# Russian Train Forums?



## Swadian Hardcore (May 11, 2015)

Check this out: http://rail-club.ru/forum/index.php!

You'll probably need Google Chrome to translate it but it has tons of info for those of us foaming railfans; it even has specific railcar models listed on one of the threads. I'd say my favorite would be a TVZ 61-4179, which has the good old corrugated sides!

BTW, the famous Russian (Rossiya) is considered overrated by Russians and the Red Arrow is considered heavily overrated.


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## caravanman (May 12, 2015)

Just beware of those automatic translations, they often get crucial info wrong!

You might find this helpful too: http://www.seat61.com/websites/rzd.htm#.VVH6yI5Viko

Ed


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## jis (May 12, 2015)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> BTW, the famous Russian (Rossiya) is considered overrated by Russians and the Red Arrow is considered heavily overrated.


I don't know what it looks like these days after the updating of equipment in 2007, but I saw the Krasnaya Strela (Red Arrow) at Leningradski/Oktobrskaya station when I arrived there by the Lev Tolstoy from Helsinki back in 2002. It did not look much different from the second section or from several other overnight expresses that had arrived or arrived after us from various places like Murmansk, Archangelsk etc.

Actually, at least that day Lev Tolstoy was a longer train than Krasnaya Strela what with the huge long section that got added to it at Vyborg.

As I recall when I woke up in my 1st Class compartment, we were standing at Ostankino station right by the famous TV tower of the same name, waiting for signal to proceed. The SCA had just knocked on my door and said "Pazhalsta Chai?" and I had responded "Da sposiba". In a few minutes I was served a tray of nice Russian Tea and a mountain of cookies and breads. It was a nice experience.


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## Bob Dylan (May 12, 2015)

So how many languages do you speak jis? No wonder you can globe trot so easily! Smiles


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## CHamilton (May 12, 2015)

One of my Russian friends says that there a whole lot of vodka-tinged railfans, and streetcar, subway and trolleybus foamers, too. But he doesn't know of any English-language rail forums. He gets a lot of his rail images from VK, which the Russian version of Facebook.


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## jis (May 12, 2015)

jimhudson said:


> So how many languages do you speak jis? No wonder you can globe trot so easily! Smiles


Heh! I know about 20 words of Russian and can pretty much read the Cyrillic script used by the Russians. All this comes from having spent two yers playing with Russian kids when I was a kid. My Dad was Chief Electrical Engineer Testing and Commissioning at the Bhilai Steel Plant in central India (what is now Chhattisgarh state, and then was in Madhya Pradesh state) that was being built with Russian aid, so there were many Russian engineers, and that is how I met many Russians and learned some Russian. Back then I could speak more Russian than now, but I have forgotten most of it. Just remember how to read, which came in really handy when in Russia.


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## Swadian Hardcore (May 12, 2015)

caravanman said:


> Just beware of those automatic translations, they often get crucial info wrong!
> 
> You might find this helpful too: http://www.seat61.com/websites/rzd.htm#.VVH6yI5Viko
> 
> Ed


I'm just cruising those forums for fun, not really looking for crucial information. I generally just look at equipment threads and train reviews. The Russian Railways website isn't too hard to use. I figured it out and got to the registration part without help. I haven't registered yet, so I don't know what comes after that.

But Mark Smith of Seat61 does have some errors in his information. He says one should always take a named "firm" train, but in fact, some of the named trains are no better than unnamed trains. The Russian train reviews on the forum rate trains based on 10 points. Some of the named trains got poor scores, especially the 15/16 Moskva-Murmansk Arctic.


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## Swadian Hardcore (May 12, 2015)

jis said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
> 
> 
> > BTW, the famous Russian (Rossiya) is considered overrated by Russians and the Red Arrow is considered heavily overrated.
> ...


The Krasnaya Strela is currently equipped with new TVZ cars. I'm still looking through the forums but I'll post what I have. A lot of the named trains have new TVZ 61-4440 equipment, but they have the same interior as the older TVZ 61-4179. I personally prefer the corrugated exterior look of the 61-4179. The Baikal has been cut back and some its TVZ corrugated equipment transferred to the 081И/082И Moskva-Ulan Ude, while the old Rossiya equipment, which were apparently made by Ammendorf in East Germany, got transferred to the 109M/110M Moskva-Novy Urengoy. Now the Rossiya has new TVZ equipment.

Also, the 091И/092И Moskva-Severobaykalsk always has an Ammendorf consist.

Most of the dining cars in Russia were made by Ammendorf as well.

Ammendorf compartment sleepers always have the "German chocolate" interior, with faux wood paneling. I guess the Reserved Seat cars wouldn't, though. It's funny how "Reserved Seat" is actually a couchette and "Sitting" means a seated coach.

So, basically, there's just TVZ and Ammendorf as the primary manufacturers.


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