Presenting the conclusion to this :-/blog/post/3888422
Now that the DC line has been restarted guess this post turns out to be kinda redundant :p
Due a busy schedule, I was unable to update this post and hence a delayed compensation of sorts...
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This...
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was my supposed last trip on the Dhanbad-Chandrapura line before it's pre-mature closure on the 15th June of 2017....
I was on-board the now cancelled Chandrapura-Dhanbad from Chandrapura till Dhanbad. While I had boarded the Hatia-Bardhamaan Passenger from BKSC itself I deboarded at CRP, due to the fact that this train has abysmally long (yes , I used abysmal) waitover time at Gomoh and Dhanbad. While it was ok in the 90s due to loco-reversal at GMO and change into electric traction at DHN, now with electrical traction throughout, a waitover of over 2 hours at GMO was frustrating...
I took a stroll towards the CTPS and returned back an hour to find to find the 53340 Down with a grandpa MGS WAM-4 incharge of the haulage duties...
The train departed with a light load given the hot afternoon and we crossed over the diverging RNC-GMO line towards the Dugda collieries towards Tundu.
The line from Chandrapura towards is an interesting mix of surprises, as a single line cutting and slicing through numerous coal loading sidings along the way. We also crossover the Mahuda-Gomoh single line near Phulwantand.
Mahuda Jn is interesting junction head on the GMO-MHQ-BJE and the CRP-MHQ-BJE lines. There are 4 single electrified lines diverging from Mahuda, two branching off towards BJE one via VAA and one via Talgaria. Bhowra and Bhaga are still classified as junctions even-though there are no obvious lines branching from them. Earlier both of this stations had link and loop line link of the now defunct PEH-JRI-DHN line. I really admire SER's intricate networks of lines. These make bypassing one line relatively easy and often makes loco reversals un-necessary, I hope some stubborn zones (cough ' e cough c cough r) take notice and do away with clumsy loco reversals.
Anyway, we cross Tundu and enters the proverbial fiery pit. The line post Tundu and Katrasgarh is one of the worst affected by the underground fires.
Angarpathra Halt was admist this fiery rail-road.
I have not travelled on the DC line since it was re-started but if memory serves me it right then :-
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CRP-PLJE :- Single electrified line.
PLJE-TNO :- FEDL
TNO-SJA :- FESL
SJA-DHN :- FEDL
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After crossing over the Katri river into Angarpathra towards Sijua. The lines from Sijua to Bansjora is accompanied by the massive coal siding and and this area reeks of black smoke and coal dust......
The landscape post Bansjora and inwards resembled a thermo-geological area. Please refer to the pictures in the pictures to see why, and finally after crossing through the impressive Kusunda marshalling yard and into the penultimate halt Kusunda.
The line from KDS to DHN is arguably the best track on the entire DC line, and trains can do a respectable 50-60 before slowing down on approaching DHN.
Unlike the lines of the grand chord from GAYA which donot have any crossovers if you are kept on the mainline you can easily enter DHN at relatively high speeds and slow down in time, trains on the DC lines have to massively slowdown before entering DHN...
During the earlier days when the DHN-JRI-PEH line was active the trains would branch and cross over the DC line at the Dhanbad Diamond Crossing where two tracks one from the platforms and the other from the marshalling yard would converge and diverge towards Dhansar and Kusunda respectively.
I have fond memories of my childhood of taking the ALCO hauled 13301 DHN-TATA Subranarekha (now Swarnarekha) express from DHN which would crossover the Diamond Crossing and take a sharp downward curve into the Dhansar side........
Nowadays all that remains of the Diamond Crossing the lines branching off into the platforms and the marshalling yard. Post the Diamond Crossing any train would take a sharp curve into the platforms off the station....
Please be advised that I am recalling all of this from memory and there may be a mistake or two.....
On entering the platform, there are a commotion. Apparently the Bhillai WAM-4 hauling the DBG-SC express had somehow failed, and was being replaced by a MGS WAM-4, and a dead BKSC ALCO was also being attached maybe set to transit upto BKSC. The ontime train was held up at DHN for nearly half and hour but I was confident of it reaching BKSC on time due to the enormous slacks being provided....
Black Diamond express was being shuttled into platform number 2, while the TATA WAM-4 of the HTE-BWN passenger was also being replaced by another TATA WAM-4 . Talk of seeing two probable blue-moons in one day. The WAM-4 was highly reliable locomotive and examples were given of it's famed reliability by several railfans....talk of seeing two coincidental probable WAM-4 failures, how rare was that :D
With this in mind , I stepped out of the station......
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P.S :- I have no clue as to why the photographs are getting uploaded in this manner. Maybe this is due to the fact this photos were taken with a relatively older phone in the portait mode. The photographs taken in the landscape mode turned out just fine....
Photos Taken :- Samsung Galaxy Core Prime
Photos taken :- June of 2017.
Photo credits :- Self.
Photos 1-3 :- show the Diamond crossing, the space that you now see beside the tracks in picture three were once occupied by the Dhansar line.
Photos 4-6 :- we slowly curve into the platform numbered 6.
Photos 7-8 :- MGS WAM-4 of unknown road number with a dead BKSC Shakti Alco 13470 being attached to the 17008 DBG-SC Bi-weekly express, The BIA WAM-4 had been pulled up ahead and hence I couldn't take it's photo graph.
Photo 9 :- DBG-SC TB
Photo 10 :- DHN SB
Photo 11-12 :- Black-Diamond and Hatia-Bardhaman set for departures at their respective times.
-Arnab