As a boy growing up in small-town Amravati, Lalam Mandavkar would encounter trains almost every day as his school was just across the railway lines. What held his fascination as the behemoths went clickety-clack on the tracks was the visceral thrill of the lonesome whistle, the locomotive noisily building up steam pressure and the moribund signalling system suddenly crackling to life.The childhood enchantment with the Indian Railways has grown into a passion for Mandavkar, a production engineer in Pune. He is one of the country’s several railway enthusiasts, or railfans as they are called, who indulge (rather quirkly sometimes) in train travel, visiting stations and tracks, studying timetables, writing travelogues, shooting photographs and videos, and even jotting down the numbers on locos and coaches.In the railways, these numbers are at the core of communication, helping drivers and “safaiwallahs” identify which loco or coach they need to go to. With the increase...
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in the number of trains over the years, the three-digit numbers have now gone up to five digits, says Mandavkar. Today, Mandavkar focuses a lot on rail photography, having drawn inspiration from hardcore railfan Apurva Bahadur’s spectacular shots of trains chugging along scenic landscapes. The city-based Bahadur says the train is most times just a beautiful object in his images. He and other railfans can be regularly found at the stunningly picturesque Shindawane ghat near Urulikanchan on the Pune-Miraj line, observing and shooting trains that snake in and out of tunnels, ride over girder bridges and negotiate tricky curves and slopes. Bahadur’s photo sessions often call for paring down on a night’s sleep to capture a train in the subtle light of the rising sun.The credit goes to railfans for making Shindawane village, which has a population of just around 5,000, among the most popular railway locations in the world. Just Google ‘Shindawane’ and you will know, says Mandavkar.Other popular railfanning locations are Daundaj, also on the Pune-Miraj line, where the tracks follow a giant horseshoe curve; Adarki on the same line which has two horseshoe curves, two tunnels and many deep cuttings; and, the Konkan Railway between Mumbai and Mangalore where a plethora of tunnels, rivers, viaducts and picture-perfect sceneries presents a veritable vista. Then there’s the well-known Bhor ghat section between Lonavala and Karjat, which has steep gradients and curves, continuous traffic on three tracks and an interesting history. The construction of this section along with the Thul ghat line between Kalyan and Igatpuri in the late 19th century is an engineering marvel that sadly also took a toll on the human labour involved — 24,000 workers reportedly died during the decade-long work due to illnesses or tragedies like rock fall. Labour uprising and squabbling between construction contractors were rife too. Urologist Shirish Yande, another railfan from the city, is saddened at the meter gauge and narrow gauge tracks losing out to broad gauge in the country, although this means modernisation of the Indian Railways. Today, meter gauge tracks constitute only 3% of the Indian rail network while narrow gauge is even less at 1.8%. The smaller lines had an inherent charm, he says.But Yande finds the huge variety of signalling systems, tractions and colour liveries of rakes on the railways simply mind-boggling. He points to a number of trains that carry a great history such as the Punjab Mail, Mumbai-Howrah Mail via Allabahad and the Golden Temple (Frontier) Mail. Among mountain trains, the beautiful Swiss-made steam locomotive of the meter-gauge Nilgiri Mountain Railway and the mini-gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Rail never fail to impress.Meanwhile, the Deccan Queen remains an eternal favourite for several railfans in Pune and Mumbai. Bahadur commends it for its unique dining car and rock solid punctuality. For the others, he says, any train is great as long as there is movement.

आदर्की : मिरज-पुणे लोहमार्गावर ब्रिटिशकालीन मीटर गेज लोहमार्ग बंद झाल्यानंतर स्वातंत्रकाळात ब्रॉडगेज लोहमार्ग सुरू झाला. त्यावेळी आंबळे, शिंदवने, जेजुरी, दौडज, वाल्हे, सालपे, आदर्की, वाठार स्टेशन या ठिकाणी डोंगरातून, बोगद्यातून गाडी जाताना फोटो काढण्याचा मोह प्रवाशांना आवरत नसे. आता लोहमार्गाच्या दुपदरीकरणामुळे फेरबदल होऊन रुंदीकरण होणार असल्याने प्रवाशांना मिळणारे नयनरम्य दृश्य पडद्याआड जाणार असल्याची चर्चा प्रवाशांमध्ये सुरू आहे.
मिरज-पुणे लोहमार्ग ब्रिटिशकाळात मीटर गेज सुरू होता. त्यानंतर देशाला स्वातंत्र्य मिळाल्यानंतर १९६५ च्या दरम्यान जुन्या मीटर गेज लोहमार्गाशेजारून दुसरा ब्रॉडगेज लोहमार्ग टाकण्यात आला. त्यावेळी एकही तास मीटर गेज रेल्वेलाईन बंद न ठेवता ब्रॉडगेज लोहमार्ग सुरू केला होता.
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आंबळे, शिंदवणे, आदर्की येथे तीन बोगदे व जुना आदर्कीजवळ बोगद्याची रुंदी, उंची वाढवून त्यामधूनच लोहमार्ग सुरू केला होता. हा लोहमार्ग डोंगर-दऱ्यातून जात असल्याने पावसाळ्यात ठिकठिकाणी धबधबे पाहावयास मिळतात. त्याबरोबर रेल्वे डब्यात बसले तर पाठीमागचा शेवटचा डबा पूर्ण पाहता येतो, अशी वळणे आहेत. त्यामुळे मिरज-पुणे लोहमार्ग पावसाळ्यात पर्यटन म्हणून मोठ्या प्रमाणात प्रवासी प्रवास करत असत. त्यावर काही विद्यार्थी अभ्यासासाठी पॅसेंजर गाडीने प्रवास करीत असताना नयनरम्य ठिकाणे पाहून फोटोशन करताना पाहावयास मिळत असे.
आता मिरज-पुणे लोहमार्गाचे दुपदरीकरण होणार असल्याने जुन्या मीटर गेज लोहमार्गाच्या माती भरावावरून काही ठिकाणी दुरुस्ती करून लोहमार्ग टाकण्यात येणार आहे. त्यामुळे ब्रॉडगेजचे काम लवकर पूर्ण होणार आहे.पावसाळ्यात कोणाचा फिल..पॅसेंजर गाडींना तिकीटही कमी आहे. आदर्कीहून पुण्याला जायचे म्हटले तर फक्त २२ रुपये तिकिटाचे दर आहे. आदर्की-सालपे-वाठारपर्यंत मोठ्या प्रमाणात ‘एस’ वळणे, त्याबरोबर दोन बोगदे आहेत. त्यामुळे पावसाळ्यात कोकणात आल्याचे फिल प्रवाशांना येतो.मिरज-पुणे लोहमार्गावर आदर्कीजवळचे नयनरम्य दृश्य आता वळणाच्या दुपदरीकरणामुळे काळाच्या पडद्याआड जाणार आहे.