Russian Railroad!!!

Why such small interest to Russian Railway?

Well, for some reason it takes a while on this particular 'Worldwide' forum to get responses (actually, until railroad.net moved to new servers a month ago, it had a bad tendency to crash now and then. Since they migrated to the new servers things the uptime has been very good [crosses fingers], but I wonder if some posters had been scared away by the crashes and 'gave up' - meaning it can get a bit quiet here now and then).
That aside, I will take on my usual duty of asking rather silly questions and making silly comments, which may or may not have any particular relevance to the thread....

1.) The VL10 - how old is that image? Does this locomotive class still have red stars on their nose, 16 years after the fall of the Soviet Union? Also, it looks as if this is one of the few locomotive classes to have only one operator's cab as opposed to the one cab at each end that the other locos have...

2.) Except for the CHME3, which looks like a switcher type - also, why the pantograph on the long hood, is this really a diesel?

3.) EMUs - The EPL9 looks fine, although it's a bit of a shame it got cut off (I would have liked to see the non-cab end - guess I can search the web later).
The ER2 though - is this really a EMU (strictly this should mean that every car has it's own power feed, motors, and operator's cab - however, in reality EMUs can be 2 or 3 car coupled (or 'married' pairs) to save the cost of operator cabs and on maintanence down the road
http://www.ebbc.org/rail/M7.jpg
Anyway, this looks like a locomotive with passenger seating part, and the remainder slave cars....
The DMUs you show look the same way - like our old style articulated 'streamlined' passenger trains http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Zephyr
4.) The Nevski Express passenger cars looks so much like 1950s style Pullmans - It because of the undercarriage skirting (which tended to 'disappear' from the US passenger cars during maintainence)
5.) Sorry, but the High-Speed ER200 looks way too much like 1960s Japanese trains - are they based on that design?
Again, interesting photos, albiet some didn't load, but still very nice...

1. It is a history, however, on many locomotives red star removed, but on Ukraine red star replace on "УЗ"-Укрзалізниці (sign-Ukraine railway).
2. CHME3 - it's really diesel, on picture - joke
3. EPL9 - was made Lugansk (Ukraine), no comments, I do not know.
4. You are probably right.
5. ER200 was made in Riga (Latvia) in 1960-1970 (1973), but all possible

Thanks for the follow-up - Heh, I thought the ER200 High-Speed train looked like it was from the 1960s, and so it was...

Why such a minor interest in Russain trains?

Well, I think most people are interested in trains of North America and Europe. Japan... it seems the only interest is in the "bullet trains."

I, myself, am interested in Russian railroads, but am not very knowledgeable about them. The last I heard about the Trans-Siberian railway was how often the trains break down and how long it takes to get from point A to point B riding the train. Or have things improved?

I'm also interested in the Metro system in Moscow... such beautiful and elegant stations designed as "palaces for the people," truely transit dedicated to the masses.

One of the questions I have is in regards to Helsinki (Finland?) station in St. Petersburg... Is there a statue there dedicated to Lenin, marking his triumphant return to Russia before he led the Bolshevick Revolution in 1917? Just currious.

Komachi wrote: One of the questions I have is in regards to Helsinki (Finland?) station in St. Petersburg... Is there a statue there dedicated to Lenin, marking his triumphant return to Russia before he led the Bolshevick Revolution in 1917? Just currious.

Earlier, Lenin's statues were installed EVERYWHERE, and without the reason, there was Lenin's cult! On photo small error, сorrectly-Finland Train Terminal, St.Peterburg!

Komachi wrote: I, myself, am interested in Russian railroads, but am not very knowledgeable about them. The last I heard about the Trans-Siberian railway was how often the trains break down and how long it takes to get from point A to point B riding the train. Or have things improved?

I think you might have heard that about Amtrak Seriously, Trans-Sib is a major transportation corridor and highly reliable. All the trains I've been on ran exactly on time. If you're interested in the Trans-Siberian, here's a good link (in English) to get you started: http://transsib.ru/Eng/

I'm also interested in the Metro system in Moscow... such beautiful and elegant stations designed as "palaces for the people," truely transit dedicated to the masses.

Beautiful metro stations are not limited to Moscow: there are also metros in St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Kazan', Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, and Novosibirsk. If you can figure out how to navigate the Russian menus, I recommend http://www.metrowalks.ru/ as a place to start. There are multiple photos of every single metro station in four major Russian cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Samara. Navigation is simple: first, click on a city, then click on a metro line, and finally, click on a station. The Circle Line in Moscow has the most consistently beautiful stations.

For information in English, follow the links from http://www.urbanrail.net/

One of the questions I have is in regards to Helsinki (Finland?) station in St. Petersburg... Is there a statue there dedicated to Lenin, marking his triumphant return to Russia before he led the Bolshevick Revolution in 1917? Just currious.

You bet! There is a joke about this statue that originated during the perestoika years (when consumer goods were scarce):

Passerby to Lenin: Where did you get this nice coat?
Lenin: Oh, this? (grabs the coat) Over there! (stretches out his hand).

Always have-
1. Like JNR, doesn't have buffers.
2. Fantastic looking EMU's,DMU's, Diesels and Motors often looking like 50's era Popular Science illustrations of "Trains of the Future"
3.Likewise corrugated Hiawatha-style passenger stock as if the chief nngineer of the Milwaukee Road shops defected to the USSR in the 50's.
4. Sheer size of the system, mind bogglingly huge; what's there not to like? I mean it's not as if a bunch a smaller road had been gobbled up to make a CSX or UP, it's always been that big.
5. Awesome steam power back in the day, again often western looking.

I say keep it coming.

Sir Ray wrote:

1.) The VL10 - how old is that image? Does this locomotive class still have red stars on their nose, 16 years after the fall of the Soviet Union? Also, it looks as if this is one of the few locomotive classes to have only one operator's cab as opposed to the one cab at each end that the other locos have...

As you can see here http://super-map.com/newgallery/index.p ... 784&LNG=RU
rebuilt loco (one on the left) has no star, while non rebuilt one still bears it. About the cabs - Vl10/11/80/85 are considered as single loco consisting of two sections so they don't need two cabs in each section.

Sir Ray wrote:

2.) Except for the CHME3, which looks like a switcher type - also, why the pantograph on the long hood, is this really a diesel?

Pantograph is used to scrub the ice off the catenary.

Sir Ray wrote:

3.) The ER2 though - is this really a EMU (strictly this should mean that every car has it's own power feed, motors, and operator's cab - however, in reality EMUs can be 2 or 3 car coupled (or 'married' pairs) to save the cost of operator cabs and on maintanence down the road
http://www.ebbc.org/rail/M7.jpg

All of ER1/2/9 ED2/4/9 EPL2/9 have three types of cars in consist - cab cars, motor cars, and "non-motor non-cab cars. Equipment needed for train operation is spread throughout all these types (for ex. air compressors are located only in cab and non cab non motor cars). Since the minimum consist needed for operation is 4 cars (2 motor two cabs) you can consider them as sort of a married pair.

Sir Ray wrote:

The DMUs you show look the same way - like our old style articulated 'streamlined' passenger trains http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Zephyr

One of those DMUs, type D1, was designed in the 1950 and built in 1963-70. ANother (DR1) was developed in 60ties and built with modifications (including different cab car) through the 70ties and 80ties. So its not surprising that they look old - they are really old.

Sir Ray wrote:

5.) Sorry, but the High-Speed ER200 looks way too much like 1960s Japanese trains - are they based on that design?

Don't know where the design comes from, but the first Er200 was built in 1973-74 (alltogether only two consists plus few spare cars were built).

The Cars called "InterCity"-Cars are Sleepers of PKP-Intercity. PKP-InterCity is the Long Distance Trains Company of Poland

My Great Grandfather helped build the Trans-Siberian Railroad. As a Causack he made little money serveing the Tsczar. When he heard that he could make a few cents more building the railroad he went to work on it working along side convict labor and outher people who were viewed as a threat to the Tsczar. He made just enough money to buy a one way tickit on an ocean liner bound for the U.S. about a year or two befor the out brake of WW I

These trains are really UGLY. Don't you all agree?

Just because they're more spartian and of a different school of Industiral Design than North America and/or Europe, doesn't necessarily make them UGLY.

But then again, I'm a guy who can find beauty in just about any built object, so take my opinion for whatever it's worth to you.

Hi, folks

When I travelled the Russian railroads from Moskwa to the North and to the West, what struck me was
-a- the incredible height of locomotives and
-b- the sturdy profile of the rails that made it difficult to judge the gauge (5 ft) properly, i.e. you would know it is 1524 mm instead of standard 1435 but looks would just deny it until you tried to judge it by stepping from one rail to the other - and then the difference is small enough to make it difficult to feel. Normally you would just know it is 5 ft, but we visited a yard with steam locomotives of the former strategic reserve and there were engines of standard gauge - for 're-visiting' European countries in case of ... - and some of 5 ft gauge. Now that was when the riddle really started of which track was which gauge and I finally settled the case by tracks on which were a couple of ex-German 52 class Decapods (which were originally standard gauge of course): there were engines that had (surprisingly simple modifications) made to adapt them to 5 ft gauge and those that were more or less original - so that way the gauges in this yard could be sorted out. In your photos the even higher mainline rails remind me of that ...

The New Russian locomotives this train equip to run on DC and AC electrified lines http://ronisd.narod.ru/PHOTO/FOTOSTORIE ... resize.JPG

I have an intrest in Russian and in Ukrainian Railroads. I will be in Ukraine this summer and will try to do some railfaning in and around Kiev.

My Great Grand Father worked on the Trans-Siberian Railroad around the late 1880's to early 1900's when it was first being built under Czar. He stayed on long enough to make make a few houndred dollars so that he could come to america which he did around 1909 or 1910.