Category Archives: Trains

Construction fail at the railway station

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Marcus Wong

Recently I came across a viral photo on Facebook that showed a railway track dropping over the edge of a cliff, then continuing on below. So where was the photo taken, and why is the track layout so ridiculous? I […]

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Transporting spent nuclear fuel on the Russian Railways

Posted on September 13, 2018 by Marcus Wong

With a large fleet of nuclear power stations used for electricity generation across Russia, there is also an increasing quantity of отработанного ядерного топлива (spent nuclear fuel) needing to be safely transported to reprocessing or storage facilities, where the useful […]

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Circular station vestibules in Russia

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Marcus Wong

Russian metro stations are best known for the ornate design at platform level, but the entrance vestibules back at ground level can also be quite amazing. This is the original entrance to Park Kultury station, opened along with the first […]

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Kiev’s metro tunnel that is actually a bridge

Posted on August 16, 2018 by Marcus Wong

On the Kiev Metro there is a curious section of tunnel that doesn’t run underground – instead the concrete tube is carried over a deep railway cutting by a bridge, only to head straight back underground. Image by AMY, via […]

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Ghost stations of the Kiev Metro

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Marcus Wong

Hidden beneath the streets of Kiev, Ukraine is something unusual – a trio of unused metro stations that see train pass through, but never stop. Львiвська Брама (Lvivska Brama) Львiвська Брама (Lvivska Brama) is the best known of the three […]

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«Саквояж СВ» – inhouse magazine of the Russian Railways

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Marcus Wong

Inflight magazines are a common sight whenever you fly, but the Russian Railways also have give their passengers something to read on long train journeys – inhouse magazine «Саквояж СВ». «Саквояж» is the Russian word for a leather travel bag […]

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Builder’s plates on Russian-built trains

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Marcus Wong

A builder’s plate indicates who built a particular piece of machinery, as well as the the model number, serial number, and date of manufacture. Here are some examples from the rolling stock of the railways of Russia and Ukraine. ЭД4МК […]

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Setting sail on the Railklipper

Posted on April 12, 2018 by Marcus Wong

What happens when you send a train out to sea? You get the Railklipper – a vessel built by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways) in 2005 to celebrate the country’s maritime history. Photo by Edwtie, via Wikimedia Commons Dutch-language Wikipedia has […]

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Sacrificial buffer stops at Munich Hauptbahnhof

Posted on March 29, 2018 by Marcus Wong

Across Europe a common theme at major railway stations is dead end platform tracks ending at buffer stops, with the main passenger concourse behind. But there was one thing I didn’t realise – sometimes the buffer stops are designed to […]

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Russia’s ‘robotic fire-fighting train’

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Marcus Wong

As well as ‘conventional’ fire-fighting trains used to put out the flames anywhere conventional fire trucks can’t reach, the Russian Railways have also started rolling out a fleet of ‘robotic’ trains that can be used to fight fires in railway […]

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