The Tarkeshwar-Goghat Route in a cloudy weather is an absolute Bliss

Nawabganj Champdani Ferry

• Explored the newly inagurated Palta-Champdani ferry service. And it was the special ferry service at 05:40 AM from Nawabganj Ghat. It doesnt wait for passengers to board. Just arrives, takes whatever passengers has arrived and leaves. This special ferry is for workers of the Jute Mill.

Palta Ghat & Champdani Ghat


• Landed on Champdani/Baidyabati after 6 years. Doesnt feel any different though. People living in the area are still the same. But all the temples in there have been renewed and modernized, which is cool.
  I also noticed a hidden, no longer in use railway track just beside the Champdani Municipality. Not that Im surprised cuz there are many such tracks laying across near the Hoogly river. Used for deboarding cargos from Ships onto Freight trains.

Seoraphuli JN

• Then we took a Toto and went to Seoraphuli station. Fare : ₹20. We also crossed the SHE-TAK branch lines and that was the first time I noticed the Tarkeshwar line for the first time irl. The toto stopped at the level crossing just near the PF1-2. The ticket counter lies just between the intersection of HWH-BDC and SHE-TAK lines (PF-4 and PF-3). SHE GOGT distance is 69 km.
  When we arrived the Howarh-Singur Krishak Andolan Special local was halted at PF 2. The station is ofcourse dirty. Seoraphuli is well known for its Wholesale market. Street sellers are literally sitting on PF 1 railway tracks! Plan was to take 37313 HWH-TAK but we took the 37311. It was the ICF MEDHA rake exclusive fn in the HWH div ( SDAH division operates the Bombardier rake). So it was my first time riding a Medha rake and it felt more modern than Bombarider.

Tarkeshwar

• Noticed the famous Kamarkundu Chord line from the top. First time witnessing the Chord line.
• 37311 arrived at PF 1 of Tarkeshwar before 0800. Absolutely first time for me. Clicked lots of photos. The Pandas were already there on the platform in search for customer. We went outside the station and went up to alley which leds to the Shiv temple. Our next train was moving at 0822. I could have taken a quick glance inside the temple if it was me alone who was travelling. So anyway we had our breakfast there (I had woke up at 0400. I did not have a good sleep in the night. I was literally awake from 1245..). Kachori and tea. Then went to PF 2-3 and clicked photos there too. I had seen online TAK has 4 PFs. But upon arriving I saw 1,2 and 3. There was a special freight trains track besides line 3 and some loop lines. Later while returning from GOGT I realised there is a PF 1A a bit before the main platforms attached to PF 1.
  It is not a very clear station either. Human feces scattered across the platform, so yeah, not very clean. 37313 arrived at PF 3. Also a Medha rake. Lucky me. TTE checked our tickets. 37313 changed its name to 37381 TAK-GOGT local (there was a bit of confusion. Some sites said 37381 is TAK Arambagh local. The trains speaker also said upto Arambagh. But the station announcement said Goghat.).

Tarkeshwar Goghat route

• The Tarkeshwar branch line is not very congested. Trains run very smoothly (unlike SDAH main line where 3rd line construction between NH and KYI is making passenger's life living hell). Our train kept a really high speed upto Talpur Halt. TAK-GOGT is single line btw. I could already see the Red Soil spread all over the land. Crossed three rivers. Damodar, Mundeshwari and Darkeshwar.
• And then the rice fields. Try to anticipate the scenary. Green Rice fileds spread upto infinity with the combination of a Dark Cloudy Weather. I always fantasized about such a scenery since grade seven where I saw a similiar picture of rice fileds with a cloudy weather in my Geography book. This is Bengal's natural beauty at its peak.

I could see few houses on the horizon in the middle of the fields distanced at some hundred meters from each. Farmers doing their works. Also potatos, lots of potato sacks stacked and ready to be dumped on lorries.


Damodar's width was very low in that area. Looked like a big canal. But on rainy seasons this river brings catastrophic disaster.

Mundeshwari is of the highest width among the 3. It was mostly dry and clearly was not in its full form.

Darkeshwar river looked like any standard river you will imagine.

Goghat

• Lines are under construction towards Bishnupur(Bankura). Station is as I expected. Not much to say. See the pics.

Last station of this route (for now)

Kamarpukur

• Took a shared 4 wheeler and travelled a few kms (around 6-7 km). And then there it was, the birth place of Shree Ramkrishna Paramhansa, his house, pond he used to bath, temples and many other things that I will not wage into here.

Jayrambati. Also First time in Bankura

• 6 km from Kamarpukur. Situated in Bankura. Not gonna say much but I did enjoy Bankura. One mistake was chilling beside the deserted highway. Lets put it this way, we could have been dead. Not by accident, but by a SuS guy on a bike. And our bodies wouldn't have been discovered for weeks. We made our way through the fields by walking on the thin boundary for ~322 meters to visit Ramkrishna Sarada Math but it was closed. Everything opens at 0330 pm. So we waited in the restroom for most of the time as we were tired of wakling back and forth on the uneven path.

Return Journey

• As soon as the Temple opened, we saw whatever we were allowed to and then left for Goghat. It was a long journey. Near 15 kms on toto. When arrived Goghat 37344 was already there. Train departed at 1705. It didnt got that much crowded. We reached Seoraphuli Jn before 1900. One thing for sure Howrah division is way more time efficient that Sealdah. The speed was spectacular between TAK and SHE.
  Up BWN galloping local arrived at PF 5. Reached BBAE. Auto. Ferry. Home :)

Trains:

• 37311/HWH-TAK
• 37313/HWH-TAK-GOGT
• 37344/GOGT-TAK-HWH
• 37847/HWH-BWN Galloping (via Main Line)