Year 2013 at a Glance :MASHUP 2013
Just like always, we had high expectations as 2013 started. However, a thin veil of uncertainty prevailed upon our minds; 13 is an unlucky number. Well, we soon found out how 'unlucky' 20'13' could get gor us. Us: Kolkata Railfans. The year started with a bang for some of us as we embarked upon a trip to Prantik. This was soon followed by other trips; both short and long; to parts of India. While Anuvab Bhattacharjee made it far to Bangalore and SWR, Pramit Mitra, Arghya, Sayantan, Subhankar, Arkya made it to the heavenly NFR cruising though the curves and gradients of the Dooars. Our juniour members, Sohan and Anish may still be in school, but were no less in enthusiasm as they made fringes of ER, ECR and the rural Bengal (read SER) their second home. Ably supporting them were Avishek Basu, Pramit Mitra and Prasun Ray Chowdhury. This also ensured we met railfans from other zones/ states as mixed freely with them. In November, Anindya Roy made it to the speed heaven, Asaoti while Arkya and Chandril Bhowmick and later Pramit Mitra retraced his steps. Speed Heaven: how could our own HBC be left behind? We had trains raging through the tracks at 130kmph at our will as there is never a dearth of Rajdhanis, Durontos or Shatabdis in ER. SER did lag behind in terms of a Rajdhani but then SCR blessed us with its own form of the Shalimar-Secunderabad AC SF in LHB form. Yes, LHB; it seemed to create a mini revolution, as Poorva Express and the RNC Shatabdi Express were both LHB-fied in 2013. Chandril Bhowmick, Arkya Chatterjee and Vivian Boye provides us with videos of the above. Railfanning reached newer peaks as our captures definitely got better over time. Also improving steadily was our friendship despite small misunderstandings. 2013 also provided us with some breath taking parallel actions, Anindya Roy having captured the lion's share of it. Accompanying it were stunning offlinks that other zones blessed us with in the form of their locos. As again; we never missed capturing them. Sayantan Banerjee, Mr SER, got the lion's share in this field while others did chip in with their inputs. The word 'new' took on a 'newer' defination as we had many NEWs this year in the form of NEW trains, NEW locos visiting ER/SER for the first time. An icing on the cake was meeting Mani Vijay Sir, a first time for many of us. A new learning experience definately for us. Please do watch this video; I can assure you, this 15 minutes wont be wasted, as we take you through this musical journey of 2013: MASHUP 2013.
Just like always, we had high expectations as 2013 started. However, a thin veil of uncertainty prevailed upon our minds; 13 is an unlucky number. Well, we soon found out how 'unlucky' 20'13' could get gor us. Us: Kolkata Railfans. The year started with a bang for some of us as we embarked upon a trip to Prantik. This was soon followed by other trips; both short and long; to parts of India. While Anuvab Bhattacharjee made it far to Bangalore and SWR, Pramit Mitra, Arghya, Sayantan, Subhankar, Arkya made it to the heavenly NFR cruising though the curves and gradients of the Dooars. Our juniour members, Sohan and Anish may still be in school, but were no less in enthusiasm as they made fringes of ER, ECR and the rural Bengal (read SER) their second home. Ably supporting them were Avishek Basu, Pramit Mitra and Prasun Ray Chowdhury. This also ensured we met railfans from other zones/ states as mixed freely with them. In November, Anindya Roy made it to the speed heaven, Asaoti while Arkya and Chandril Bhowmick and later Pramit Mitra retraced his steps. Speed Heaven: how could our own HBC be left behind? We had trains raging through the tracks at 130kmph at our will as there is never a dearth of Rajdhanis, Durontos or Shatabdis in ER. SER did lag behind in terms of a Rajdhani but then SCR blessed us with its own form of the Shalimar-Secunderabad AC SF in LHB form. Yes, LHB; it seemed to create a mini revolution, as Poorva Express and the RNC Shatabdi Express were both LHB-fied in 2013. Chandril Bhowmick, Arkya Chatterjee and Vivian Boye provides us with videos of the above. Railfanning reached newer peaks as our captures definitely got better over time. Also improving steadily was our friendship despite small misunderstandings. 2013 also provided us with some breath taking parallel actions, Anindya Roy having captured the lion's share of it. Accompanying it were stunning offlinks that other zones blessed us with in the form of their locos. As again; we never missed capturing them. Sayantan Banerjee, Mr SER, got the lion's share in this field while others did chip in with their inputs. The word 'new' took on a 'newer' defination as we had many NEWs this year in the form of NEW trains, NEW locos visiting ER/SER for the first time. An icing on the cake was meeting Mani Vijay Sir, a first time for many of us. A new learning experience definately for us. Please do watch this video; I can assure you, this 15 minutes wont be wasted, as we take you through this musical journey of 2013: MASHUP 2013.