Twin WDM2s from Ratlam - Bombay Rajdhani (Aug. 1995)

[ambiye]

And gangapur city was the technical halt

[vb642]

@ambiye Very true! 

[ambiye]

Vintage shot by a pioneer in railfanning!!!! I travelled by old rajdhani in 1983 when i was 10 yrs old, i travelled by ac chair car for nearly 17 hrs ;) that time, i think the departure time was 3:40 from bombay central station. Most. Of the coaches used to be chair car. With ticket @ 350 rs. I still remember they played ghulam ali ghazals and umrao jaan and nikah songs onboard. And they gave " small " cup of vanilla ice cream after the dinner. Alas, those good old days!!!!!

[vb642]

@ambiye Those were the good old days for sure. I, too, made my first journey on this Rajdhani in summer of 1982. I can relate to all you have said here. Terrific food and service, separate booths for reservation at Bombay Central with airline-style tickets. Doors would close 5 mts before departure. And terrific food on-board.

[Arkchat921]

During that time, which stretch was unelectrified???

[vb642]

@Arkchat921 The whole Mumbai-Delhi was electrified (in 1987 itself). However, twin WDM2s were still being used for the Rajdhani between BCT and RTM, since the WCAM1s could not go beyond 105 kmph.

[Scrapandjunk]

true rail fan u wer & u r sir...spectacular...my dad use 2 say ki "rajdhani ko do diesel engine leke jaate the" today am gonna show this to him...wooow...i really wonder why & for what reason some1 disliked it...YT shld remove the dislike button only...it shld be like

"u like it fine else go check the next one"

[vb642]

@Scrapandjunk As you know, there are always random good-for-nothings hanging around the net, waiting to post negative comments on others' videos. I couldn't care less about them. If they dislike a video, it's their problem, not mine :-)

[Scrapandjunk]

@vb642 u right but i feel even YT shld remove this dislike button...

[katochnr]

how old is this?

[vb642]

@katochnr Video was shot in 1995.

[sagitaurean]

same thing i saw but with diff gujarat express in blue livery entering bct, rajdhani with raj livery lhb n wcam 2 on plat no.1

[sagitaurean]

same thing i saw but with diff gujarat express in blue livery , rajdhani with raj livery lhb n wcam 2

[ng111gala]

which was the other mail train entering BCT

really thanks to u, we r able to see vids of old IR, do u know any other channel on youtube or some other platform which has vids from old IR

[vb642]

@ng111gala That was the Gujarat Exp. I hardly know anyone who used to take IR videos in the 90s. Try Nikhil Arora (username - nikearora) - he has some nice YAM1 videos!

[bharath94ir]

Oh that's cool. I also have friends that live near New Hampshire. So r u a fan of Amtrak or MBTA or just IR?

[vb642]

@bharath94ir Just IR, with a passing interest in MBTA/Amtrak.

[wilsonsamuel]

@vb642

MBTA is a joke, compared to the IR, they surely can learn something from IR

[bharath94ir]

I live near Worcester, Ma. U must have heard of it. Its about 30-40 miles from Boston.

[vb642]

@bharath94ir Of course, I know Worcester. Been there quite a few times. In fact, we have close friends from South Grafton which is not far from Worcester. I actually live in Nashua, NH.

[bharath94ir]

@ vb642. I hereu live in the US, where? I

Love in the US to.

[vb642]

@bharath94ir I live near Boston. How about you?

[satishsj]

I once witnessed the Raj zipping through Kelve Road. After the train passed, I was surprised to see that the station was still standing ! I was expecting it to be battered down by the thunder of the twin WDM2s.

[vb642]

@satishsj Wow! You have witnessed something truly magical. Rajdhani thundering past you with twin WDM2s.

[satishsj]

I too fondly remember watching out in the evening at Dadar for the MUed WDM2s hauling the Raj. I somehow recollect that one of the leading locos used to carry the title 'Paschim Pratap'.

[samyk20]

Ahhhh pure nostalgia rajdhani departure 16:55 departure!WDM2 twins howled raj I remember being a kid used to go to my cousin places at matunga rail colony around 17:05-17:10 used to pass and i be glued to the window waiting for it!

[vb642]

@samyk20 Those were the days of the royal Raj. with twin WDM2s and a non-stop run from Bombay Central to Vadodara. Unfortunately, it now has a halt at Surat.

[bacchu18]

kkkk...sorry got u wrong..

[vb642]

I never said the station is Ratlam! It's obviously Mumbai Central, Bombay Central at that time. I only mentioned that the locos are from Ratlam shed.

[aryandisouza]

DUDE!......that's not looking like Ratlam.....its Mumbai Central, as Mumbai local can be easily seen and....Mumbai Rajdhani not arrive at Ratlam at his time in both rakes......since this Rajdhani started its time has not been shifted....soo plzz correct it....

[saurabh2860]

r u in the picture with spects??? the video is very good

[vb642]

No, that's my friend, Pushkar.

[saurabh2860]

sir, iwould like to know that though you are in US then how to manage to update so many and minute information related to IR. i think you have created IRFCA in US only and the excellent information which you have put into it, how you did that?? pls let me know.

disappointment is that i have not recd any feedback from akshay marathe.

[vb642]

First of all, I spent the first 21 years of my life in India - so did a lot of information gathering. Even after coming to US, I used to keep in touch with IR through timetables and magazines. Now with IRFCA, you can get all information right from the website.

[saurabh2860]

that great sir, and i bow down to your dedication. Sir, i am eager to know that as now u r in US then how you keep of updating on ur site? or some one else is updating under your guidance.and which magazines to go through for IR News & info??

[vb642]

We all access to Internet - that's the beauty of it :-) Regarding news and info, there are people from India who keep doing it (e.g. Yogesh).

[insas223]

Thx,brings backs so many memories.Was a regular traveler on the 'diesel' Rajdhani during my college days.

[vb642]

Miss those days when Rajdhani was treated like a royal train - airline-style tickets, separate reservation booth, impeccable service, etc.

[amitava1988]

Great..!!

[vb642]

Thanks!

[wilsonsamuel]

Never got a chance to ride the 2951/2s in those days... would have loved the humming sounds on the stretch...

I miss IR, I love IR ... no Amtrak or Thallys or ICE or anything else can be replace IR in my heart!

[vb642]

The 2951/2952 used to be royally treated in those days. It had a non-stop run from Mumbai Central to Vadodara.  Can you believe that they are planning to introduce Andheri as a halt for the Rajdhani just because Mumbaikers are too lazy to board the train at Mumbai Central? Looks like they all want a Rajdhani stopping at their doorstep. Utterly disgusting!

[wilsonsamuel]

Even the introduction of ST (Surat Jn) was a total shock for me..

Infact, Mumbaikers should be using AK Raj for any further halts (which already halts at Borivali), once the pride 2951/2 I guess is soon going to be a Super Crawler.

Btw, I noticed that my dream gal, 1081/2 Number has been discontinued or it was a nightmare I saw.

[razildre]

sorry..I dont mean WDP-1.I mean WDM-4

[razildre]

How are WDM-2 used for Rajdhanis??

I know that a WDM-2 can haul 9 coaches approx....and that 2 WDM-2s were used to haul an 18coach express..

But how are WDM-2 used to draw the rajdhani??according to Irfca,WDP-1 were used to haul rajdhanis in non electricfied areas nd now WDP-3A is doing that(Ex-konkan railway-tvm raj)

[vb642]

Actually, these are special WDM2s (from Ratlam shed) with higher gear-ratio, specifically designed to haul the Rajdhani at max. speed of 120 kmph.  A WDM4 could go at 130 kmph - hence, it was used to haul the Howraj Rajdhani. Then IR came up with a high-speed electric loco - the WAP1.

[razildre]

Yeah..I know...and then the IR Came up with the WAP-5 nd WAP-7-based on the swiss LOK2000 which is presently used in rajdhanis. Around mumbai,its the WCAM-3 thats hauling raj i guess or is it WDP-3A??

[vb642]

WCAM-2's are the workhorses in WR, Mumbai. Both the Mumbai and AK Rajdhanis get a WCAM-2 between Mumbai Central and Vadodara.

[razildre]

Ok..thanks for the info..

[razildre]

but TVM rajdhani gets WDP-3A right??nd not WCAM-2

[vb642]

Correct! The TVC Rajdhani gets a WDP3A all the way from TVC till BRC.

[razildre]

I see ur in USA..r u also a fan of Amtrak:they have some rather odd looking diesels and very few electrics when compared to India(however thery do have a high speed train;acela express) or only IR?

[vb642]

Ironically, the Acela runs from Boston - just an hour away from where I live, but I am yet to travel on it. It goes at a max. speed of 150 mph.

[Sameer7678]

I was really searching for these kind of videos for sometime on the Internet and specially The old Rajdhani Express Videos With its Twin WDM2's. Great Work! :-)

[vb642]

I will miss these twin WDM2's forever.

[ersd4u]

well said. Btw , I was also fond of trains since childhood. I hate these diseal engines coz they look scary...specially the engine which is used for shunting trains...:)

[indianrailways]

wow in 1995 u never could have even imagined that one day the whole world would watch this video.

[vb642]

You are absolutely right! Back then, I didn't have a clue that these videos could actually be put up on the Internet for others to see. Ah, the miracles of technology :-)