14 replies to this topic

[Lester]

Hello again,
So here's my thread on the rail project we are putting together.
We are a group of independent travelers, none of us have actually met each other as yet. The project is an anarchic social-networking experiment.
The group is somewhere between 25 and 30 right now, at this rate it's going to be +50 on the day (don't worry, we wont all be in the same carriage, there will be people in a variety of classes)
We're going to be doing the following route in February 2011. If you are up for it you can just book yourself onto the trains in question, and we'll see you on the platform.

Start Mumbai Central Station, Saturday Evening, February 19th, 2011
Saturday dep Mumbai 20:25
Sunday arr Dwarka 15:07, dep Porbander 20:25 (or Jamnagar 23:15)
Monday arr Ahmedabad 06:00, dep Ahmedabad 11:10
Tuesday arr Jammu 19:25
Wednesday maybe go do the Baramulla to Qazigund and the Udhampur to Jammu sections, then depart Jammu 19:45 (Rajdhani)
(2446 departing Udhampur 19:00, arr NDLS 06:05 could be considered)
Thursday, arr New Delhi 04:55, dep New Delhi 09:30
Friday, arr New Jalpaiguri 10:55, maybe taxis to Darjeeling and trip on ‘Joy train’ (DJ to Ghum and back)
Saturday, dep NJP 06:35 (or 08:40), arr Rangiya 14:05 (or 15:15) depart Rangiya 19:15
Sunday, arr Dhemaji 05:51, cross Brahmaputra and get train from Dibrugarh to Ledo (or maybe train the following morning)
Bus to tippong and the colliery, night at the guesthouse.
Monday dep Ledo 15:40, arr Tinsukia 17:19. dep Tinsukia 21:20,
Tuesday arr NJP 12:55, dep NJP 14:15 (safe connection)
Wednesday on board
Thursday arr Chennai 04:30, dep Chennai 17:30
Friday Arr Kanyakumari 06:50, dep Cape 14:05 (on Himsagar Exp, or get earlier train), arr Trivandrum 15:55, dep Trivandrum 19:15
Saturday arr Panvel 22:55, metro to VT.
End Mumbai VT Station, Saturday Evening, March 5th, 2011

[iwanttogoback]

and have you booked a nice quiet room in a sanatorium for the two weeks after that?

seriously though, sounds like great fun.

[jyoti]

Wish I had the time for it! Well, maybe part of it. With that many people it'd be fun, though, and you are certainly visiting a lot of India ... in 15 days! Great idea.

[Lester]

thanks i-want-to' and ivoti,
we're well over 30 idiots up for this now, so if you too have lost all sense of reason and want to sign up for this, drop me a line. I've scarpered to somewhere a bit more tropical for a few weeks, but leave a message "I'll be back".

[Lester]

Lester, on Dec 15 2009, 10:51 PM, said:

thanks i-want-to' and ivoti,
we're well over 30 idiots up for this now, so if you too have lost all sense of reason and want to sign up for this, drop me a line. I've scarpered to somewhere a bit more tropical for a few weeks, but leave a message "I'll be back".

We've sexed this up a bit now, we've an evening taking photos of the Golden Temple, a visit to Dharamshala via the Kangra valley narrow gauge railway and we'll be stopping off for a couple of hours to "worship" at the Sun Temple at Bhubaneswar.
It costs an extra day, but the timings work out far more sensible, so its now Saturday to 2 weeks on Sunday. And of course we've still got a a bunch of other stuff along the way also.

http://gcirc.wordpress.com

[AlanD]

What a great idea!

If I was about 40 years younger I might join in.

Obviously you all will be pushing things to the limit - friendships will be made and broken - things will fall apart and come together again and you will all probably need a good rest at the end of this. Hope you've all allowed for a few days r n r at the end of the journey. I think you will all look back on this as the journey of a lifetime. Would love to know what happens so please write it up on the forum. Bon voyage to one and all.

[Lester]

AlanD, on Jan 12 2010, 08:13 PM, said:

What a great idea!

If I was about 40 years younger I might join in.

Obviously you all will be pushing things to the limit - friendships will be made and broken - things will fall apart and come together again and you will all probably need a good rest at the end of this. Hope you've all allowed for a few days r n r at the end of the journey. I think you will all look back on this as the journey of a lifetime. Would love to know what happens so please write it up on the forum. Bon voyage to one and all.

Many thanks Alan.
Courtesy of the all pervasive digital, cellular age we all now live in, we are planning to keep a blog going 24/7 during the trip with all kinds of media, so you can follow us every step of the way.

[priya]

What a great experience (and challenge) for all who'll be involved. I'm feeling quite envious.

[Lester]

priya, on Jan 14 2010, 07:28 AM, said:

What a great experience (and challenge) for all who'll be involved. I'm feeling quite envious.

thanks priya, dig that smilie.

[priya]

Why thank you, Lester.

[Lester]

Update on this, we've dumped dharamsala for darjeeling. we'll need a contingency loop for a few days, so as long as we're not late we'll get a cab up the hill and the train down the following day. We get a 6 hour break in Kolkata for some eating, anyone know a really good place between sealdah and howrah station ?

[jyotirmoy]

Take a cab from Sealdah station and go to Aminia next to New Market. Eat fabulous Biriyani, mutton champ and parathas. From Aminia go to Babu Ghat and take the ferry to Howrah station.

[Lester]

jyotirmoy, on Feb 8 2010, 11:37 AM, said:

Take a cab from Sealdah station and go to Aminia next to New Market. Eat fabulous Biriyani, mutton champ and parathas. From Aminia go to Babu Ghat and take the ferry to Howrah station.

Just checking my other threads, havent we met somewhere before .
We'll be doing the tram of course, but thanks again.

[gianni66]

Lester, on Feb 14 2010, 09:13 AM, said:

Just checking my other threads, havent we met somewhere before .
We'll be doing the tram of course, but thanks again.

We ALL here have met somewhere else before (and we'll meet somewhere else after too...!)



It's the proof that we have too many things to say about India travelling that just one common forum it's not sufficient!

[Lester]

gianni66, on 15 February 2010 - 03:11 PM, said:

We ALL here have met somewhere else before (and we'll meet somewhere else after too...!)



It's the proof that we have too many things to say about India travelling that just one common forum it's not sufficient!

hello everyone, I'm just doing the rounds on the 5 or 6 active threads that I have listed.
we are now looking like 25 people wil actually make it to the platform. we also have someone who set off the day before yesterday in a bid to put down his own record for this. though he's looking at 20 days but in SL.
if you've just tuned in and might fancy doing this, please get in touch asap.