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I'm curious what one had to look for on that side of things. I don't see how the Duty Train and China are related but I am interested. My mother rode the duty train a few times in the sixties. I've always wanted to learn more about it.
At the risk of continental thread drift, I'll try to answer that reasonable question in brief.

In 1969 our Soviet colleagues at Marienborn (Checkpoint Alpha) were being levied for assignments in the border war with China. (We were being levied for the Vietnam War, our British regiment was being shipped to Northern Ireland, and our French comrades were off to Africa for their next civil war.) Information from all kinds of sources higher up than us led to the conclusion by the western allies that the Soviet leadership wanted to get the constant Berlin confrontations off the table. In turn the Soviets had figured out that we were talking with China, the people who were sniping at them. This situation led to the Four-Power Treaty on the Status of Berlin and there were no more Berlin crises till 1989.

The three sleeper lines, Frankfurt-Berlin, Bremerhaven-Berlin, and Bremerhaven-Frankfurt were the last scheduled operations of what had been a network of Army Transportation Corps trains reaching from Paris to Salzburg and Berlin in 1945.

The two trains to Berlin ran on the original Royal Prussian Railway through Magdeburg and Potsdam on what became the Main Line of the Cold War through the Soviet Zone of Germany. There also was a fortnightly U.S. freight train. The same single-track line carried scheduled British and French military trains, Soviet trains, interzone express trains, a solid mail train for the West Berlin post office, and local suburban trains.

There's more about the duty trains and the Four-Power negotiations in my website at:

https://www.berlin1969.com
The least inaccurate movie about this is Stop Train 349 (1963).



The most Hollywoodie is Berlin Express (1948).



Back to the thread, both movies portray Russians in the attitude of the times.
 
Don't you wish Amtrak had some good Soviet trains like the Krasnaya Strela (Red Arrow)?
His comments on the Hotel Sovietsky were interesting. I stayed there on my last night in Russia in 2010. Everything was fine, except that the retrofitted air conditioning only covered the rooms. Step into the hall and be knocked down by the summer heat. It was built to be handy to Sheremetyevo Airport, but I was flying out of Domodedovo on the other side of town. It was a long day's journey in to flight, but interesting. Along the way I circled the Kremlin, found a 1913 streetcar barn still in use for trolley coaches, and saw some very active Metro/bus transfer stations. I had left my big suitcase at the pension in Berlin, and my schoolbook Russian was coming back, so it was easy to meander.

Scan0034 Sovietsky.jpg

The significance of 1913 is that it was the last year of progress in Imperial Russia; the economy did not get back to that level until 1928.

2010 Russia 455.jpg


Here's our we're sabotaging the Russians. That's a Cinnabon in the background.
2010 Russia 444k eating.jpg
 
Welcome back. So glad you are okay. Some of us were worrying a bit when we didn’t hear from you for a while.

I'm glad to know I was missed. Yeah I was in Russia since the 22nd. I got out on the first of March. And I got home last night.

Now this is going to be some story, can't wait.

Oh you know that will be my best trip report here is a brief review of these legs.

1. Train No. 19 the Metropolis St. Petersburg-Moscow
2. AeroExpress Moscow-VKO Airport
3. UT Air B737-800 to Kallingrad from VKO
4. Ecolines Bus Kallingrad-Warsaw
5. EC Warsaw-Berlin
6. RE Berlin-Magdeburg
7. Magdeburg-Halberstadt
8. Halberstadt-Wernigerode
9. Wernigerode-Brocken-Wernigerode
10. Wernigerode-Halberstadt
11. Halberstadt-Halle
12. Halle-Munchen.

One of those legs was royally miserable I'll let you guess which one.
 
I'm glad to know I was missed. Yeah I was in Russia since the 22nd. I got out on the first of March. And I got home last night.



Oh you know that will be my best trip report here is a brief review of these legs.

1. Train No. 19 the Metropolis St. Petersburg-Moscow
2. AeroExpress Moscow-VKO Airport
3. UT Air B737-800 to Kallingrad from VKO
4. Ecolines Bus Kallingrad-Warsaw
5. EC Warsaw-Berlin
6. RE Berlin-Magdeburg
7. Magdeburg-Halberstadt
8. Halberstadt-Wernigerode
9. Wernigerode-Brocken-Wernigerode
10. Wernigerode-Halberstadt
11. Halberstadt-Halle
12. Halle-Munchen.

One of those legs was royally miserable I'll let you guess which one.
I'm laughing out loud when I see that your escape included a side trip on a narrow-gauge steam train. I rode segment 6 in 2002. Of course, I was on it a number of times in 1969-71. I rode segment 9 in 2005.

For a sneak preview of segment 9:
MAR 05 291 (2).jpg

MAR 05 271.jpg

Looking forward to this trip report!
 
I'm glad to know I was missed. Yeah I was in Russia since the 22nd. I got out on the first of March. And I got home last night.



Oh you know that will be my best trip report here is a brief review of these legs.

1. Train No. 19 the Metropolis St. Petersburg-Moscow
2. AeroExpress Moscow-VKO Airport
3. UT Air B737-800 to Kallingrad from VKO
4. Ecolines Bus Kallingrad-Warsaw
5. EC Warsaw-Berlin
6. RE Berlin-Magdeburg
7. Magdeburg-Halberstadt
8. Halberstadt-Wernigerode
9. Wernigerode-Brocken-Wernigerode
10. Wernigerode-Halberstadt
11. Halberstadt-Halle
12. Halle-Munchen.

One of those legs was royally miserable I'll let you guess which one.

Who better than you to write this up, what an adventure too.
 
I'm laughing out loud when I see that your escape included a side trip on a narrow-gauge steam train. I rode segment 6 in 2002. Of course, I was on it a number of times in 1969-71. I rode segment 9 in 2005.

For a sneak preview of segment 9:
View attachment 27488

View attachment 27489

Looking forward to this trip report!

Work told me I could take one day in Europe to relax and not be in transit. Well I still was but steam invigorates me.
 
I only just finished reading the trip reports. Very interesting. I had a couple of questions.

How hard would it be for someone to travel around Russia on their own without knowing any Russian (except for maybe a few phrases one could learn from a guide book)? I have traveled around places in Europe even used public transit not knowing any of the language e.g. Amsterdam but then a lot of people spoke English in those places.

How do the domestic flights such as Aeroflot compare with our US domestic flights?
 
I only just finished reading the trip reports. Very interesting. I had a couple of questions.

How hard would it be for someone to travel around Russia on their own without knowing any Russian (except for maybe a few phrases one could learn from a guide book)? I have traveled around places in Europe even used public transit not knowing any of the language e.g. Amsterdam but then a lot of people spoke English in those places.

How do the domestic flights such as Aeroflot compare with our US domestic flights?

I had no trouble going around on my own but I speak the language. Personally I think you wouldn't have a large problem with it. The Russian people are very helpful and very nice. As far as public transport it's pretty easy to understand it. In St. Petersburg, and Moskva they both have transit cards like many US Cities. I definitely recommend getting one of those as you can use that on the busses too. Something different is the busses and trams have a conductor who collects the fare while the vehicle is driving. And as far as using maps that's pretty easy even without the language.

As far as to getting food that shouldn't be too hard a lot of places have an English menu, and the staff is very happy to help you out as well. The more touristy the location the more likely you will get an English menu. The less touristy the less likely but google translate has a camera based thing that translates everything in front of you.

As far as talking to people just be polite say thank you, your welcome, and be nice. Most have never met an American so you are very interesting to them and they will take care of you. Just don't talk about how Russia is bad, they know this and don't need a foreigner judging. Instead say things like our roads are worse (and in South Carolina it is true they are) and you'll instantly have friends as long as you don't go negative.

Domestic flights with Aeroflot are nothing like US Domestic Flights. As a flight attendant for one of our large ones Aeroflot kicks us to the curb constantly. Even on a short two hour hop you get a full hot meal in economy whereas if you fly on any of the American legacy carriers you barely get a cookie, and a drink if you are lucky. I did a long domestic flight to Alaska from ORD last summer and we only saw the FAs in economy once the entire way at the beginning of a six hour flight. Aeroflot on a similar length flight comes by roughly every fifteen minutes. Their service standards are significantly higher.
 
Well that's certainly different from tales I heard about Aeroflot service during the Soviet period.
The Soviet Union was " The Evil Empire" as Ronnie Reagan said.( and Putin is trying to bring it back!👹🤬)

The Russians I've met ( mostly in Brooklyn)are warm,friendly people as Seaboard has said.
 
I traveled on my own in 2010, but I had studied Russian years before and also knew something of the culture, railways and transit. At my official destination in Siberia, I was the guest of the English language club. In addition to finding people who understand English, German is probably second best for independent travel in Russian cities.

The main trouble that lack of a basic knowledge of the language might cause is in an unforeseen interruption, such as a derailment or being witness to an accident or a crime. That is especially true in the current situation in which U.S. consulates are closed. Although it's never enough, few realize how much good work consular officials do. In my Cold War days, we sprang two different Americans from East Berlin jails, even though they had clearly violated laws of the German Democratic Republic, in the time when we did not recognize the GDR as a country.

Once those things were considered, the trip in 2010 was enjoyable. And, naturally, by train there were many details to spot, like the father bringing his kids to watch trains, or the Lend-Lease Quonset hut still in service.

2010 Russia 056kk train watching.jpg
 
Thanks for all the tips. Sounds good.
Now is probably not a good time to go with everything happening, but my priorities anyway are to get back to the UK as I found out in 2018 that I have relatives over there that I never met (long story) and had plans to go in 2020 but that COVID thing happened. I also want to go to Rome. But I would like to visit Russia someday, maybe via Scandinavia to St. Petersburg and then a ride on the Krasnaya Strela.
 
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