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Preserved Steam (and more) in Rostov-on-Don, Russia 2009 |
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James Waite spent a weekend in Rostov at the beginning of November 2009, primarily to visit the children's railway which is one of only two in the country that still has a serviceable steam locomotive. However, the city has other steam attractions including two preserved narrow gauge locomotives and a small railway museum. Thomas Kautzor was here at the same time on a longer visit which also allowed him to ride one of the country's steam hauled Retro Trains. If you enjoy quirky narrow gauge railways in general you'll enjoy Thomas Kautzor's other visits on the same trip: For many years the children's railway was home to PT-4 class 0-8-0 no. Kch-4-101 which arrived new in 1949 and spent its whole working life there. It's now preserved in the forecourt of Rostov's main station, unfortunately in rather shabby condition and lacking its tender.
There's another of these locos in the city, once believed to be no. Kp-4-100 built by Chrzanow but now thought to be Kp-4-483, preserved in rather better condition and complete with its tender. It is at the Railway Engineering University (RGUPS, north of the centre of town) on Lenin Prospect, close to its junction with Ul. Sheboldaeva (not at the main university which is east of the centre). Getting into the university campus requires the production of a pass at a security point and may not be easy but the loco can readily be seen and photographed from the street. The no. 21 minibus goes there from the main station. It's thought that it may once have worked at Karaganda in Kazakhstan where there's a children's railway and that it arrived in Rostov in 1977. By 2015 it had been repainted blue and mounted on a plinth.
Thomas Kautzor has provided the following information based on his own visit over the same weekend as James: The Rostov Museum of Railway Transportation is open daily except Mondays 10:00-17:00. It's located in the western outskirts of Rostov next to Gnilovskaya halt (two stations by suburban train from the main station). The suburban trains only run infrequently. It's probably best reached by the no. 4 motorbus or the number 8 or 12 trolleybuses. They all leave from a small bus terminal next to the northern side of Rostov cathedral which can be reached from Rostov main station by the number 1 tram. You can't actually see the museum from the bus but get off when you see the large white church with the golden dome on the left side of the road which features in one of the pics of P36 218. I believe the museum was opened in 2005, mostly with stock previously stored at the RZD's North Caucasus Railway main workshops of Tikhorets. Its large collection includes the following items (aside from the locos used on the Retro-Train): Steam:
Petrol:
Diesel:
Electric:
The first four pictures are from James Waite who unfortunately had to look in from the outside on a bitterly cold autumnal Monday. This is P36 218:
This was the line up next to the P36, 2-10-2 FD20-1679 and 2-10-2 LV-0333 with 0-6-0T 9P-320 behind:
It was already bitterly cold and snowing as the next picture shows - it was time to leave for home:
Thomas was luckier, he visited on the Saturday when the museum was open and the weather much better! 2-10-0 YeA-3510 (Alco ?), this was acquired from Khabarovsk in Siberia in 2008, it is unrestored and falsely numbered EA-3510/EM-3596
2-10-0 L-0029 (Kolomna 1946)
0-10-0 EM-729-29
Diesel 2x Co-Co DE TE3-6938 and electric Co-Co VL22m-1119
Thomas has also added this information: Other locos plinthed in Rostov Oblast include:
There are two locos plinthed at Krasnodar-I Depot, next to the station:
Other locos plinthed in Krasnodar Krai include:
This shows tram 105 (ex 114, ex 572), the only remaining Tatra T3SU at Rostov, which was restored for the 105th Anniversary of the tramway in 2007. It is being used as a driving class car.
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Rob Dickinson
Email: webmaster@internationalsteam.co.uk