The Fabulous Train

4 days ago · 4 min read · Slobodskoy

Greetings, friends.
The 3 days of vacation have already flown by, as if this steam train had swept through a snowy forest.
2 days of the new year are left behind.
But I'll tell you in order.
So, at the end of last year, the central regional administration of the Kirov region announced a fabulous train that should travel from December 27 to January 11 from the regional center to the city of Slobodsky. I immediately decided that I would meet this train at a crossing not far from my house, especially since I am walking my dog just on the way through this crossing. I knew about the approximate travel time of the train through the crossing.

My four-legged, tailed friend and I had to take a narrow path through the forest to the main road and walk along it to the right place. I was leading Nora on a leash, because elderly people can walk along the road, and they will be afraid of the dog. At the beginning of a walk, Nora is always very active and runs like a hundred-meter sprinter.

There was a loading dock in my way. The main object of loading is woodworking products. Because of this loading zone, the road is bad in summer, heavy logging trucks spoil the road where the asphalt disappeared about 10 years ago.

The dog is very happy with this adventure, but she did not understand why I as a shuttle walk close to the railway crossing. I was walking and listening to the silence, and I heard the sound that I wanted - it was a train, he was driving away from Vahroushi station and made a loud beep.
A steam locomotive has a special sound, it does not look like a diesel locomotive.

That's where the locomotive should come from. It should be an L-series steam locomotive, which was produced from 1945 to 1955 in the USSR. It was the main locomotive of that time. In the early 80s, I saw a large, or rather, a huge storage of steam locomotives at Balezino station. I was 13 years old at the time, and I was interested in the question: why are so many old steam locomotives stored? At that time, the answer was simple and understandable - it was a strategic reserve in case of a major war, especially a nuclear one. Steam locomotives can run not only on coal, but also on wood, and they don't have any electronics! Therefore, it is now possible to find a steam locomotive in working condition without any problems. Moreover, I have read that even any museum specimen can move independently at any time.
While I was trying to take photos, the traffic light started, and the sound alarm went off, which means that a train is about to appear.

Wow, here comes the steam locomotive. The dog became alert. She had never seen anything like this before.

At that moment, the locomotive began to emit horns. Probably, the train driver was afraid that I had decided to pose as Anna Karenina. But in fact, it continued to hum until it passed the crossing, as it is supposed to do according to the regulations.

It consists of 2 carriages. People were outraged that there were not enough cars, and they could not buy tickets for this train. At the same time, people were outraged that the price of a train ticket was too high. Strange people, for some reason, they decided that it should be free, at the expense of the regional or city budget. By the way, the ticket costs about $12.

The train left, the dog did not understand what was happening, where there was so much noise and looked after the train that had left. I had to put her on a leash, but she ran away in fright. She calmed down after about 3 minutes, and we went home.

Friends, goodbye! Until the next walk.