The journey which took me back to history !
One of the last few trains to have the vintage ICF Rajdhani Express coaches in their consist & perhaps the only train to retain a uniform original ICF Rajdhani liveried rake except two odd ones in Duronto livery.
12493 Pune-Hazrat Nizamuddin Darshan Express negotiating a curve somewhere after Mangal Mahudi led by Ghaziabad (GZB) WAP 7 # 37043.
Interestingly,...
more... there are a few contrasting elements in the scene put together i.e. different concepts which have evolved in different phases of IR.
1) The oldest being the ICF Rajdhani coaches from nineties.
2) The concept of Duronto Express which evolved much later.
3) The concept of HOG which was devised long back though with 30277 being the first loco with HOG capabilities but a rapid, large scale implementation can be witnessed in current scenario of IR.
4) A DLW WAP 7 . No one would have imagined the irony back in old days that Diesel Locomotive Works will start rolling out electric units in future.
Few more interesting facts about that particular run:
1) It's counter part i.e. 12494 NZM-PUNE Darshan Express witnessed a small celebration cum felicitation event at H.Nizamuddin on 13/9/19 & Pune on 14/9/19 by Sadhu Waswani Mission as a vote of thanks to IR for naming this train 'Darshan Express'.
2) The locomotive WAP 7 # 37043 happens to be the first WAP 7 of 37XXX series comissioned to ELS Ghaziabad. As per my observation this may be the only 3-phase loco/WAP 7 to have typical so called 3-phase horns in one cab & conventional horns in the opposite cab