Railroads and trains
appeared in the Russian Empire (and the rest of the world)
much earlier than automobile roads and automobiles. Free
railroad travelers started to explore Russia in the first
half of XIX century, and the peak of the railroad
transportations happened in the end of XX century. Now most
of the big cities in Russia and CIS are connected with
railroads and the total length of these railroads is about
Before, in previous
editions of PFT, various methods of traveling in
long-distance and local trains. Among these methods, some
implied deceiving and some were difficult to perform.
Now, in the
beginning of XXI century, these methods are not actual
anymore. Now we do not live in "hungry years", and in the
most of cases it is simpler to buy a tickets for a railroad
trip. Moreover, "fighting with terror" often makes it
difficult to travel in passing locomotives; ticket
inspections become more and more frequent in local trains;
new automobile roads, parallel to the railroads, are
constructed recently - in most of the cases, especially if
you have no money, it is simpler to hitchhike.
some people still need to travel forcedly by the railroad
with no tickets. It happens, especially at summer, that
there are no tickets left and you need to go somewhere
urgently; in other cases, e.g. at winter, you have no
clothes warm enough to hitchhike and (due to something) no
money, and so on. For such cases, this chapter is written.
First, you'll need
to memorize that you may use not only direct passenger train
for the trip ! You'll need to "travel dak" in your
direction, changing trains - long-distance and local ones.
Combined freight-and-passenger (Грузопассажирские),
mail-and-luggage, service (хозяйственные и рабочие),
freight and other trains will be also useful for your
movement, and sometimes the locomotive driver will let you
in a locomotive cab. Of course, all these methods are slower
than a direct train without stopovers.
We'll start the
review of railroad traveling methods with a description of
traveling in a locomotive.
Have you happened to
travel in locomotives of freight trains ? To do this, it is
not necessary to enter a college of railroad transport and
study for a locomotive driver. Hitchhiking of type II -
traveling in locomotive cabs - is still used, by both
travelers and local people, in distant regions, where almost
neither automobile roads nor local trains exist. On the
Baikal-Amur Railway, I have seen how 6-7 passengers entered
(with locomotive driver's agreement) the rear cab of a
locomotive, and the locomotive drivers said that it is not a
A widespread opinion
is that nobody would let you enter a locomotive, cause it is
denied. If you will try to enter a locomotive in a place
like Kursky train station in Moscow, you will even
strengthen in this opinion. You'll be recognized as a
Chechen terrorist or some other infringer and, most
probably, won't be allowed to enter the cab. All big cities
with over a million of population, and electrified railroads
connecting these, now are almost unsuitable for
It is clear that
nobody is standing on the rails, trying to stop a moving
freight train (although in some conditions it, probably, may
stop). The idea of the method is to wait for a suitable
locomotive on a freight station and to negotiate with the
locomotive driver during a stopover. You cannot start from
any station, but from a large one, that is (in railroad
terms) a station of train recoupling (or the one where the
locomotive crews are changed).
So, you're on a
freight station, where freight trains in your direction are
being formed. Attention! The location of the freight station
is often differs from the location of the passenger station.
You can ask the location of the freight station from the
If at the moment
there are no formed trains in desired direction on the
station, find an assistant station-master on duty (or a rail
traffic dispatcher). Anybody of the railroad personnel will
explain you how to find him. Дежурный по станции
usually sits at a large control panel in a room with «Посторонним
вход воспрещён!» ("Authorised personnel
only!") sign. Knock at the door and enter there.
- Hello ! Could you
tell when does the nearest train to Lopcha depart ?
The freight traffic
in the required direction may be of different intensity -
from one to tens trains per day. Meanwhile, you can find a
restaurant for the railroad personnel (exists on every big
station) - there you can eat cheap and tasty. Such
restaurants are usually open 24 hours. There are no
restaurants on the small stations, but the assistant
station-master on duty should have a small electric stove.
Ask for a permission to boil some tea; tell what an eager
travelers you are, try to make friends with the railroad
personnel - it may help when boarding the locomotive.
Simultaneously, keep your eye on the trains being formed.
On a station,
especially on a big one, you may be discovered by a guard.
He may try to prevent your movement and banish you from the
station. But don't run away from him, not to make him think
you're a terrorist or a railroad thief. Have with yourself a
passport and, desirably, - some certificate saying that
you're not just traveling for fun.
If you wearing an
overall, have a backpack and, in general, look different
from the local homeless - it is good for you. But you may
have no overall, certificates etc. : the main thing is your
calm, confident behavior.
When you see a
locomotive already coupled to your train, or a single
locomotive (moving as a reserve one) waiting for the traffic
lights signal - run to it quickly. In the locomotive, the
locomotive driver is on the right hand side, and the
locomotive driver mate is on the left hand side. You should
talk to the locomotive driver.
- Hello ! Could you
lift us to Urusha ? We're travelers, going to here and there
for this and that... - describe your nature.
If the locomotive
driver said "No, we're not allowed to lift!", try to
persuade him anyway. Remember, that the hitchhiking of type
II really exists ! The probability of a lift depends on a
place; more civilized station means more seldom lift, and
opposite. The passenger train locomotives lift more seldom
than the freight train ones.
When you have the
agreement, enter quickly the door that leads to the rear
section of the locomotive (if you weren't explicitly invited
to the front one).
In the rear cab
there are two (sometimes three) seats, often a guard, and
sometimes - another passengers.
While in the rear
cab, behave quietly, touch no levers. You can sleep on the
floor, putting a camping mattress there. Few times an hour
locomotive driver mate enters the rear cab, clicks the
switches and looks at the indicators. make friends with him.
You may be invited to the front cab - go there, make friends
with the locomotive driver as well. When moving from the
rear cab to the front one, be careful ! You shouldn't move
to the front cab without need - it is dangerous, you may
accidentally touch some 27000V device or touch a rotating
fan in the semi-darkness.
The freight trains
may go as far as few thousands kilometers, bu the locomotive
crew changes every 4-5 hours (250-350 km) - on every big
station. You need to negotiate with the every new crew
separately, if the previous locomotive driver wouldn't ask
for you the next one.
If the train goes
right direction, but the locomotive driver refuses to let
you in to the locomotive, ask the permission to get in some
empty carriage. When traveling in winter, avoid moving in
cold, blown through carriages, not to die from cold ! Even
in the summer it happens to be cold in the open carriages
(it makes sense to have some polyethylene film and wrap
the destination, where the locomotive or its crew changes,
repeat the procedure of asking to get into the locomotive.
If the next crew refuses you, get into a freight carriage
once again or, better, look for an assistant station-master
on duty and find out when there will be the next train in
When moving in the
locomotives,it is possible to move for 500-600 km per
day.When also using the carriages, you can go even faster.
But the actual result depends on your experience,
persistence, behAvior, and also on the degree of Czecheno-phobia
in given region. On some stations the railroad personnel,
scared via mass-media, recognizes any people wishing to
travel in a locomotive, as terrorists. Although, usual
hitchhiking is almost always faster; traveling in a
locomotive is a method for the distant regions.
In the earlier
editions of this book, following recipes were recommended
for traveling in normal passenger trains : buying a ticket
to the nearest station only, traveling on the roof of a
carriage, secret penetration to the luggage box (рундук),
bed linen box, coal box and another ones.
methods of hitchhiking have advanced far forward, and now,
in the beginnings of XXI century, you don't need to use such
AFT member, having
no ticket and deceiving nobody, travels on a sleeping place
in a carriage. In the same time not so smart person, also
having no ticket, travels on the roof of the same carriage
and suffers from cold, hunger and electric wire.
The best places to
board a passenger train are big stations, where the train
stops for at least 15 minutes. You must understand clearly,
which station you want to go.
Don't expect to go
to another end of the country from the first try. Think
about moving for around 300 kilometers, to reach, at least,
the next big station, where trains make a long stopover.
There you'll be able to change the train, if your friendship
with the conductors of the first one will not advance or if
your train continues in another direction.
There is a
trainmaster in every train. Without his permission, the
conductors hardly let you in. Ask, in which carriage the
trainmaster is (usually somewhere close to the middle) and
run to it :
- Hello ! Who is the
- I am. What do you
- Please, let us go
by this train at least to Tynda. We're travelers, going home
to Moscow from Magadan, and have no tickets (or money) due
It is important :
first ask, then argument. It is an essential rule, no matter
what you ask. "Please, lift us, we're travelers, going from
there to there." "Could you host us for a night, cause of
this and that". If you were refused after your first words,
the person you're asking has an opportunity to change his
opinion after listening the rest of your phrase, e.g. :
"Generally, we don't lift, but if you're travelers - get
in." Or : "Generally I don't host people now, but if you
have no other place to go - come here.".
In contrary, if you
first delaying, holding things up, telling who you are and
where you're from, and then suddenly ask something, and
you're refused - you have nothing to say, and you have to
You may offer to do
some cleaning in the carriage or do some other service
tasks, which are not always done by the conductors
While in the
carriage, make friendship with the conductors, the police
escorting the train and other officials. If they decided to
make you get out - e.g. believing that the inspectors will
come soon - leave confidently and don't try to stay for
longer, than you're allowed to, hiding in the carriage.
If the chief
conductor hasn't let you it, go and ask the locomotive
Remember ! You have
to look different from local people and all kinds of
homeless people, who are doing the same thing that you do -
trying to get to some place for free. You have to cause
curiosity and interest of the train personnel, make them
want to chat with you - and then, in many cases, you will
reach the success.
For the railroads
travels, as well as for all other kinds of travels, a Road
Certificate is very useful.
Before starting the
trip, print (or ask your friends to print), using a computer
or even a typewriter, a paper saying that this person is
going that route, and asking to help him in his movements
etc. Attach to this paper your photograph, put some seal -
of your employer, university, school, marie... - on it, and
the Road Certificate is ready. Here's an example.
Novgorod Club of Hitchhikers.
172600, Novgorod, Mira str., 9,
A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION.
The presenter of this letter,
Ababakov Artur Afanasievich, is a participant of an
international expedition "Via Russian forests and train
stations", organized by the Novgorod Club of Hitchhikers
The route is : Veliky Novgorod -
Chudovo - Malaya Vishera - Tikhvin - Lodeynoe Pole -
Olonets - Chimkent - Moscow. The purpose of the
expedition is the exploration of the history and
investigation of the current state of the train
stations, fields, rivers and roads of the Russian
NCH asks the transport personnel,
police and local officials to make assistance to the
participant of the expedition.
Signature, stamp, date.
A well-done Road
Certificate will help you not only when traveling in a
locomotive or a train, but also when entering a border zone
(and border zones cover huge part of the area of Russia), a
national park or some other place with the restricted
access. Also it can help in case of being bothered by the
police or other officials.
'civilized' regions the lift is worse than in distant ones,
but general increase of the railroad traffic will even
increase your speed. While on the Baikal-Amur Railway, in
average, 2-3 trains pass per day, on the Trans-Siberian
Railway the interval between the trains is one hour or even
shorter. Thus, you will move faster.
Some local trains in
Siberia has a "carriage for homeless" - a platform or a
heated freight carriage, used by the local people,
fishermen, drunkards and tourists without payment. But it
can be only used in summertime - it is too cold there at
I'll mention that it
is quite exhausting to travel via railway in the Central
Russia - you need to move all the time from one train to
another. Of course, if you have money and there are tickets
in the ticket office, it is simpler to buy a ticket and
don't bother. And, if you don't want travel in 'civilized'
way, but want to move fast pleasantly, it is simpler to use
normal hitchhiking with the automobiles.