Pechora highway (29 photos). Brief description of the construction of the North Pechora highway. Which cities does the Pechora highway pass through?

Regions and Komi ASSR.

Story

The road was formed in June 1942, until 1947 it was called Severo-Pechorskaya Railway . The total length of the road in 1954 was 1953 km. The road administration was located in the city of Kotlas.

The road included the Konosha - Kotlas - Vorkuta line and the Girsovo - Kotlas section.

Oddly enough, life in our camp became easier by the end of 1942. Famine was raging in the country. The camp stopped receiving rye flour and even oats. But Vorkuta coal became more and more necessary. Therefore, as soon as American Lend-Lease products began to arrive, they flowed to Vorkuta. There were periods when, due to the lack of black bread, the entire camp was fed with fluffy American white bread. There was so much of the famous American stew that all the metal utensils for the camp - bowls, mugs, all the lighting fixtures, and in some places even roofs began to be made from cans. Whole wagonloads of beautifully packaged, albeit rancid, stale American oil were brought in. They imported tons of ascorbic acid and almost survived scurvy. They dressed the prisoners in some kind of American sports suits and yellow shoes with soles two fingers thick.

Life in our camp was, perhaps, better than in the wild. At the end of 1942 or at the beginning of 1943, a train of Leningrad children was brought to us. Only here we saw with our own eyes what was happening in the country

Driver's certificate issued by the North Pechora Railway

The main cargo transported by road: coal, oil, timber, mineral building materials.

To complete the construction of the railway, the structures that were being built at that time in Moscow were urgently dismantled and transferred to the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

The road was formed in June 1942, until 1947 it was called North Pechora Railway. The total length of the road in 1954 was 1953 km. The road administration was located in the city of Kotlas.

The road included the Konosha - Kotlas - Vorkuta line and the Girsovo - Kotlas section.

Oddly enough, life in our camp became easier by the end of 1942.

Famine was raging in the country. The camp stopped receiving rye flour and even oats. But Vorkuta coal became more and more necessary. Therefore, as soon as American Lend-Lease products began to arrive, they flowed to Vorkuta. There were periods when, due to the lack of black bread, the entire camp was fed with fluffy American white bread. There was so much of the famous American stew that all the metal utensils for the camp - bowls, mugs, all the lighting fixtures, and in some places even roofs began to be made from cans. Whole wagonloads of beautifully packaged, albeit rancid, stale American oil were brought in. They imported tons of ascorbic acid and almost survived scurvy. They dressed the prisoners in some kind of American sports suits and yellow shoes with soles two fingers thick.

Life in our camp was, perhaps, better than in the wild. At the end of 1942 or at the beginning of 1943, a train of Leningrad children was brought to us. Only here we saw with our own eyes what was happening in the country

P.129

The main cargo transported by road: coal, oil, timber, mineral building materials.

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An excerpt characterizing the Pechora Railway

“No, it seems that the sale will take place one of these days,” someone said. – Although now it’s crazy to buy anything in Moscow.
- From what? – said Julie. – Do you really think that there is a danger for Moscow?
- Why are you going?
- I? That's strange. I’m going because... well, because everyone is going, and then I’m not Joan of Arc or an Amazon.
- Well, yes, yes, give me some more rags.
“If he manages to get things done, he can pay off all his debts,” the militiaman continued about Rostov.
- A good old man, but very pauvre sire [bad]. And why do they live here for so long? They had long wanted to go to the village. Does Natalie seem to be well now? – Julie asked Pierre, smiling slyly.
“They are expecting a younger son,” said Pierre. “He joined Obolensky’s Cossacks and went to Bila Tserkva. A regiment is being formed there. And now they transferred him to my regiment and are waiting for him every day. The Count has long wanted to go, but the Countess will never agree to leave Moscow until her son arrives.
“I saw them the other day at the Arkharovs’. Natalie looked prettier and cheerful again. She sang one romance. How easy it is for some people!
-What's going on? – Pierre asked displeasedly. Julie smiled.
“You know, Count, that knights like you only exist in the novels of Madame Suza.”
- Which knight? From what? – Pierre asked, blushing.
- Well, come on, dear Count, c "est la fable de tout Moscou. Je vous admire, ma parole d" honneur. [all of Moscow knows this. Really, I'm surprised at you.]
- Fine! Fine! - said the militiaman.
- OK then. You can't tell me how boring it is!
“Qu"est ce qui est la fable de tout Moscou? [What does all of Moscow know?] - Pierre said angrily, getting up.
- Come on, Count. You know!
“I don’t know anything,” said Pierre.
– I know that you were friends with Natalie, and that’s why... No, I’m always friendlier with Vera. Cette chere Vera! [This sweet Vera!]
“Non, madame,” Pierre continued in a dissatisfied tone. “I didn’t take on the role of Rostova’s knight at all, and I haven’t been with them for almost a month.” But I don't understand cruelty...
- Qui s"excuse - s"accuse, [Whoever apologizes, blames himself.] - Julie said, smiling and waving lint, and so that it remains for her the last word, immediately changed the conversation. “What, I found out today: poor Marie Volkonskaya arrived in Moscow yesterday. Did you hear she lost her father?
- Really! Where is she? “I would very much like to see her,” said Pierre.
– I spent the evening with her yesterday. Today or tomorrow morning she is going to the Moscow region with her nephew.
- Well, how is she? - said Pierre.
- Nothing, I’m sad. But do you know who saved her? This is a whole novel. Nicholas Rostov. They surrounded her, wanted to kill her, wounded her people. He rushed in and saved her...
“Another novel,” said the militiaman. “This general elopement was decidedly done so that all the old brides would get married.” Catiche is one, Princess Bolkonskaya is another.
“You know that I really think that she is un petit peu amoureuse du jeune homme.” [a little bit in love with a young man.]
- Fine! Fine! Fine!
– But how can you say this in Russian?..

When Pierre returned home, he was given two Rastopchin posters that had been brought that day.
The first said that the rumor that Count Rostopchin was prohibited from leaving Moscow was unfair and that, on the contrary, Count Rostopchin was glad that ladies and merchant wives were leaving Moscow. “Less fear, less news,” the poster said, “but I answer with my life that there will be no villain in Moscow.” These words clearly showed Pierre for the first time that the French would be in Moscow. The second poster said that our main apartment was in Vyazma, that Count Wittschstein defeated the French, but that since many residents want to arm themselves, there are weapons prepared for them in the arsenal: sabers, pistols, guns, which residents can get at a cheap price. The tone of the posters was no longer as playful as in Chigirin’s previous conversations. Pierre thought about these posters. Obviously, that terrible thundercloud, which he called upon with all the strength of his soul and which at the same time aroused involuntary horror in him - obviously this cloud was approaching.
“Should I enlist in the military and go to the army or wait? – Pierre asked himself this question for the hundredth time. He took a deck of cards lying on his table and began to play solitaire.
“If this solitaire comes out,” he said to himself, mixing the deck, holding it in his hand and looking up, “if it comes out, it means... what does it mean?” He didn’t have time to decide what it meant when a voice was heard behind the office door the eldest princess asking if she could come in.
“Then it will mean that I have to go to the army,” Pierre finished to himself. “Come in, come in,” he added, turning to the prince.

If you travel by train, the Komi Republic begins long before its official border - after all, the Pechora Mainline is an integral part of it. The 1,953-kilometer-long diesel locomotive line, built in 1937-47 mainly by prisoners, is the backbone of the republic. If Komi itself is Little Siberia, then the Pechora Railway is, accordingly, the Little Trans-Siberian Railway. And at the same time, it is one of the most colorful railways in Russia with a unique atmosphere and unique history.
Therefore, the first part of my story will be devoted to the near part of this railway: from Konosha station on the Moscow-Arkhangelsk line to Mikun station - the main “gate” of the republic.

The Pechora Mainline is one of the four Great Northern Mainlines of Russia, along with the older Murmansk Railway (built before the revolution) and the later Yugra and Baikal-Amur Mainlines. It was built in the very Stalin era, partly during the Great Patriotic War, and since 1942 it has supplied Moscow and Leningrad with Vorkuta coal. The road was built on the bones of prisoners - but without it there would have been no Victory. The history of the railway is quite complicated: the first station on it was Kotlas, where the railway from Perm was brought in 1895 - here passengers transferred from trains to river boats along the Dvina, Sukhona and Vychegda. The Kotlas-Vorkuta line was built in 1937-42, and was one of the most terrible construction projects of the Gulag. Somewhat earlier, the Kotlas-Girsovo (1897-99) and Konosha-Velsk (1929-34) logging branches were built, and most of The section that I will talk about in this part was launched in 1947 - the Konosha-Kotlas line on the border of the Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions. In 1948, the northern branch of Chum-Labytnangi was built - part of the failed Transpolar Railway, and in the 1950-70s in the Komi Republic the line grew “mustache” to Syktyvkar, Usogorsk, Usinsk, Troitsko-Pechorsk... But that’s another story.
For the first half a day of the journey to Vorkuta, the train travels along the Arkhangelsk railway - through Sergiev Posad, Alexandrov, Rostov Veliky, Yaroslavl, Vologda... The road to Vologda was extended back in 1872, to Arkhangelsk - in 1898, and before the First World War it was narrow gauge .
In the very south of the Arkhangelsk region, the train reaches Konosha station:

This is where the Pechora Highway begins. The gloomy Stalinist station, with its appearance already reminiscent of the Far North, is adjacent to a romantic-looking water pump:

And clearly pre-revolutionary wooden houses:

Konosha itself is a fairly large (11 thousand inhabitants) urban-type settlement, built up mainly with barracks:

And from the overpass you can clearly see the fork - the Pechora Mainline departs from the Arkhangelskaya Mainline almost at a right angle:

A diesel locomotive is hooked up to the train here - there will be no further electrification. And this is what the Arkhangelsk Highway looks like from the first hundred meters of Pechora:

Somewhere here there is a miniature station Konosha-2, which I did not have time to photograph. The train now goes not to the north, but to the east, and the landscapes along the line are the usual Russian North with villages on the rivers:

And countless sawmills:

But in general, here everything becomes somehow different. The train moves slower and smoother, there are almost no wires flashing outside the window, but every now and then the blue smoke from the diesel locomotive flies by. Two hours from Konosha - Velsk, the most Old city on the Pechora highway. It has been known as a collection point for tribute from the Chud tribes since 1147, since 1397 as a volost center, since 1560 as a settlement, and since 1780 as a district town.

It seems that the merchant center in Velsk is well preserved, and in the surrounding villages there are very unusual wooden churches with huge pear-shaped domes. But the railway runs along the outskirts (and it was brought here back in 1934), and what is most impressive is the huge and very modern station for such a small station. None of the large stations on the line - Kotlas, Mikun, Ukhta, Vorkuta - can boast of anything like this. And the architecture is very nice - one of the best examples of modern station construction in Russia.

Where he comes from, and especially why, is a mystery. Train stops are short, the city is small (24 thousand inhabitants), major cities, for which Velsk could serve as the nearest station, is also not there.

Literally half an hour later - Kuloy stations in a small village:

This part of the line was built already in 1942-47, as evidenced by the characteristic Stalinist station:

Just a view of the Kuloi platform. It should be noted that in the much poorer Arkhangelsk region, the stations are much neater than in the oil and gas Komi Republic.

For the next four hours, the road goes through a rather remote area - in general, it is clear why it was built only after the war. Some of the stations are in the Arkhangelsk region, some in the Vologda region. On some (for example, Lomovatka) traces of narrow-gauge railways have been preserved. And Yadrikha station until recently was the main “gate” of Veliky Ustyug - one of the most beautiful cities of the Russian North.
Behind Yadrikha the floodplain of the Northern Dvina begins, and on the horizon medieval castle Kotlas elevator rises:

The Trinity Church (1795-1806) in the village of Vondokurye in the “Ustyug Baroque” style is clearly visible:

In 2008 she looked like this.

And then the train enters the bridge over the Northern Dvina. Its size, especially in winter, when the riverbed cannot be distinguished from the floodplain, comes as a shock to an unprepared person - it is much wider than the Volga, Dnieper and Ob, despite the fact that it is many times inferior to all of them in terms of depth:

In the distance is a road bridge, built in 1997-2001 and which made it possible to “settle” Father Frost in Ustyug - before that the city was too inaccessible for mass tourism.

First stop - Kotlas-Uzlovoy, or Kotlas-Uzel:

As already mentioned, Kotlas is the oldest station of the Pechora railway: the Perm-Kotlas railway was put into operation in 1895, and became something like the never-implemented Belkomur (Belomorye-Komi-Ural highway) - connected the Kama and Northern Dvina basins . The final station Kotlas-Yuzhny is located in a small appendix, while Kotlas-Uzlovoy is on the main route of the Pechora Mainline. Most trains stop at both stations, each stopping for half an hour. Kotlas-Uzel is known for its trade - for example, Vorkuta residents regularly stock up on potatoes here.

Kotlas itself is now quite large by the standards of the North (68 thousand inhabitants), but an extremely dull city. Actually, it received city status only in 1917, between two revolutions. But it is difficult to find another city so tightly tied to the railway. For example, on the approaches to Kotlas-Yuzhny, the city theater is clearly visible almost right next to the tracks:

Kotlas-Yuzhny station (1957) is by far the largest on the Pechora highway. This time I didn’t photograph it, so I’m putting in a shot from the summer of 2008, when. The station has hardly changed since then - huge, shabby, dark and in a state of endless repair.

Between the station and the Northern Dvina there is a huge asphalt space where there is a bus station and an almost inactive river station. In the past, it was here that there was overload from trains to ships, one of which - the wheeled "Nikolai Gogol" - still plies the Northern Dvina as a cruise ship. On the banks of the Dvina is the Church of Stephen of Perm, built in 1825-29, when Kotlas was still a village.

But her presence and dedication are by no means accidental. Since 1379, the Zyryan village of Pyras has been known at this place, mentioned in connection with the fact that Stepan Khrap, later better known as Stefan of Perm, landed here. A missionary from Veliky Ustyug, the son of a Russian clerk and a Zyryansk peasant woman, in 1379-80 he converted Lesser Perm (as the Komi land was then called) to Orthodoxy and single-handedly, almost bloodlessly, annexed it to Russia. He created the unique Komi alphabet "anbur" (which went out of use in the 17th century), and to this day is considered the heavenly patron of this people. And the village has stood on this site since those times, only in the 17th century it was quietly renamed from Pyras to Kodlas.

In 2008, after spending several hours in Kotlas, I never thought of going beyond the railway, where it actually is historical Center. I had to make up for lost time now by running on ice for half an hour.

But this race was necessary - half a kilometer from the station there is a building, without which the story about the Pechora Railway cannot be considered complete. Grandiose against the backdrop of the surrounding grayness, Stalinism is nothing more than the management of the North Pechora Railway:

The stern and inaccessible appearance is very appropriate - from this building it is clear that the road leads to the remote taiga and the Arctic, and that it was built by prisoners. However, the building was not used for its intended purpose for long: in 1958, the Pechora Railway as a separate unit was abolished and included in the Northern Railway. I didn’t have time to see what exactly is here now. But the inscription on the facade is preserved:

In general, Kotlas is the real “capital” of the Pechora Railway. Both in the past and now, it is no coincidence that most trains spend more than an hour on it (two stops and a crossing).
Then the railway turns northeast, and runs parallel to Vychegda, although quite far from the river.

KOMI-2011
"...". Trip review.
South Komi.
Pechora highway. Konosha - Mikun.
. The ancient capital of Malaya Perm.
Sytkyvkar. General.
Syktyvkar. Miscellaneous.
Yb and Vylgort. Neighborhoods of Sytkyvkar.
Middle Komi.
Pechora highway. Mikun - Israel.
Ukhta. Oil capital of Komi.
Troitsko-Pechorsk. Gate of the Northern Urals.
Izhma and its inhabitants.
Izhemsky villages.
Izhma in Syktyvkar.
Northern Komi.
Pechora highway. Inta - Vorkuta.
Inta.
Vorkuta. General.
Vorkuta. Particulars.
Vorkuta. Mine.
Vorkuta ring.

P.S.
Still, I decided to post the series now, but not too quickly. I’ll post what I have time for, and the rest (most likely the entire Northern Komi) - upon my return from Odessa.

Syktyvkar, 1999. vol.2.

PECHORSKAYA RAILROAD, a highway connecting the Pechora coal basin with the Center and North-West of the country. The following were accepted into permanent operation: the Kotlas-Pechora section in August 1942, the Pechora-Vorkuta section in July 1950.
The Pechora Railway runs through the entire territory of the Komi Republic from the South-West to the North-East. Construction began according to the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated October 28, 1937, with commissioning in 1945.

Construction was carried out through settlements Konosha, Kotlas, Knyazhpogost, Ukhta, Kozhva, Abez, Vorkuta. The first kilometers of the road were laid in 1938. The first train to the station. Kozhva arrived on December 25, 1940. Through train traffic began on the Kotlas-Kozhva section (728 km).
The highway was built by the Sevzheldorstroy administration for 730 km from Kotlas to Kozhva (since 1938) and by the Pezzheldorstroy administration (Pechorstroy) - 461 km from Kozhva to Vorkuta (since August 1940). The total length of the highway is 1191 km.
Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the pace of its construction has been intensified; construction was carried out with the labor of Gulag prisoners. The country needed Vorkuta coal, Ukhta oil and petroleum products.
On December 29, 1941, the first through train arrived in Vorkuta. The opening of goods traffic on the highway had important military-strategic and economic significance. Hundreds of thousands of tons coal was sent in trains for the needs of the front, besieged Leningrad and ships of the navy.

Throughout the years of the war, the highway was completed and improved, because... the roadbed was very unstable, many temporary bridges required completion, residential buildings had to be built, technical structures on locomotive and carriage services.
The Pechora Railway, like the Pechora Coal Basin, was created by prisoners under the auspices of the NKVD mainly during the Great Patriotic War. The highway had a positive impact on the development of the economy of the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, incorporating it into a single national economic complex of the country, connecting geographically and economically disparate regions of the Komi Republic. The construction of the Pechora railway was directly related to the problem of creating the northern coal and metallurgical base of the USSR on the basis of Vorkuta coking coals and Kola iron ore concentrate, with the creation of the Cherepovets metallurgical complex (1955).
Lit.: Dyakov Yu.L., Northern coal and metallurgical base of the USSR: emergence and development, M., 1973. Author of the article M. Dmitrikov.

"PECHORZHELDORSTROY" (1940-50), construction organization of the NKVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) of the USSR, which built the northernmost section of the North Pechora railway. Kozhva-Vorkuta road (461 km). Prison labor was used in construction.
A winter road (700 km) was built to deliver materials and equipment. The work unfolded on a wide front. The builders laid the path from several points at once, moving towards each other, connecting the sections into a continuous highway.
The laying of the track was completed on December 28, 1941, and on December 29 the first through train arrived in Vorkuta. Trains of coal began to be sent for the needs of the front, besieged Leningrad. During 1942-44, 723 thousand tons were sent. coal
Completion of the site continued during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war five-year period. In 1950, Pechorzheldorstroy put the Kozhva-Vorkuta section into permanent operation.

"SEVZHELDORSTROY" (1938-46), construction organization of the NKVD of the USSR, which built the Kotlas-Pechora section (730 km) Sever.-Pechora with the help of prisoners. zhel. roads. Sevzheldorstroy was entrusted with the task of opening temporary train traffic on this section in 1940.
During the construction of railway Prisoners' forces built settlements, logging roads were laid, and along the route - wheeled roads for the transport of materials, rails and other goods.
A motorized road (235 km) was built between Ukhta and Kozhva, along which the route was supplied with everything necessary. In November 1939, the track was laid on the Aikino-Shezham-Ukhta section, and in October 1940, Sevzheldorstroy finished laying the track at Kotlas.
For the first time in history, the Komi Republic received a permanent connection with the center of the country. On December 25, 1940, train traffic was opened on the entire Kotlas-Kozhva section, which was put into permanent operation in August 1942.
During the Great Patriotic War, Sevzheldorstroy carried out work on the reconstruction of large railways. bridges.
Lit.: Dyakov Yu.L., Construction of the North Pechora Railway in the pre-war years (1937-1941), in the collection: Questions of the history of the working class of the Komi ASSR, Syktyvkar, 1970.

"PECHORSTROY", "Pechora Construction", JSC. Organized in August 1940 as the Pechorzheldorstroy trust of the NKVD of the USSR for the construction of the North Pechora railway. roads on the Kozhva-Vorkuta section. Until 1954 he was part of the Main Directorate of Railways. construction of the NKVD-MVD of the USSR (GULJS).
During construction The labor of prisoners was used on the roads, the number of whom on January 1, 1942 was 50 thousand people. Construction work was accompanied by great loss of life.
Severo-Pechorskaya railway the road on the Kozhva-Vorkuta section was put into permanent operation in 1950, railway. bridge over the river Pechora in 1942. “Pechorstroy” carried out industrial and civil construction along the entire railway line. roads, incl. in the cities of Pechora, Inta, Vorkuta.
In 1954, “Pechorzheldorstroy” of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs was reorganized into the “Pechorstroy” Department as part of the “Glavzheldorstroy” of the North and West of the USSR Ministry of Transport. Trust "Pechorstroy" carried out the construction of railway. roads Chum-Labytnangi (1947-59), Mikun-Syktyvkar (1958-61), Sosnogorsk-Troitsko-Pechorsk (1963-77), Mikun-Koslan (1961-74), Synya-Usinsk (1974-80). Built Pechora River port, Kozhvinsky crushed stone plant, airports in the cities of Pechora and Salekhard.
Pechorstroy has made a great contribution to the socio-economic development of the Komi Republic. During its activity, Pechorstroy built: 121 railways. station, hospitals with 1,520 beds, schools with 20,520 beds, housing 1 million 822.4 thousand m2, 3309 km of new railways. lines, 260.6 km of secondary and station tracks, 257 km of access roads.
As of January 1, 1998, the former Pechorstroy consisted of 9 independent divisions: SMP-234 (Kozhva village), SMP-235 (Syktyvkar), SMP-242 (Vorkuta), SMP-258 (Sosnogorsk), SMP -331 (Troitsko-Pechorsk village), SMP-562, reinforced concrete products plant, commercial center, mechanization department (Pechora).

If you travel from Moscow to Vorkuta by train, you can see a lot of interesting things outside your window. The train route runs along two famous northern highways - the Arkhangelsk Mainline, built by the merchant Savva Mamontov, and the Pechora Mainline, built mainly by prisoners in the unbearable conditions of the taiga, tundra and permafrost.

During the two-day journey, the train crosses the Moscow, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Arkhangelsk regions and almost the entire Komi Republic...

The road from Moscow to Vorkuta begins at the Yaroslavsky railway station, the same place where the Trans-Siberian Railway officially begins. A stylized kilometer post tells about this:

The track adjacent to the Moscow-Vorkuta train is occupied by the Moscow-Blagoveshchensk train, which is crowded with tourists.

This is exactly how much it costs to travel from the capital to Far North. In principle, the price is quite reasonable. You can also get to Vorkuta by plane, the flight takes about 3 hours, but the prices for the plane represent the height of idiocy: 15,000 rubles one way. For those who value it, there is a budget reserved seat with the traditional smell of socks and drunken shift workers, and crazy people can use a seated carriage for a trip to Vorkuta for a ridiculous 1,500 rubles.

The train starts moving and begins to move in a northerly direction. During the first hours of the journey, the terrain characteristic of middle zone Russia:

The carriage is empty - there are very few people willing to travel north in the summer. Looking ahead, we note that it will remain just as empty until the very end of the journey. No one ever got into our compartment.

The carriage is a very ordinary brown Ammendorf with authentic windows that you could open and lean out of.

Sterile toilet. Conscientious guides washed him two or three times a day throughout the journey. I never expected such service from a “five hundred oar” train...

While the train is traveling along Yaroslavl region. This is perhaps the fastest section of the route - the train covers almost 300 kilometers from Moscow to Yaroslavl in 4 hours. Along the road you come across small stops with stations built in the style typical of the Arkhangelsk Mainline, along which the first part of the route passes.

Right up to Yaroslavl, the area outside the window does not undergo any significant changes: forests and meadows.

Finally, the train reaches Yaroslavl, crossing the Kotorosl River within the city:

Yaroslavl-Glavny is the first long-term stop of the train, it takes almost 40 minutes. This is just enough to quickly get acquainted with the station and its surroundings. Here is the station itself:

And here is a monument to Savva Mamontov, who built the Arkhangelsk Mainline, against the background of a map of the Northern Railway drawn on the wall of the nearest station building.

A closer look at the map reveals glaring inaccuracies. From Kotlas to Mikuni, according to this map, it takes almost 15 minutes, the authors of the map moved Sosnogorsk to the middle of the branch leading to Troitsko-Pechorsk... Shame and disgrace!

And this is what it looks like station Square Yaroslavl. Apparently, since I served military training in this city in 2009, it has changed very little.

Beyond Yaroslavl, the railway crosses the Volga on a bridge.

Quite northern stops in small villages. However, some kind of infrastructure in the form of platforms with railings is present here. A few passengers are waiting for the evening train to Yaroslavl:

And the train continues to move north.

The next stop is Danilov, a docking station and also a junction station, where a branch to the latitudinal railway departs from the Arkhangelsk Mainline." Saint Petersburg- Kirov", the so-called northern passage of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Apart from this detail, there is nothing remarkable in this town, and this is clearly evidenced by the view from the station crossing bridge:

The long stop of all trains without exception gives rise to a lot of street vendors. They sell literally everything - from boiled potatoes and pickled cucumbers...

To plush toys. Although it’s hard to imagine that someone buys plush toys along the way on the train.

A local resident looks with curiosity at the train leaving further. Apparently he reads the name of the route on the sign..

Meanwhile, outside the window it begins Vologda Region with neatly plowed and sown fields.

A section of forest where a tornado swept through in 2010. More details are written at varandej in this post. As we can see, since then no one has even scratched the surface to somehow put this place in order.

But here they are proud of their Russian citizenship! The most ordinary village house at Baklanka station carries a proudly waving Russian flag:

And then the train reaches Gryazovets station. It was here, on the platform of this station, that the opening scene of the famous Soviet trash film “City Zero” was filmed. It is also noteworthy that the hero of the film disembarked from the train heading to Vorkuta (visible on the train route board).

But in general - the most ordinary linear station in an ordinary provincial city.

It's getting dark. At the entrance to Vologda, fantastic mushroom-shaped clouds grow in the distance:

Despite the fact that we are traveling north, the forests for some time give way to almost continuous fields.

There are very few trees here; the area is more similar to the forest-steppe in the Voronezh region.

Directly before Vologda, the train passes without stopping a huge marshalling station with the idiotic name Losta (remember the TV series Lost on Channel One?). Losta station is one of the largest marshalling stations in the European part of Russia: here the Arkhangelsk Mainline is crossed by the latitudinal route St. Petersburg - Kirov, or rather, it does not completely cross, but at some point these roads turn out to be combined. There is also a locomotive depot (TC-11), opened in 2004.

Vologda itself looks very ordinary from the train, if not sadly: five-story panel buildings interspersed with brick high-rise buildings...

One of the types of products from these regions is timber in logs:

Vologda Station is quite large by provincial standards:

On the roof of the station there is a small but beautiful weather vane with the inscription "Vologda"

Bell. I immediately remember the famous “Give me back my bell, bl#”... There is nothing else to see at the Vologda station.

Upon departure from Vologda, the buildings of the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery are visible on the left along the train. The Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery was founded in 1371 by Saint Dmitry of Prilutsky, a student and follower of St. Sergius of Radonezh. In 1812, the treasures of the patriarchal sacristy, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and a number of other Moscow monasteries and cathedrals were kept here. After the revolution, it housed a colony for street children and a transit camp for the dispossessed, and later a military unit. What was not here... Currently, the monastery operates for its intended purpose.

Enchanting evening Vologda dawns, which gave the name to the signature Moscow-Vologda train:

Hay is collected in the fields:

At night the train reaches Konosha-I station in the Arkhangelsk region. At this station there is a farewell to the Arkhangelsk Mainline: then the route turns east. At the same time, electrification is ending - the Pechora Mainline is completely diesel-powered.

Notice how light it is here at night - at three o'clock in the morning the sky is only slightly dark.

And inside the station we will see an impressive exhibition of children's drawings. Students from local art schools painted. There are scribbles and some impressive drawings.

Among the railway artifacts, it is worth noting the gorgeous typesetting schedule from the times of the Ministry of Railways (and, possibly, the USSR).

The most beautiful section of the road from Konosha to Valdeevo was not possible to photograph due to darkness. The morning began at this station:

The station is located in a village of the same name, surrounded by forests and impassable swamps. There are no roads to the outside world (except for the winter road), you can only drive a tractor. Well, on the train. In the village itself there is terrible dirt, puddles and dull barracks. But there is store number 21.

Pechora highway in the vicinity of Sengos station. It is worth noting that the curves on this road are an exception; it mainly consists of arrow-straight segments.

All around are harsh northern villages, gray and shriveled with time, with the broken eye sockets of unpainted houses. These landscapes evoke incredible melancholy...

The depressing impression of northern devastation is slightly diluted by the relatively decent barracks of railway workers at rare stops. But they are also surrounded by rickety sheds and toilets:

And severity and poverty inexorably remind us of themselves. Here Urban-type settlement Udimsky.

The only thing that is “urban” in it are two-story barracks.

The railway turns north in small portions, revealing long straight sections. The wind carries smoke and the stench of diesel fuel to the end of the train...

The floodplain of the Northern Dvina begins:

The river itself. Even in the middle reaches it is huge - the width of its channel is in no way less than the width of the Volga channel:

Having crossed the bridge over the Northern Dvina, the train arrives at the Kotlas-Uzlovoy station:

The diesel locomotive is coupled to the tail of the train in order to drive the train to the Kotlas-Yuzhny station.

Next, the diesel locomotive will again be hooked up to the head of the train and the train will go further to Vorkuta, passing Kotlas-Uzlova again. All these driving back and forth are due to the lack of opportunity to turn onto Kotlas-Yuzhny directly from the bridge over the Northern Dvina. Although they could have built a loop from Kotlas-Uzlovoy to the Kotlas-Kirov branch a long time ago. But, apparently, it is cheaper to waste the time of passengers and drivers and diesel fuel.

Kotlas-South. The repair of the station goes on and on, and there is no end to it:

Station square with a steam locomotive monument and infernal puddles on the crumpled asphalt. Behind the scenes there are the most terrible abandoned wooden barracks, if you don’t know about them, then, in principle, it looks within the acceptable limits, of course adjusted for the Russian outback:

Seagulls shit on the head of bronze Vladimir Ilyich:

Loaves from the PAZ plant arrive at the bus stop...

Next to local towns and villages, deprived of such a blessing of civilization as the railway:

In general, life is in full swing. And we are driving back past a tattered and abandoned elevator. Apparently, this is the vicinity of Mostozavod station:

The next train stop is Solvychegodsk. The real Solvychegodsk is still about twenty kilometers from here, however, the station looks much more decent than the station of a large city and the regional center of Kotlas:

Here stands a monument to the victims of the builders of the Pechora highway - hundreds, thousands of nameless prisoners who built the road in inhuman conditions among the taiga, tundra, permafrost, in a snowstorm and thirty-degree heat, suffocating from cold and vileness. A chill creeps through the skin at the sight of this simple, austere monument...

Pyrsky. This is the name of the station a little further from Solvychegodsk:

To the east of Kotlas, huge impassable swamps stretch along the railway. This is, for example, the Rada swamp:

It was not possible to find out the name of this swamp.

“Russians call the place where they are going to pass a road” - this quote involuntarily comes to mind when looking at what serves as a road here. Only a logging truck, a tractor, or a shift truck can pass along such a road...

In general, this is the main transport here - the main product of the Arkhangelsk region is timber. Forest, forest, forest, nothing more. The beggar area sits on a wooden needle.

The south of the Komi Republic, which suddenly begins outside the window, looks similar: pine whips piled to the skies at Madmas station:

There are also eerie ruins here, similar to those already seen in the Arkhangelsk region: if you do not know the location of the border, it is difficult to determine where one region ends and another begins. The rotten barn bears the proud sign “ELECTRIC SHOP”:

If the administrative border of the Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Republic passes somewhere near the Madmas station, then the difference becomes obvious to the eye after crossing the Vychegda River. By the way, the river is no less impressive than the Northern Dvina:

The train here goes to the northeast, and the nature outside the window begins to gradually change. Beyond the Vychegda the southern taiga begins with a predominance of coniferous trees:

Deserted landscapes are occasionally interrupted by traces of human activity:

Mikun is a large junction station in the southern part of the Komi Republic. The train here takes about 20 minutes and a large number of passengers get on and off. "Usy" depart from the station to Vendinga and Syktyvkar, people transfer here to local trains.

View from the bridge. Our train will go there after a while:

A paddy wagon of the Federal Penitentiary Service is also waiting for its passengers:

Station Square. Compare with what you saw in big city Kotlas. Here the difference in income of neighboring regions is especially striking:

North of Mikuni, the train crosses the Vym River on a bridge:

And then neat houses appear in the forest. This is the city of Emva, in which the Knyazhpogost station is located.

The station itself. There is exactly the same station in Sosnogorsk, further along the train route.

The most peeling houses in the city. Remember the town of Udimsky...

Another river, its name could not be established. At a distance you can see the place where it flows into the Vym:

A typical linear station on a highway: an electrical center post, also known as a train station, a barn (or a toilet?), a transformer booth and some kind of platform. However, passenger traffic here is so small that more is not needed.

The road continues to turn north.

By evening the train reaches Ukhta.

A large marshalling yard in a large city. Behind the station you can see Mount Vetlasyan, on which Lenin’s head is located. Once upon a time this head also glowed in the dark, then the illumination was stolen.

Private sector of the city. These very comfortable houses are present here.

The railway passes here directly under the slopes of the mountain.

On the right is the mountain, and on the left is the valley of the Ukhta River.

Sosnogorsk. Same large station, from which the branch to Troitsko-Pechorsk departs. Unlike the imagination of the map compilers on the wall in Yaroslavl, Sosnogorsk is located directly on the highway. True, there is still a Sosnogorsk-II station, but it is doubtful that it was discussed there.

I took pictures of the Sosnogorsk station on the way back, but in fact the sun was already setting:

The distance to Moscow is already the same as from Adler, however, there are still almost 700 kilometers to go to Vorkuta.

People walking around reserved seat carriage. Meanwhile, no more than 5 people remained in our carriage.

The road north of Sosnogorsk goes through continuous taiga.

Kerki station. Kerki in the Komi language means “huts”, “houses”. Several houses actually exist here, along with an ancient “Cossack” on a platform made of old sleepers. I wonder where you can drive it here?

Because civilization here is completely over.

The huge Pechora River near the city of the same name. A train crosses it at night.

Taiga. Pay attention to the shape of the spruce crowns, how different it is from the fluffy Central European trees we are used to.

Well, the sun has already come out. The picture was taken at 3 o'clock in the morning? morning?

A tributary of the Pechora is the Usa River. Even this river is not inferior in size to the Volga in its middle reaches. The photo was taken on the way back, that's why it's so dark.

Suddenly, swampy bald spots appear in the taiga, behind which you can see the peaks of the Polar Urals mountains:

There are no longer any signs of human activity here.

Along the road there are wired communication lines, which, of course, have not been working for a long time. But it is extremely unprofitable to remove wires from these fucking places to hand them over for recycling. So it all rots.

Railroad workers' barracks at the Shore crossing. Or Pyshor. Or Pernashor. Or maybe Amshor? I don’t remember which one, they are all so similar. Judging by the time of filming, it seems that this is still Pernashor...

Seyda is the last long-term train stop before Vorkuta. Despite the fact that the junction is formally the Chum station, from which the only “live” section of the transpolar highway Chum-Labytnangi departs, the local train “Vorkuta - Labytnangi” runs with a mandatory stop at Seyda, having unimaginable stops there for an hour and a half to two hours . The Vorkuta train stops here for 23 minutes, during which passengers storm the local store.

After Seida, the taiga ends and the forest-tundra begins:

Bridge over the Seyda River. In a few minutes the train will travel along it. Interestingly, all the railway bridges here are unguarded.

On the right along the way you can see the already familiar Usa River

The conductor brought a guest book. There was this mention in it. Drunk shift workers are not a myth!

And outside the window there is already tundra.

Because of the permafrost, the path is constantly swollen. The speed at which the train travels here does not exceed 60 kilometers per hour.

We were just driving somewhere there. The path is on an embankment that offers an impressive view of the local "roads" - ruts in the mud that a crawler bulldozer would barely pass.

Kykshor junction. The railway workers don’t live here; they all work on a rotational basis. Simply because it is impossible to live here - there is nothing around. Absolutely nothing.

Another bridge over some tundra river, of which there are a great many:

The Arctic fox crossing.

Basically, the name of the station says it all. No comments here...

This barn still remembers the times of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Federation, judging by the sign.

Finally the train arrives in Vorkuta.

The train is immediately washed from dirt and soot.

This is how the trip along the Pechora Highway ends. The highway itself does not end there, but goes to the village of Severny, where the Ayach-Yaga station is located, but there is no longer a public passenger service there. Our journey of 2264 kilometers is complete.