Everybody likes railways, even those who won't admit it (they simply don't realize it). Just have a look at the cheerful faces of people who usually take a train where a cosy carriage, some pleasant travel companions, and the soothing rumble of wheels are awaiting them...Nearly, in the words of Freud, "unconscious thirst for temporary collectivism and new sensations."

Railway workers also like railways, which are quite natural, otherwise they wouldn't work there. But there are also people for whom the railway has become their main hobby. They are called railway lovers.

There are plenty of railway exotica lovers traveling by train, sea or plane from all over the world to Russia. Russia is enormous and never fails to impress its visitors with its vast distances. Such a number of working steam locomotives, not similar either to European or American ones, are to be found nowhere else.

Here a short historical digression is necessary. In 1950 the first steam engine from the P36 series, Pobeda (meaning Victory) was built in the Soviet Union. This was the most high-powered and beautiful series of the Soviet passenger locomotives. They were in use all over the country from the Carpathians to the Far East until the middle of the 1970s. At that time the appearance of the steam locomotive driving the passenger train did not strike the imagination of the local population...The P36-0032 steam locomotive belonged to this family. It lived, worked and then disappeared. All locomotives still preserved were long ago registered by rail-way lovers. Therefore all the engines not specified in these lists were automatically considered lost. Though there were some pleasant exceptions; the Pobeda No. 0032 was found unexpectedly in the Far East!

It was then that the discovered locomotive (or better to say what remained of it) was obtained by the English collector and railway lover Tim Littler. This rare loco-motive was moved to St. Petersburg. It was restored in a unique warehouse of the Saint Petersburg engine shed, the only one in the whole country. The engine then took up "permanent residence" in the Northern Capital of Russia.

The P36 made "civilized" stops as well — in Sortavala, Pitkyaranta, Lodeynoye Pole, and Lyuban. The latter town was a real discovery for many because the rail- way station which saw the first trains running from St. Petersburg to Moscow was recently restored, as was the memorial to the constructors of this first Russian railway line. From Lyuban the P36 delivered all of its fans to Saint Petersburg where they sighed and said good-bye to the locomotive, hoping that it would not be for long.

Tim Littler's plans foresee a new trip to the north of Russia. He intends actively to use the "Russian pearl" of his collection.

By Valery Brok

(“Moscow today and tomorrow) September. 2002)