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The start of your
journey...
Right: Moscow's magnificent Yaroslavski station.
It's in central Moscow, right next door to the Oktyabrskaya
station, where trains arrive from St Petersburg, and across the road
from the Kazanski station.
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Train 19
(westbound) or 20 (eastbound) 'Vostok'
between Moscow & Beijing...
This is the weekly Trans-Manchurian train from
Moscow to Beijing using Russian rolling-stock. It has 2nd class 4-berth
(kupé) and 1st class 2-berth (Spalny Vagon) plus a restaurant car.
You can just make out the name 'Vostok' along the carriage side in the white band. |
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Above: The
'Vostok' at Ulan Ude.
Courtesy of Tadej Brezina. |
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Above: The Vostok up-close.
Courtesy of
Sascha & Manuela
Dubach |
The Russian trains...
'Rossiya'
Moscow-Vladivostok, 'Baikal' St Petersburg-Irkutsk, 'Vostok'
Moscow-Beijing...
All of the Russian trains have 1st class ('spalny
vagon' or 'SV') 2-berth compartments and 2nd class ('Kupé') compartments.
In SV, both beds are at the lower level. In Kupé, the compartments are
more or less identical, but with two upper berths as well as the two lower
ones. Washrooms are available at the end of each car, as is a samovar
providing an unlimited supply of free boiling water. Some Russian
trains also have 'platskartny' - open plan coaches with dormitory-style bunks.
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Above: Carriage nameboard on the Rossiya.
Photo courtesy of
Daniel Brewster. |
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Above: Spalny vagon (1st class) 2-berth compartment on the Rossiya.
Photo courtesy of
Daniel Brewster. |
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Train 24
from
Ulan Bator to Beijing...
This is the weekly
Chinese/Mongolian train from Ulan Bator to Beijing.
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Above: Mongolian sleeping-cars
on Train 24.
Courtesy of
Sascha & Manuela
Dubach |
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Above: Inside a cosy 2-berth sleeper
on train 24. Courtesy of
Sascha & Manuela
Dubach |
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What's the food like?
Quite edible, and not expensive.
On
train 3/4, a Mongolian
dining car is shunted into the middle of the train for the day spent crossing Mongolia. You
had better like rice and mutton! An excellent Chinese dining car
is attached for the day spent travelling in China. The Russian train from Moscow to Beijing (train
19/20) also has a Russian dining car attached whilst it is in Russia and a Chinese
one attached in China. The Moscow-Vladivostok 'Rossiya' and
Moscow-Irkutsk 'Baikal' have a Russian dining car (the Rossiya's
restaurant car is shown below). All these
dining cars accept US dollars, and a complete meal will cost about
US$10-15. |
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Russian restaurant on the
Rossiya, with Christmas decorations!
Photo courtesy of
Daniel Brewster. |
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Mongolian restaurant car...
Photo courtesy of Tristan Wilson |
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Chinese restaurant car... |
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What's the scenery like?
In Russia, much of the scenery is gentle
hills, birch
tree forests, small villages with mud streets and wooden houses.
There are occasional glimpses of onion-domed churches. It's not
all rural of course - around the cities, you'll see much of Siberia's
heavy industry. Rounding Lake Baikal, you get some good views of
the lake.
On the Trans-Mongolian route, you will go
to bed in Siberia and wake up in the steppes of Outer
Mongolia. The scenery across Mongolia and the Gobi
desert is dramatically different from Russia - you will see 'yurts' (the
traditional tents used by Mongolian nomads) and probably herds of camels
too. |
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Above: Siberia in Summer - lush
and green... |
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Above: Crossing one of Siberia's
major rivers... |
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Above: Evening falls in Siberia
as train 4 heads towards the Mongolian frontier... |
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Above: On the platform at Ulan
Bator. |
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Above: Train 4 crossing
Mongolia, heading for the Gobi... |
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Above: Until recently,
train 4 travelled via Quinglongquiao
in the mountains north of Beijing, where it passed through the Great Wall. The wall is in the background, coming down the valley side.
Train 4 now takes a slightly different route. |
Locomotives...
Your locomotive will be changed every few
hundred miles. The whole route from
Moscow to Vladivostok is now electrified (the last bit was 'wired' in
December 2002), but the Trans-Mongolian and
Trans-Manchurian trains are diesel-hauled once they leave the
Trans-Siberian proper.
Right: A Skoda CHS2. Far
right: A Skoda CHS4. Yes, these locos are both made by
Skoda, the same Czech firm that makes the cars..! |
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