Narrow-gauge railways in Russia

Main article: Rail transport in Russia

The Imperial Russian narrow railway track gauge was 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm), the current track gauge is predominantly 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in). In Soviet Russia, narrow-gauge railways were mostly common in forestry and peat industries in low inhabited places. Usually they have one main line and number of temporary branches. There was commonly a passenger service to villages and towns for workers.

As of the mid 2010s, a number of industrial railways survive in places with bad roads, but every year some railways are closing. A government railway operator, RZD, closed all owned common 750 mm railways, but still have a number of children's railways with standard rolling stock.

The most well-known narrow-gauge railways are Alapayevsk narrow-gauge railway (municipal passenger), Apsheronsk narrow-gauge railway (mountain industrial railway with passenger service), and Karinskaya narrow-gauge railway (suburban passenger private railway). Also children's railways are located in many big cities.

Kp4-469, Pereslavl Railway

Overview

D2-002, Sakhalin Railway

Snowplow, Apsheronsk railway

TU7A–3042, Kirov Oblast

Log train, Udimskaya railway

Log train, Belorucheiskaya railway

1067mm

• Sakhalin Railway. This railway was built by Japan who occupied southern Sakhalin after the Russo-Japanese War. The network was extended to the northern part of the island in the Soviet era. It was the last Russian railway in 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) and underwent conversion to 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) from 2003 to 2019.
• Kulebaki Factory Railway is located in Kulebaki.^[1]

750mm

• Alapayevsk narrow-gauge railway is located in the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Alapayevsk.^[2]
• Altsevo peat railway is located in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, closed in 2015.
• Apsheronsk narrow-gauge railway the largest mountain railway in Russia.^[3][4]
• Belorucheiskaya narrow-gauge railway is located in Vologda Oblast.
• Dymnoye peat railway is located in Kirov Oblast.
• Gladkoye narrow-gauge railway is located in Leningrad Oblast.
• Gorokhovskoye peat railway is located in Kirov Oblast.
• Gusevskoye peat railway is located in Vladimir Oblast.
• Kerzhenets peat railway is located in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, closed in 2014.
• Kobrinskaya narrow-gauge railway is located in Kirov Oblast.
• Konetsgorskaya narrow-gauge railway is located in Arkhangelsk Oblast, closed in 2018.
• Kudemskaya narrow-gauge railway has appeared in Forbes.ru ranking one of the 10 most beautiful railway lines of the world in the year 2010.^[5]
• Kushaverskoye peat railway is located in Novgorod Oblast.
• Laryan narrow-gauge railway is located in Leningrad Oblast.
• Loyginskaya narrow-gauge railway is located in Arkhangelsk Oblast.
• Lundanskaya narrow gauge railway is located in Kirov Oblast.
• Mesherskoye peat railway is located in Ryazan Oblast.
• Mokeiha-Zybinskoe peat railway is located in Yaroslavl Oblast, closed in 2016.
• Narrow-gauge railway of Decor-1 factory, is located in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.
• Narrow-gauge railway of Caprolactam factory, is located in the Dzerzhinsk, closed in 2013.
• Narrow-gauge railway of KSM-2 factory, is located in the Tver, closed in 2020.
• Nyubskaya narrow-gauge railway is located in Arkhangelsk Oblast.
• Pereslavl Railway Museum is located in Yaroslavl Oblast.^[6]
• Pelgorskoye peat railway is located in Leningrad Oblast.
• Pishchalskoye peat railway is located in Kirov Oblast.
• Pizhemskaya narrow gauge railway, is located in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.
• Ronga narrow gauge railway, is located in the Mari El, closed in 2020.
• Oparinskaya narrow-gauge railway is located in Kirov Oblast, closed in 2020.
• Otvorskoye peat railway is located in Kirov Oblast, closed in 2020.
• Sharya Forest Museum Railway is located in Kostroma Oblast.
• Solotchinskoye peat railway is located in Ryazan Oblast.
• Tumskaja–Golowanowa Datscha railway line, closed in 2008, part of the Gorky Railway
• Tyosovo peat railway is located in Novgorod Oblast.
• Udimskaya narrow-gauge railway is located in Arkhangelsk Oblast.
• Zelennikovskaya narrow-gauge railway is located in Arkhangelsk Oblast, closed in 2018.

See also

• Kambarka Engineering Works
• List of Russian narrow gauge railways rolling stock

Resource

• This site contains material of Russian narrow-gauge railways. uzd.spb (in Russian)
• A complete list of Russian and other ex-Soviet. narrow.parovoz.com (in Russian)
• «The site of the railroad» S. Bolashenko. infojd.ru (in Russian)
• Pereslavl Railway Museum. www.kukushka.ru (in Russian)

References

1. "Kulebaki Factory Railway".
2. "Alapayevsk railway".
3. "Apsheronsk railway".
4. "Tourist Railway".
5. "Kudemskaya railway Forbes". Archived from the original on 2014-02-03.
6. "Pereslavl Railway Museum".