. The delay was still constant. It was a small station with a small halt. VSG bound Amravati Express crossed us there.
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Still there is about 700 km left for my journey. And that 700 was the most adventurous part of the journey. With average speed of 90+, it truly shows that our dear grandpa still has power in him. So the last part of the journey would be ending tomorrow with exceedingly great speed and thrill and exciting crossings. Till then, stay tuned. Do comment on the style and correct if I'm wrong anywhere.
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Coming Soon: KGP to YPR journey by HWH-YPR Express \\\\
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Final Part: Day 2 Part 2
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Recap: Till the end of previous part, we reached Brahmapur, Odisha with a delay of 90 mins. We met Amravati Express going to MAO.
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Presenting you now...
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is the last part of my journey and the speediest part too. We now go onwards into Odisha. My excitement now was growing as we were fast approaching Chilika Lake. It was my childhood dream to see the huge Chilika Lake and wish is finally going to be completed. It was still 70 km away. We passed through all small medium station, sometimes we stormed through some, some were crossed slowly. At last we cruised through Chilka Lake. It was not just a lake, it seemed endless. "Water water everywhere, not a drop to drink". That was my thought after seeing that scene. It was large. It was enormous. After having a parallel run for a km or two, we finally big adieu to Chilika Lake. And now we storm towards Khurda Road. Lines from Puri joined us just before KUR. On that line was PURI-SRC Passenger waiting to enter KUR.
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Ninth Stop: Khurda Road, Odisha. 1555 km from YPR, 1403 km from JTJ, 1319 km from KPD, 1190 km from MAS, 1052 km from GDR, 759 km from BZA, 559 km from SLO, 364 km from VZM and 147 km from BAM, reached at 1053 hrs, 93 mins behind schedule. PURI-SRC too pulled in KUR that too with a great offlink CNB G7. The train took a 15 mins break. Freshened up myself, stretched myself up, relaxed my cramped muscles. Red light turned to yellow, starter given. Loco gave a sharp and long honk. Hearing the honk, all the passengers rushed inside. Main to araam se andar gaya, train thode na apne bina chalegi. At last, I climbed the stairs of the train and train started.
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Overtake happened, first till now. But that was not enough, a passenger train overtaken!!! LHB rake wale train ki ye halat. Anyways, let's move on. Next hunt: Bhubaneshwar. Not too far, just 18 kms, shortest distance between two halts in case of this train. The train cruised through that stretch, not much rock and roll. Notched up for a while, but again decreased its speed. My appointment was set with a friend at BBS with whom I spent 3 months in BBS during company training. Slowly train entered into BBS.
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Tenth Stop: Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. 1574 km from YPR, 1422 km from JTJ, 1338 km from KPD, 1209 km from MAS, 1071 km from GDR, 768 km from BZA, 578 km from SLO, 383 km from VZM, 166 km from BAM and 18 km from KUR, reached at 1123 hrs. Arrived on PF3. My friend came there and met him after a month or so. Had a great talk with him. Had told him to bring lunch with him for me so as to escape the horrible food of train. Train halted there for about 10 mins and then had to say goodbye to friend and the train pulled me out of BBS.
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Now the train started cruising at 70-80 kmph through the suburban stations of BBS. Up next CTC, that too was not too far. Just 28 km from BBS. Numerous rivers started crossing, with that numerous bridges too. That's the thing I love about BBS-BLS section. You get to cross many rivers that fall into nearby Bay of Bengal. So we now crawl till CTC. And hence reach a empty station of CTC. Just before entering the junction, we overtake a stranded BOXN rake which was being hauled by LGD G9.
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Eleventh Stop: Cuttack, Odisha. 1602 km from YPR, 1450 km from JTJ, 1366 km from KPD, 1237 km from MAS, 1099 km from GDR, 806 km from BZA, 606 km from SLO, 411 km from VZM, 194 km from BAM, 47 km from KUR and 28 km from BBS, reached at 1202 hrs. Now it's 87 mins behind schedule, covered 3 mins of delay!!!! A 2 mins stop and loco started accelerating.
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As we were exiting CTC, freight rakes with their respective locos were captured in a single frame. Locos were: A G9, a brown G5 and barbie doll liveried G5 too. Soon after we crossed the MAHA Mahanadi and a long, very long bridge. After completely crossing of the bridge, the real blast started. Grandpa now lost his cool. A 50 km long crawl can frustrate anyone so why can't the loco lose its cool. MPS blast started, train was touching 120 kmph. In the whole CTC-BLS section the train lowest speed didn't even went to 100 kmph. Except for it slowed down at some junctions like Bhadrak. I took a power nap in this section to charge myself up. After the nap, I saw that the MPS blast was still on. The train retained its speed uptil BLS.
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Twelfth Stop: Balasore, Odisha. 1780 km from YPR, 1628 km from JTJ, 1544 km from KPD, 1415 km from MAS, 1277 km from GDR, 984 km from BZA, 784 km from SLO, 589 km from VZM, 372 km from BAM, 225 km from KUR, 206 km from BBS and 178 km from CTC. Again, a 2 mins stop and loco started accelerating.
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After BLS, the MPS blast started again. The train's speed this time didn't even fall beyond 110 kmph. Continuous 110-115 kmph run till Hijli. During that time, BBS Rajdhani crossed us. The average speed was whopping 92 kmph. Transited from Odisha to my ilaka West Bengal.
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Thirteenth Stop: Hijli, West Bengal. 1892 km from YPR, 1740 km from JTJ, 1656 km from KPD, 1527 km from MAS, 1389 km from GDR, 1096 km from BZA, 896 km from SLO, 701 km from VZM, 484 km from BAM, 337 km from KUR, 318 km from BBS, 290 km from CTC and 112 km from BLS. Reached there at 1500 hrs. Recovered 10 mins now with late running of 80 mins. Train was stuck there for long. I even got bored seeing the empty platform in the hot sun. Train at last departed from HIJ.
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Now it's time for the second big skip, KGP. Now the train, instead of curving right towards KGP, it curves left and takes the HIJ-TATA line. I was recording a video of that section. As the phone screen was 100% reflecting. I saw an reflection of something red. I turned my head about 170 degrees only to find that red object is none else than a HWH P4 taking away the legendary Gitanjali Express. And this scene was very deceptive as visually this was an overtaking of our train by the legend. But, actually it was a crossing. We allowed Gitanjali to cross us as we were seeing it parallely crossing us. After halting for few minutes, we again started moving. We now curve towards Nimpura Through Yard as we now leave the KGP-TATA line. After snaking through all the tracks, we finally did some notch up as we pass through under-bridges, performing a U turn towards Gokulpur. The curves were were very big, one can see whole rake on the curve at once. As we approach Gokulpur, we are stopped again, and this wait was much longer than the Hijli and crossing wait added up together. My legs were now paining standing on the door and LHB door (you know it, bugs a lot). Finally got to see the reason of such long wait, an actual overtake, that too by the ECo king, BBS Rajdhani. We were also given the starter after few minutes of passing of rajdhani. But, we were badly late now. So much covered time was lost in this endless waiting saga. We finally entered Midnapore after so much of struggle.

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Fourteenth Stop: Midnapore, West Bengal. 1918 km from YPR, 1766 km from JTJ, 1682 km from KPD, 1553 km from MAS, 1415 km from GDR, 1122 km from BZA, 922 km from SLO, 727 km from VZM, 510 km from BAM, 363 km from KUR, 344 km from BBS, 316 km from CTC, 138 km from BLS and 26 km from HIJ. Reached there at 1630 hrs. Again back to 90 mins delay. Rested there for 2 mins.
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The blast starts again, MPS reached and never slowed till BQA. I was just cursing the controller of that section why he/she halted us for so much time. We could be easily put ahead of Rajdhani as the run was equivalent to the BBS Rajdhani run. There would have been still a healthy distance maintained between them. Average of 85 was recorded. Night began falling as soon as 1730 hrs (sun rises early and sets early in east part of India, plus winter effect; days are shorter). Family members started calling me more frequently as to know where my train has reached. Finally, we reach BQA, final stop before my destination.
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Fifteenth Stop: Bankura, West Bengal. 2021 km from YPR, 1868 km from JTJ, 1784 km from KPD, 1655 km from MAS, 1512 km from GDR, 1224 km from BZA, 1024 km from SLO, 829 km from VZM, 612 km from BAM, 465 km from KUR, 446 km from BBS, 418 km from CTC, 240 km from BLS, 128 km from HIJ and 102 km from MDN. Reached there at 1744 hrs. Sticked to 90 mins delay rule. 2 minute silence. "Horn". Depart
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Now keeping all my railfanning activities aside, I started my packup as my destination is now 53 kms away. The speed at which the train was taking me there compelled me to hurry up. I put all my baggage near the door and stood there. But I was again pissed. Train again stopped at Indrabil. After 5-10 mins, it accelerated. Now it's no stopping anywhere. The UP and DOWN tracks separated, signalling that my destination has finally arrived. From only 2 tracks, it became swarm of tracks and thus became a large yard. We slowed down as we were approaching the station. Finally the train pulled me to my destination. My Dad and my Mama were waiting for me on the platform. The train stopped and I jumped onto the platform thus marking my end of the trip.
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Sixteenth Stop and my destination: Adra Jn, West Bengal. 2074 km from YPR, 1921 km from JTJ, 1837 km from KPD, 1708 km from MAS, 1565 km from GDR, 1277 km from BZA, 1077 km from SLO, 882 km from VZM, 665 km from BAM, 518 km from KUR, 499 km from BBS, 471 km from CTC, 293 km from BLS, 181 km from HIJ, 155 km from MDN and 53 km from BQA. Reached there at 1834 hrs. Maintained a 90 mins. delay throughout the day. Kudos to the grandPa.
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So, how was the trip report friends? This is the end of 34 hours long journey and the end to my first trip report that went too much long. Please suggest me ideas so that I can write a better trip report in future. See you in next trip report that will be released soon. Till then tc.
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