Who among us, as children, did not play trains, using the possibilities of the game called "Children's Railway", clapping our hands. We were just in awe of the plastic steam engine and the carriages running along circular rails on the floor. We parted with this fun when our eyes were already sticking together, or when alert parents, along with grandparents, sent us to rest in beds. But times are changing, and battery-powered toys are no longer enough for children today.
Today, the younger generation really wants to feel like a guide, driver or passenger. The kids want to drive real, train sets along the paved narrow-gauge tracks. They have been participating in these games since the age of seven, but to say that fifteen-year-olds will not jump for joy like their little brothers, sisters or younger friends would not be true. These youths will drive small locomotives with delight in the same way, they will command, while still in a high voice, taking the dispatcher's chair or becoming a real station attendant. Some will want to glimpse the past, becoming a stationmaster and with a passionate zeal to fulfill their gaming duties.
It should be noted that on such real, but children's railways, all players are under the close scrutiny of adults, especially locomotive drivers. During the school year, some of the children become attentive listeners in the railway circles, where real railway specialists conduct theory classes for them. With the onset of summer time, all these fidgets acquire a profession that can become a matter of the entire subsequent life of a teenager.
Such children's railways are now available in many Russian cities. The laid track lines in the mentioned towns reach a length of several kilometers; they do not have a common access to the track of the real Russian railways. Such routes also have no transport significance, and they can only be used in an attraction status in park areas or in recreation areas, where guests become passengers or specialists on the railway. Modern statistics prove that 30% of the participants of the ChRW games acquire their future profession here. Such figures testify to the seriousness of organizing such schools.
In fairness, it should be noted that the creation of the first ChRW of the USSR was discussed back in the thirties of the 20th century. Subsequently, such countries as Cuba, China, Germany, Slovakia and Hungary became interested in the acquired experience in the construction of the ChRW.
What is ChRW?
Children's Railway (CHR) is an institution that provides additional education for children 8-15 years old who are studying railway specialties. The main part of the ChRW is a narrow gauge railway line, where all practical lessons for young railway workers are held (more often during the summer holidays). At other times of the year, only theoretical classes are held at the ChRW. Children's railways strive to resemble as much as possible the prototype - public railways. For this reason, at the ChRW, as far as possible, equipment similar to the equipment of real railways is used. The list of operating rules established on the ChRW is similar to the rules applied on public railways.
History
The officially recognized chronology testifies that the Soviet Union is the birthplace of the ChRW. In 1935, the Tiflis railway appeared. But earlier archives speak of the emergence of the ChRW back in the nineteenth century. The initiative was shown by the leaders of the Nikolaev railway. The idea that emerged was transformed into the creation of special teams based on children from the families of railway workers. The children were doing the real thing, doing the work they could. So the work of their fathers is set by their work. These created brigades served as a model for the creation of modern ChRW.
The predecessor of children's railways is a private entertainment complex that was created in the 1890s. for the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (son of Alexander III) and his sisters in the park of the palace in Gatchina. The composition of this attraction: a steam locomotive and 2-3 passenger trolleys that ran on rails; the driver was Mikhail himself.
The first ChRW of the Soviet Union, and in the world, was created in 1932 or 1933 in Moscow, on the territory of the park named after Gorky. She worked little, by 1939 it was closed. For some inexplicable reason, the existence of this ChRW in the USSR was hidden. The assertion that the first railway was the ChRW in Tiflis (1935) is refuted by 2 sources: an article by the newspaper "Vechernyaya Moskva" dated January 9, 1933 and a brochure "25 Children's Railways of the USSR" in 1936.
The emerging Moscow children's railway on the territory of the park named after the writer Maxim Gorky immediately becomes the focus of attention, thanks to publications in the central press. The stories that a self-made electric train is driven by ordinary boys sounded like a fairy tale, bewitching their peers. Where the little boys ruled the ball, it could not do without the passenger train composition being transformed and becoming a real armored train. The sounds of real battles sounded here, in which the Red Guard troops always emerged victorious.
As a rule, they did not fight for long, because it was necessary to engage in peaceful labor. This road did not become a real school for railway workers, it played an ordinary role, only a big toy. In these amusements, there were no real rules of the railway and the train was carried out, as God pleases. But when, in 1936, two more ChRWs began to work in Dnepropetrovsk and Tbilisi, they already made an appropriate selection of specialists who worked on the railway.
The ChRW in Tiflis was established on June 24, 1935 at the request of Georgian schoolchildren. And according to official data, this road is considered the world's first ChRW. Later, the ChRW was opened in the city of Krasnoyarsk, receiving the title of the first in the RSFSR. After that, the ChRW began to be built in all the capitals of the RSFSR.
ChRWs are of great help in training railway professionals at a time when there was a shortage of specialists.
In the mid-1980s, at least 52 ChRWs operated in the USSR.
The construction of the ChRW is started by Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, China, Cuba, and others. The difference between these ChRWs is mainly in the branching and length of several times. Most of them, having worked for 10-15 years, closed, others turned into attractions, few have retained their purpose. A similar fate befell most of the ChRW countries of the RSFSR.
At the moment, 25 ChRWs operate in our country.
It should not be forgotten that the thirties of the twentieth century experienced a rapid growth in the construction of gigantic industrial facilities, which made the bulk of the inhabitants of the Soviet state in some euphoria from their own victories. But then, perhaps, it was impossible to do otherwise. I would like to note that these and other real ChRWs appeared at that difficult time. The children were given the opportunity to create their own road projects and the future implementation of their construction. Children were allowed to work at their facilities for two hours for five days, but sometimes it was difficult to drag them away from this work. They were so passionate about this work, because it was a question of their own, children's road.
Features of the children's road
Usually, the ChRW is a section of narrow-gauge track separated from general railways with a duration of 1 to 11 km, often circular. Children's railways do not play a special role; they are laid in parks or recreation areas. ChRWs are operated mainly in the summer, where children, under the supervision of an instructor, apply the knowledge gained during the year. Students at the ChRW receive benefits for further training in railway skills.
In addition to this training in railway skills, children in such institutions have the opportunity to study in sections and develop as a person.
In some cases, children's railways are called entertainment complexes depicting a train, which are located in parks. But these attractions are not ChRW. The first difference is that they are served by adults, the second difference is that the ChRW teaches children the basics of the railway profession, which in itself is not entertainment. Unfortunately, at present, many ChRWs, for example Almaty, do not fulfill their mission and are only historical monuments.
Absolutely all ChRWs have a track gauge of 750 mm. This is explained by the standards established in the Soviet Union, which allowed the ChRW to use equipment manufactured in the USSR. However, the Krasnoyarsk ChRW is an exception. In 1936, its track was only 305 mm, in 1961 the track was expanded to 508 mm. ChRWs of Astana and Vologda also differed. The tracks have been extended from 600 mm to a standard width of 750 mm.
In other countries where the ChRW exists, the gauge is narrower. In Poland, the city of Poznan - 600 mm, Dresden - 381 mm.
In order to demonstrate to young railway workers the work of modern railway equipment, children's railways were often equipped with signaling, centralization and blocking systems, similar to those used on real railways (despite the fact that they were not needed).
And of course, the same rolling stock was installed on the ChRW, which was used by the USSR railway with a narrow gauge. Before the war and the first years after the war, these were steam locomotives, in particular Gr, steam locomotives of the P24 project (different models). Since the 60s, steam locomotives have been replaced by diesel locomotives, but on some ChRWs they remained until the 80s, but also until the 90s, and the Kiev and Rostov ChRWs still carry out their mission. On the small Gorkovskaya ChRW (Nizhny Novgorod) there is a steam locomotive Kp4-430 (modification P24).
Rolling stock
Diesel locomotives
In the 1950s - 1960s, the railways of the Soviet Union are filled with diesel locomotives. Also diesel locomotives appeared on the ChRW. These were TU2, TU3, TU4, TU6 (less often TU4 and TU6). There was an idea to create a diesel locomotive TEU-16 specifically for the ChRW, but as a result of the collapse of the USSR, this did not happen.
Electric locomotives
Electric locomotives, unlike diesel locomotives, are not so popular on the ChRW. VL-4, which was created in 1960 at VNIITP, but the electrification of the ChRW was recognized as dangerous and the electric locomotive was not built. There is information that the ChRW in Uzhur uses 2 ED-1 electric locomotives, but there is very little information about the ChRW, and there is no confirmation of this data.
Wagons and multiple unit rolling stock
In addition to trains with locomotive traction, from time to time motor-car trains were also used on the ChRW. For example, on the ChRW of Moscow and Uzhur, the use of self-made electric trains was practiced. The ChRW of the city of Kommunarsk operated the AM1 railroad car.
On the pre-war children's railway, cars were used that were built at the Kolomna plant before the revolution. In the post-war period, the ChRW used Pafawag carriages of the 2Aw, 3Aw models produced in Poland (from 1956 to 1960) with 38 seats. In the 1980s, they were replaced by PV40 and PV51 cars, which had been produced at the Demikhovsky plant since the 1950s.
In 1989, the production of cars for narrow-gauge railways was stopped. Only in 2003 the Metrowagonmash plant resumed the production of narrow-gauge railroad cars.
Homemade rolling stock
Traditionally, the organization of the ChRW is supported by the administration of public railways. But there are cases of creation of the ChRW based on "bare" enthusiasm, as they say. In this case, the real locomotives are replaced with homemade ones. For example, the Krasnoyarsk ChRW uses only home-made locomotives, but due to the non-standard gauge.
ChRW value
Vocational guidance
Specialists of children's railways teach their students the basic skills necessary for almost all railway professions, and serving children of the children's railways develops their interest in working on the railway. A large number of children who were engaged in the 50-70s of the last century on the ChRW chose the railway as their profession.
Parenting
The importance of the ChRW in pedagogy is great. By developing team spirit and the art of group interaction, children gain experience in teamwork.
Working on the ChRW also develops communication skills in children, since children of different ages study here, and during practical exercises, communication with adult passengers takes place. Such work develops discipline, develops responsibility for oneself and others, teaches safety.
Transport functions
Basically, the ChRW is not a vehicle in the traditional sense, and most consider it a park attraction. Only the ChRW of the cities of Chita, Orenburg, Svobodny, Chimkent carry passengers from cities to the suburbs. During the Second World War, the ChRW of the city of Svobodny was used to transport products from the surrounding collective farms. The ChRW after the Second World War in the city of Vilnius delivered coal to the city's CHPP, and the ChRW of Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) functioned as a public transport, along with trams and buses, while earning additional money.
Additional facts about ChRW
At the end of the 30s of the last century, a grandiose ChRW was designed in Moscow, the best architects and builders were involved, but the Great Patriotic War prevented the implementation of this project. The modern Moscow ChRW is located in Kratovo.
Electrified children's railways operated only in 3 cities: Moscow, Uzhur and Donetsk. Currently there are none of them.
In Odessa, there was a tram for children, it worked on electricity, but practically had nothing to do with the ChRW.
Abroad, the electrification of the ChRW was used very rarely. But such ChRWs were in Pilsen and Otrava (Czechoslovakia), Germany.
The longest ChRW is the road in the city of Svobodny, the length of which relative to the ChRW in the city of Krasnoyarsk, which is the shortest, 10 times, and is 11.4 km.
ChRW of Russia
After the bloody war, only three years passed, but at the end of August 1948 the "Small October Railway" was opened, with a total length of 8100 meters of communication lines. With the launch of the road, the construction of the first three stations was completed, we are talking about Ozernoye, Zooparkovsky and Kirovsky points. The section: Ozernaya - Zoo with a length of 2800 meters and the section: Zoo - Kirovskaya with a length of 4700 meters had an electric rail system with installed semaphores, which were signaling devices. The initial version of the rolling stock was represented by a steam locomotive "V-32" and two steam locomotives of the "PT4" brand with assigned numbers as "PT-01" and "PT-02". The Small October Railway was served by nine passenger trailers.
One year later, at the beginning of the summer season of the ChRW, the rolling stock fleet is increased by several more wagons and a steam locomotive "VP1 -170". Starting from 1958, the children's diesel locomotive "TU2-167" began to run from the Ozernaya station. After two years, the passenger car fleet is renewing its rolling stock again. "Small October Railway" was immediately replenished with two trains, consisting of five cars. The compositions had their own names: "Fairy Tale" and "Pioneer". On the way, two trains were running at once, they met at the station of the station "Zoo".
In 1964, tragedy occurs. Due to the lack of working barriers at one of the crossings, in the area of \u200b\u200bNikitskaya Street, a trolley collision occurs, on which four more children were with the instructor, with a dump truck crossing the path. No one was left alive on the railcar. According to the orders received from the leadership, the "Small October Railway" was to cease to exist. The entire rolling stock was decommissioned, leaving only the new TU2-167 diesel locomotive. Subsequently, the decision was changed, the length of the road was reduced to 3100 meters, the operation of the dangerous section of the ChRW was abandoned.
The remaining section has undergone major reconstruction, and a semi-automatic blocking has appeared. Railroad tracks and stations were equipped with new traffic lights. A signal dependence appeared on the station switches with the installation of Melentyev system locks. After the reconstruction, the railway is replenished with two diesel locomotives of the TUZ series, respectively, with the numbers “001” and “002”. An old diesel locomotive was used only as a replacement, when the main diesel locomotive units underwent unscheduled or preventive maintenance.
From the end of the sixties, the twentieth century, young machinists began to receive real certificates, which gave them the right to operate a diesel locomotive, but this happened only after the completion of practical training and passing the qualification exam. The issued licenses did not differ from those of adult professional drivers. At the same time, the Pionerskaya station appeared, which was previously called the Zoo, since the construction of the menagerie never took place.
Since 1982, diesel locomotives of the "Leader" type: "TU2-191" and "TU2-060" began to operate on the road. In the mid-eighties, TUZ-002 was left without work, five years later the TUZ-001 also stopped working, but in 1996 the TUZ-001 diesel locomotive became a museum exhibit for nine long years. In 2005, the locomotive was restored at the TCh-7 depot.
At the end of the eighties, the PAFAWAG cars were written off, and the PV40 cars were left on the Malaya Oktyabrskaya Railway.
In the nineties, one of the trains that had it was put on a joke. In the next decade, already in the twenty-first century, part of the track was dismantled. In 2015, the railway was replenished with rolling stock as a diesel locomotive "TU10-030"
Malaya Zabaikalskaya
The appearance of the children's railway "Malaya Zabaikalskaya" dates back to 01.08.1974. Since its construction was carried out in the city of Chita, it can rightfully be called the "Chita Children's Railway". It is a structural subdivision of the Trans-Baikal Railway and merged into a branch of Russian Railways. The actual functioning of this branch began on 09/02/1971. Since 1981, the ChRW has received well-deserved recognition, becoming the best children's railway among the forty-four existing ones at that time. The track gauge is 750 mm, with a total length of the exploited section equal to 3750 meters. The above-mentioned ChRW has two stations, bearing the names "Severnaya" and "Porechye", in the middle of the way there is a platform called "Solnechnaya", but it is practically all dismantled. The equipment of the rolling stock is represented by the following units: two cars, three gondola cars, three freight platforms, three passenger cars and three diesel locomotives: TU7A-3354, TU7A-3199 and TU2-208.
The key dependence of signals and switches is introduced into the equipment of the stations "Severnaya" and "Porechya", output and input traffic lights are installed, there is inter-station and train radio communication. At the "Severnaya" station, switch sections and track rails have insulating joints. This ChRW still works today.
11/08/1939, the opening of the ChRW "Nizhny Novgorod" took place. At that time it was called the Gorky Children's Railway.
Initially, the tracks of the children's railway passed through the territories of Avtozavodsky, Leninsky and Kanavinsky districts. One of the end platforms was called Happy. Today, it is not passengers who come to the station building, but newlyweds in order to legitimize their civil status, for there is now a wedding palace named as Avtozavodsky.
The rail track is considered to be a narrow gauge track, its width is 750 millimeters. The length of the main track is 3200 meters, the total length of the tracks is 4100 meters. In the diagram, the ChRW looks like a triangle. In the area of \u200b\u200bthe park named after May 1, there is the platform of the main station "Rodina". The working season lasts only three summer months, the movement of trains starts from June 1 and ends on August 29. One of the narrow-gauge steam locomotives KP-4 No. 430 opens the summer season. Every year, on the first Sunday in August, the professional holiday “Railwayman's Day” is celebrated. The same narrow-gauge steam train becomes the main attribute of this holiday.
The line of the locomotive depot is represented by three narrow-gauge diesel locomotives: TU10 # 003, TU7A # 3346 and TU7 # 2567. The rolling stock consists of two open cars of the "Stagecoach" type and six passenger cars.
Malaya Moskovskaya
The small Moscow railway is recognized for children. It has the unofficial name of the Kratovo ChRW, due to its territorial proximity to the village of the same name Kratovo, where its educational buildings are located.
This line has two terminal stations called Pionerskaya and Yunost and two intermediate platforms Detskaya and Shkolnaya.
The opening of the children's railway in Kratovo took place on 05/02/1937. The length of the path was 4962 meters. The initial rolling stock consisted of eight PV51 cars, PAFAWAG cars, three wooden passenger cars, steam locomotives: Rp-771, IS-1 63/65 and VL-1. Then diesel locomotives appeared: "TU7-2729" and "TU7-2728". Now on the ChRW in Kratovo you can see a staff car, model 20.0016, diesel locomotives TU2-129 and TU2-078.
It should be noted that at the end of the Great Patriotic War, the restoration of the ChRW in Kratovo was carried out by the efforts of the guys, future railway workers. Today, teenagers begin their training in the profession in a circle located in the building of the Moscow State University of Railways.
The Small Moscow Railway allows vocational training for school students. The lower age bar starts at eleven years old, the upper age bar has reached 17 years old. It should be noted that students from twenty-five Moscow schools are trained. For five years, adolescents can complete a full course of study. Children study in classrooms that are equipped directly in the management building of this railway. There are other opportunities to try to learn the chosen profession of a railway worker. This is, first of all, a visit to the Central House of Children of Railway Workers or in the "Young Railroad Worker" circle, located on the territory of Moscow, in the building of the Moscow State University of Railways or in the building of the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers.
On the ChRW "Malaya Moskovskaya" the movement of trains is carried out in a seasonal manner, it starts from the end of May and ends on the last Sunday in August. The work schedule is limited to a five-day period, the countdown runs from Tuesday to Saturday, but every Tuesday of the week preparatory work is carried out to transport the passenger flow. The movement of trains starts at 10.00 Moscow time with an interval of one hour. During the day, no more than four pairs of trains pass. In the summer period, when the air temperature rises above + 29 °, or train trains follow with a great delay, the number of pairs can be reduced or completely canceled due to poor weather conditions.
Small West Siberian
Children's road Novosibirsk with the length of the rail track counts its beginning from 04.06.2005, Built on the territory of Zaeltsovsky Park. It has three station points with the following names - "Second Passing", "Sportivnaya" and "Zaeltsovsky Park". The length of the tracks is 5300 meters. Children's road Novosibirsk is equipped with two metal bridges, the length of which reaches 72 m and 24 m, two metal overpasses, their height is equal to three and four meters, and concrete retaining walls.
The complete set of the rolling stock is represented by three converted diesel locomotives: TU7A-3343, TU7A-3339 and TU7A-3338. A four-axle fire truck. Three cars model 43-001, built at the Kambara machine-building plant and six cars, model 20.0011, manufactured at the plant "Metrowagonmash".
The East Siberian ChRW opened on 08.11.1939. It is a loop shape with a length of 3250 meters. There are three station points along the route with the names Angara, Rodniki and Solnechny. The road is located on the territory of the Konny and Yunost islands of the Angara River, in the central part, in the city of Irkutsk. ChRW today is equipped with three diesel locomotives: TU7-2925, TU2-228 and TU2-053, fourteen PV51 cars. In the first years of its existence, the mobile railway consisted of four PAFAWAG cars, three wooden passenger cars, a Compound tank locomotive made at the Krauss-Linz plant and one 159-070 locomotive.
The construction of the East Siberian ChRW was initiated by the Irkutsk pioneers themselves back in 1936. This initiative was supervised by the oldest driver of the Irkutsk unit Andrey Evtikhievich Dryagin. Subsequently, he holds the position of chief of the ChRW.
In February 1937 the project of this road was completed, and two years later the road was already used by its first passengers.
The decision to create the Kazan ChRW was made by Mr. Vladimir Yakunin, the then president of Russian Railways and Mr. Mintimer Shaimiev on May 27, 2006. In a press release it was indicated that this work is serious for the future generation.
When the next day of the city of Kazan was celebrated, on 30.08.2007, that is, after only one year, in one picturesque area - the Lebyazhye forest park zone, children took their places in the rolling stock of the Kazan ChRW. The whistle of a diesel locomotive sounded, the wheels rattled, and the children rejoiced at the opportunity to ride this road.
Small Sverdlovsk railway
The small Sverdlovsk railway was put into operation on 07/09/1960, which allowed young railway workers to get the opportunity to start practice without leaving their city. Today's rolling stock of the railway has diesel locomotives TU10-013 and TU7A-3355 in its assets, and the replenishment has come in the form of three cars manufactured at the Kambara machine-building plant.
The road was equipped with four stopping points: "Dona", "Istok". "Parkovaya" and "Birches". Today, the rolling stock has eight cars of the model "VP750", three diesel locomotives: "TU2-126", "TU10-018" and TU10-002. It all started with post-war technology. Since 1974, the doors of a new educational production building for future railway workers have been thrown open in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Beryozki station.
Vladikavkaz children's railway
The grand opening of the small Vladikavkaz ChRW named after V.V. Tereshkova took place on 10/30/1967. The territorial location is located on the left bank of the Terek, which is part of the southern part of the city. The track is installed in the form of an irregular ring. The track length is 2200 meters, the track width is 750 millimeters. The road has three station points, four turnouts, three unguarded crossings, the equipment has a semi-automatic blocking in the area of \u200b\u200bthe tracks, electric interlocking and train radio communication. Today the rolling stock includes three cars of the “VP750” model, four cars of the “Pafawag” model and three diesel locomotives “TU10-009”, “TU7A-2991” and “TU2-056”.
There are many reasons to visit the capital of Russia. Someone comes here to work, someone in order to enjoy the local architecture or visit a modern entertainment complex. The excursion program for parents with kids must include a nursery in Moscow. She will definitely give a lot of positive emotions!
Historical reference
In Moscow, it was built by pioneers. Its design began at the end of 1935, and two years later more than two kilometers of the railroad were built. During the May holidays of 1937, the most significant event took place - the launch of two trains. Initially, they also had a name: VL-1 (in honor of Vladimir Lenin) and IS-1 (in honor of Joseph Stalin).
During the war period, the children's road was removed and hidden; students restored it only after a grand victory. The total distance of the way to date is 3.8 km.
Subsequent reconstruction
Over the course of 50 years, various improvements have been made to this project so that the children's railway in Moscow is as close as possible in reality:
- In 1957, new trailers were ordered from Poland. The old IS-1 was taken out of service. Instead, he was supplied with a new diesel locomotive TU2-078.
- Until 1963, the attraction worked only in summer mode, but after some adjustments were introduced, it began to work all year round.
- In 1971, a major overhaul was carried out, and in 1972 the road received a new steam locomotive TU2-129.
- Since 1982, the cars of the PV40 passenger steam locomotive have been delivered to replace the old ones, which are still in use today.
- The last time on this road, major repairs were carried out in 2005, during which all the main tracks were replaced.
The children's railway, the photo of which is presented in our article, is successfully operating today.
The local administration is very kind to this attraction. And every year, work is carried out here to support its functioning.
Traffic features
The described railway is intended for transporting small children. In summer, two steam locomotives run here, each of which has six wagons attached. Initially, only three stations were created for stopping, namely: "Shkolnaya", "Yunost" and "Pionerskaya". Each of them has special entertainment for different age groups. Not so long ago, in 2006, a new stop appeared - "Children's".
An amazing feature of this road is that all organizational work is carried out by schoolchildren, whose age is from 11 to 17 years. They operate transport, sell tickets, carry out repairs, and perform other important tasks. They are preliminarily trained in specialized circles of young railway workers.
Timetable
There is a very convenient timetable for the children's railway. But it should be borne in mind that the transportation of children here is possible only under favorable weather conditions. During heavy rain or at temperatures around 30 ° C, the road is closed.
She works only four days a week (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday). Opening hours from 10:00 to 18:00. However, before going on a trip, you should first call and find out about the movement of trains on a specific day. For example, as already mentioned, the transportation of passengers may not be carried out due to weather conditions. In addition, sanitary work can be carried out here once a month.
About fare
The price of a children's railway ticket depends on how old the passenger is. So, children here are considered to be from 2 to 10 years old. The ticket price for this category will be only 120 rubles. An adult will need to pay 160 rubles. Children under two years old can travel with a parent for free.
Location
The most famous children's railway in Moscow is located approximately 40 kilometers from the capital of Russia. You can get to the village of Kratovo, where the educational buildings are located, from the Kazan railway station by train number 6620, 6222 or 6106. You can also get to this place by car. However, it is worth considering that there is a very small parking lot near the children's railway station, which is almost always crowded with cars.
Separately, it is worth talking about the area where the popular attraction is located. There is a lot of vegetation around, which makes the surrounding air unusually fresh. In addition, on the territory of the entertainment complex there is an excellent clean pond, the beauty of which simply cannot leave you indifferent.
It is also worth noting that the stations have a large number of attractions for children, designed for the youngest guests - these are colorful playgrounds, slides and swings. You can also rent cars here. Parents can wait for their kids on cozy benches.
Several times a season, educational excursions are held here, where you can get acquainted with the work of the staff, examine each car separately and visit the driver's cabin.
This year the Children's Railway in Yekaterinburg will not be closed for the first time for the winter. The narrow-gauge trains will run on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In winter, adults will serve passengers, and schoolchildren will return to the station with the onset of summer.
Children's Railway is a branch of Russian Railways, where children from 12 years old can learn railway professions. To try themselves as a train driver, announcer or station attendant, they attend free classes once a week during the school year. There instructors and employees of Russian Railways talk about the basics of work and safety. And in the summer, children come to the Mayakovsky Park, put on their uniforms and work three hours a day in different positions. You can study here for three years, after which you can get a diploma. If a child wants to study further, he is given a targeted referral to a university or technical school.
Employees of the Children's Railway told The Village how the big railway differs from the children's one, what complexes the current fifth-graders have and how working here helps to cope with the problems of adult life.
Sverdlovsk children's railway named after Nikolai Ostrovsky
Foundation date: 1960 year
A place: Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after Mayakovsky in Yekaterinburg
Length: 3 kilometers 110 meters
Track width: 750 mm
Stations: 4
Professions for children: 18
Works for children: 1 500
Working adults: 24
Flights per day: 18
Directions: 150 rubles
If you gather all my relatives, you can launch a separate railway: the family has cashiers, conductors, station managers, train dispatchers, and machinists. When I graduated from the railway technical school, they wanted to send me to work at a station in the Sverdlovsk region. But in the HR department, the boss gave me a look — and I looked like a tenth grader — and asked if I was a pioneer leader. He thought that it would be better for me to go to the Children's Railway, and suggested that I go to Mayakovsky Park and see how everything is tripled there.
And I didn't even know that we have some kind of railway in the park. I came there, saw a crowd of children, everyone was running and shouting. I was scared and could not understand whether it was a game, or a serious job, where it was necessary to monitor safety and send trains. For three months I was on duty at the station, and then I became an instructor. I've been working on the railroad for 40 years now and I don't notice how time flies.
Olga Shagina
instructor
Every year in the fall, I go to schools and recruit children. I tell myself that I am a fisherman and now I need to catch the children with a net. First, I go to the head teachers and ask permission to speak in front of the fifth and sixth grades. If it is possible to interest the teachers, they are allowed to conduct not a five-minute presentation, but a whole class hour. I explain to the guys what the Children's Railway is, that this is not an attraction, but a platform of the Russian Railways, where you can learn all the professions. Schools are not always accommodating. For example, for four years I cannot meet the students of the 104th gymnasium. The head teachers believe that the students have other plans for life, and they only allow me to hang a small notice on the tape.
In autumn, winter and spring we meet with the guys once a week. I explain what tracks there are, what the stations are called, why the road is called narrow-gauge and single-track. In the first year, I teach the professions of announcer, cashier, conductor, switchman, moving officer and lineman. In the second year, we study the work of a wagon inspector, train manager, driver assistant, track foreman. And in the third year, the guys will learn what it means to be a machinist, train dispatcher, station attendant, chief conductor. Three years later, the children receive a diploma and those who want to are given a referral to a railway university or technical school.
Practice begins in the summer. The guys come to the park, where they are given uniforms, report cards and passes. They try to do what they have learned for a year in theory. At this time, I make sure that everything is in order. There were no accidents, the guys can forget their profession, but not safety. Because breaking the rules is taboo. I tell all the guys that the main thing on the railway is discipline and responsibility. This frightens off many.
In schools, I see very complex guys who find it difficult to get out of their closed world. Almost all of them are push-button. They communicate with each other only by messages, and if they do speak, they are thrown around in two or three phrases. The biggest challenge is to approach the passenger and ask for a ticket for verification. Sometimes it seems to me that they are in a package, and my task is to untie the bow so that they get out of their box.
When tragedies happened in my life, work saved me. I am as an artist on stage - I cannot show my weaknesses. Although, no matter how hard you try to be strong, the guys see and feel that you feel bad. My work has always kept me in good shape.
My idol was my father - a military railroad worker. After school, my mother was against me building a military career. The railway university became an alternative. I started working as a track fitter, graduated from the university, became a foreman, a foreman ... This is how I rose to the rank of deputy head of the infrastructure department on the Sverdlovsk railway.
Five years ago, I decided to change my whole life. I worked 24 hours a day, devoted myself to the service and was only a source of income in the family. And children need the daily attention of dad and mom. When the eldest daughter came to me and said that she was getting married, I realized that I had missed everything and decided to change jobs.
I was ashamed that the Children's Railway in Yekaterinburg was one of the worst in the country. We only had one small yellow building. I really wanted to improve it, and when I was offered to become the boss here and carry out the reconstruction, I immediately agreed.
We built a new building last year. Now our construction does not stop. In a year, we will open a technopark, where there will be carriages and trains that ran on the narrow-gauge railway in the 19th century. We will bring 70 exhibits, repair them, and they will travel along the road.
Vitaly Marunkevich
road manager
I also work as a mentor - I tell children about the track facilities. I do not consider myself a teacher, because we do not teach, but we help to make a professional choice. The school has vocational guidance, but teachers cannot explain what a railway worker's job is, because they themselves do not know.
When I came, there were 500 people working here, and now there are fifteen hundred. More than half of the young railroad workers are children from poor families. Their parents do not have the opportunity to pay for the hockey or tennis sections. They often do not have the means to simply get to Mayakovsky Park, and they walk from one end of the city to the other on foot. When I found out, I went to the boss and asked him to give us buses. Now all children from distant regions are brought and taken away free of charge. In addition, here children are fed free of charge and given uniforms. I want to show the guys who spend time on the street and who do not have the opportunity to go somewhere in the summer that they are needed.
As a child, I was a young railroad worker. Then he went to a technical school, worked as a mechanic, an assistant driver, a machinist. He drove freight trains and performed various maneuvers. I worked for seven years, and they called me here, they said that there was a place in the state.
I am engaged in theory and practice with children. In winter, I travel to the districts and tell the guys how to operate a train. Sometimes they come to the park to work out on the simulator, which completely copies the control panel of the locomotive. They learn to push buttons, turn levers. They work out all movements to automatism so as not to be distracted in the summer and follow the road.
In the summer, children come to shift, we take the locomotive, inspect it and go to the control panel. The young driver sits down in a chair, and I stand behind and, if necessary, prompt. Children decide for themselves where to accelerate, when to slow down - I just make sure that everything is according to the rules.
Sergey Melnikov
driver
Thanks to the Children's Railway, I learned how to operate a steam locomotive. This is the one that puffs. I like the steam locomotive because it is a living car that will go as you feed it with coal. At one time I was the only driver in the field with such a license. Of course, there are not many steam locomotives in Russia - mainly in St. Petersburg and Moscow, at the sites where films are shot. We have one steam locomotive here, but children are not allowed to operate it - you can get burned.
Children come here who are interested in trains, who want to try their hand at the profession. I understand them, because I myself was the same. Carried away children are noticeable right away - after the shift they come to help wipe the locomotive, ask questions.
From the outside it may seem that the driver is just standing at the control panel, pressing buttons and trying not to fall asleep. But in fact, this is a creative profession. A train, like a car, can be driven in different ways. There are no identical flights. You follow the locomotive, the traffic on neighboring tracks, the road, you negotiate, the engine is constantly making noise - this is a very hard work.
Mom brought me to the Children's Railway. I came here in the summer when the practice had already started. I remember the first day very well, because I was late. I ran to the planning meeting, and there were 50 strangers sitting there, and I was very scared - I don't know what to do. The instructors helped me, they showed me everything. On the first day, they put me at the announcer's chair. I read the safety text, announced the departure of trains. I really enjoyed being an announcer, and at the end of the summer I became the best announcer among all.
The most difficult thing was to work in 2016, when the road was renewed. The carriages were packed and many passengers were short of seats. They swore at the young railroad workers and had to intercede for the children. To be honest, I miss our cozy little station that used to be.
Polina Permina
young railroad girl
We continue our "locomotive" adventures.
This time, Anya and I were passengers of the train of the Moscow Children's Railway (Small Moscow Railway), which is located in the village. Kratovo, Ramensky district, Moscow region. Now the anniversary 80th season of the ChRW operation is taking place,
Information from the Internet
“The length of the children's railway tracks is 4.960 km, the track width is 750 mm (the width of the ordinary track is 1520 mm).
There are two stations on the route - "Pionerskaya" and "Yunost", as well as a landing platform - "Shkolnaya". Travel time is 15 - 20 minutes. There are all types of communications, four guarded crossings, two of them with automatic traffic signaling and two unguarded, locomotive depot. A train of 6 cars runs on the road. A small controller may approach passengers on the flight to inquire if you have a ticket. Each flight has 25 people. Almost the same number of people serve the train, not on the train, but at their workplaces. These are cashiers, auditors, conductors, conductors, switchmen, machinists, dispatchers, announcers ... ".
First, from the Kratovo station of the Ryazan direction, we got to the Pionerskaya station, just at the time when the train arrived at it.
\u2063We saw how the locomotive turns, how the switchman works.
\u2063Later they saw how the locomotive was hitched on the other side of the train. Here's a small diesel locomotive.
\u2063He carries 6 wagons. One of the carriages is given for excursions for groups. Each carriage is dedicated to a certain topic, for example. the history of the Moscow City Railroad, the professions of young railroad workers, the Moscow City Railroad during the Second World War. I'll tell you what is inside later.
Children's railway workers - children from 10 years old. They are called young railroad workers. We saw the guides
\u2063Controllers
\u2063 diesel locomotive drivers
signalmen at level crossings
\u2063 platform attendants, couplers (there are already adults), etc.
Train timetable.
\u2063The second station "Yunost" is located near the station. "Rest" of the Ryazan direction.
\u2063 We took round-trip tickets.
We enter the carriage
\u2063From “Pionerskaya” we went in the first carriage.
\u2063 There are photographs on the walls of the carriage theme.
From "Yunost" we rode in the 5th carriage, dedicated to the professions of young railroad workers.
\u2063 We drove through the village of Kratovo, it is famous for its summer cottages, children's camps and sanatoriums.
\u2063After returning to Pionerskaya, we looked at the carriage depot. We wanted to see how the train would be taken to the depot (since we got on the last trip), but did not wait.
\u2063We went to the administrative building of the Moscow City Railroad.
\u2063There young railway workers study, change clothes, relax ...
We saw an exhibition of drawings for the anniversary of the Moscow Children's Railway.
And a small exhibition of works by students of the circle of railway and landscape layout design (part of the photo).
\u2063There was also a stand dedicated to the history of the Moscow City Railway. I was struck by the fact that the construction of the road was also carried out by children (with the help of the Komsomol members).
\u2063After that we left this building, once again looked at the locomotive leaving for the depot (the cars had already been taken away) and left the station.
Anya said that she liked our trip. It was also interesting for me to see the work of the ChRW and travel on a small train.
This is not an attraction or a toy, but a real branch of the Small Moscow Railway, passing on the border of Zhukovsky and the village of Kratovo.
Children's railways differ from the "adult" railway service in the size of wagons, the length and width of the track (usually this is a section of a narrow-gauge track with a width of 600 to 1200 mm and a length of several kilometers), and also by the fact thatchildren of school age control all processes.
For almost 80 years, the pioneer tradition of training future railway workers has been carefully preserved here.
For me, the train to Kratovo is like a little train from Romashkovo - a real symbol of childhood and carefree summer.
And for children studying in circlesyoung railroad workers, this is summer pa practice that is combined with a theoretical course of study for several years.
The idea to create such a school was born in the Soviet Union more than 80 years ago.
How it all began
The first experimental ChRW was built in Moscow in 1932 in Gorky Park. It did not last long, by 1939 it had already been closed. For some unknown reason, the existence of this ChRW in the Soviet Union was always hushed up. A few years later, it was closed and quickly forgotten. And in 1935, a similar road was opened in Tiflis (Tbilisi) at the initiative of Georgian schoolchildren. And it is she who is officially considered the first in the world.
Participants in the construction of the road in Tiflis, through the newspaper "Pionerskaya Pravda", appealed to their peers with an appeal to build the ChRW in other cities of the country. The idea received the support of the People's Commissar of Railways, after which the ChRWs began to be built in the capitals of almost all the Union republics and in the locations of the country's railway administrations.
The pioneers of the Ramensk region were among the first to respond to the call of the Tiflis pioneers - on October 30, 1935, at a meeting of pioneers, a council for promoting the construction of the ChRW in Kratovo was elected.
Under the guidance of engineers of the Moscow-Ryazan railway. the schoolchildren independently carried out exploration work and developed a road project; they also performed all construction work themselves. Komsomol members helped them only in the most difficult jobs. The grand opening of the Small Lenin Railway took place on May 2, 1937.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Small Moscow Railway took an active part in the transportation of necessary goods. For heroism and selfless labor during the war, three young railroad workers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, another 12 were awarded medals "For the Defense of Moscow".
In Russia, 26 ChRWs are currently operating in the cities: Vladikavkaz, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Kratovo, Kurgan, Liski, Nizhny Novgorod, Novomoskovsk, Novosibirsk, Orenburg, Penza, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg (2 different roads), Svobodny, Tyumen, Ufa, Khabarovsk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Yaroslavl.
The ChRW provided invaluable assistance in training specialists for domestic railways during periods when the country, for a number of demographic reasons, experienced an acute shortage of qualified personnel.moat.
For a long time, the stations of the Kratovskaya Railway were made of wood. In 2002, the station buildings at Yunost station were completely burned down.
Change
In 2003, the station was completely reconstructed, a new building was erected with a light shed for passengers and a room for the station staff.This is what Yunost station looks like now.
Photo by Gordon_shumway from the forum http://www.yarea.ru/index.php/topic,1516.1020.html
During the years of its existence, the road was renamed twice: first from Malaya Leninskaya to Malaya Moskovsko-Ryazanskaya, and then to Malaya Moskovskaya (Kratovskaya). The names of the stations also changed. Thus, the station Put Ilyich was renamed into Yunost, and "Kultbaza" - into Pionerskaya.
In the fall of 2004 - in the spring of 2005, at the initiative of the Moscow Railway Administration, a major reconstruction of the Kratovskaya ChRW took place. The main track of the ChRW was laid on concrete sleepers, all means of signaling were completely replaced, including an inter-office fiber-optic communication line.
To replace the old PV51 cars, the Metrowagonmash plant built new cars on special order, model 20.0015. To ensure the safety of the new rolling stock, a 70-meter hangar was built on the site of the second track of the Pionerskaya station.
Significant changes have also been made to the traction rolling stock fleet. The TU7-2729 diesel locomotive was decommissioned and scrapped. Both diesel locomotives TU2 were sent for overhaul to Ryazan. Upon completion of the repair, the TU2-078, which had changed beyond recognition, returned to the Kratovo ChRW.
I even managed to look into the driver's cab.
Functions of the children's railway
Firstly, educational and vocational guidance.Schoolchildren of 11-17 years old from 25 schools from Moscow to Konobeev study at the Moscow ChRW. Full course of study 5 years. Young railway workers come to study directly at the road administration in the village. Kratovo or in branches in Moscow (Central House of Children of Railway Workers), as well as a circle "Young Railroad Worker" at the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers. In addition, on Malaya Moskovskaya, students of the Young Railway Workers' circle at the Moscow State University of Railways undergo summer practice.
On children's railways, young railway workers are taught the basics of almost all railway specialties. At the same time, independent work during summer practice contributes to the emergence of children's interest in working on the railway.
Here it is a real school for future cadres - from a third to a half of its pupils later connect their lives with the railway.
Educational. As in school, children learn to work in a team, interact with each other and with teachers.
In addition, working on a children's railway gives children an awareness of responsibility for their actions, teaches them to discipline and compliance with safety rules. Furthermore, the children's railway is often used to organize children's leisure (participation in hobby groups in their free time, holding evenings of rest, competitions), the aesthetic development of their personality (at many ChRWs there are drawing circles, film and photo studios, music and dance circles, etc. ), as well as broadening one's horizons (excursions to railway transport enterprises, meeting interesting people).
Transport. Most often, ChRWs have no transport value, and are perceived by passengers exclusively as a park attraction. Only sometimes children's railways are used to deliver passengers from the city to suburban recreation areas (examples: Chita, Orenburg, Svobodny, Chimkent).
Time for a ride
There are more adults than children in the carriage.
There are two stations on the line - "Yunost" and "Pionerskaya" and two intermediate platforms "Shkolnaya" and "Detskaya". The platform "Children's" was opened in 2006 and is a stop on request for boarding children from the "Kratovo" health center. The length of the entire path is 3.8 km.
Drivers, controllers, duty stations - children are responsible for everything. Real tickets from Russian Railways, only without a barcode.
Julia was imbued with the romance of children's railways. All the way we took pictures and discussed how interesting it should be for the children to study!
Traditionally, children at each station wave at the departing food. So cute.
Children also work at the box office. But despite the fact that the adults are almost invisible, they are there - they help, monitor safety, control the processes. After all, the railway is a zone of increased danger.
At the Pionerskaya station there is an educational building and a carriage depot. An arrow for turning the locomotive is also provided here.
At attention, like real guides.
A bell as a tribute to tradition and a way to inform passengers that the train is ready to leave.
Interesting Facts
- The predecessor to children's railways was a private attraction created in the mid-1890s. for V. kn. Mikhail Alexandrovich (son of Alexander III) and his sisters in the palace park of Gatchina. It consisted of a steam locomotive and two or three passenger trolleys running on rails between the trees in the park.
- In 1939-1940, a grandiose children's railway was designed for Moscow. She had to have two lines length of 12 and 8 kilometers (while the length of most of the ChRWs averaged one to two kilometers). The Moscow ChRW was supposed to use two types of traction - locomotive and electric. The best specialists were involved in the design of this road. The architecture of the stations was supposed to match the brilliance of the Moscow metro stations and the VDNKh pavilions. This ChRW was supposed to be located in Izmailovo Park. The project was adopted on June 20, 1941. Its implementation was interrupted by the Great Patriotic War that began two days later. The ChRW in Moscow was never built. The current Small Moscow Railway is located in the village of Kratovo.
- Throughout history in the USSR there were only three electrified children's railways: in Gorky Park in Moscow, in Uzhur and in Donetsk. None of them have survived. The Donetsk ChRW, destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, was revived in 1972, but without electrification. After the war, plans to electrify the ChRW were abandoned for safety reasons.
- The longest ChRW is located in the city of Svobodny (Amur Region), it is nine times longer than the shortest ChRW (in Krasnoyarsk). The length of the Svobodnenskaya ChRW is 11.6 km, the Krasnoyarsk - 1300 m.
Happy holiday to all those involved and come to ride with us!
In the preparation of the material, information and photographs from the site were used