I'm now in Moscow safe and sound. I enjoyed the train journey and would certainly recommend it. Talk about it being a small world. The first time I spoke to travellers was in Cologne station. They were waiting for the same train as me as they are doing a similar route. The Irish guy asked me where I was from so I told him Carlisle, expecting him to have never heard of it, but it turned out the girl he was with is from Carlisle. Bizarre.
The standards went down somewhat when I got to Warsaw. The East station I had to leave from was a proper shithole with no signs and nobody seemed to know what train was the one to Moscow. The journey from Warsaw into Belarus was one of the most bizarre experiences I have ever had. First off I initially had to share a cabin with this old Polish guy but as the train was empty he moved into a separate cabin. He came back a few minutes later asking if I had a condom. Unfortunately he could only speak a few words of English so I was concerned what he was angling towards. Fortunately he knew
how to say "Beautiful woman" and made the 'making love' motion so I worked out what he meant.
Going into Belarus got stranger. First we stopped on the edge of the European union in Poland to have our passports checked, then a few more army boys got on as if they were looking for someone. Then we went across the border which was swarming with military personnel and stopped about 500 metres down the track. What looked like half the Belarus army (most of whom had ridiculously wide rimmed hats on) got on board and a guy who looked like he was off Goldeneye asked to look at my passport and handed me a piece of paper, which I guess was some kind of Visa thing, but as I looked down at it he buggered off with my passport. I asked the next army guy that came along what had happened to my passport but unfortunately nobody on the train spoke English. Fortunately a young squaddie came back a few minutes later with the passport, although I thought I had seen the last of it. Then we went another 200m and some gypsy women got on board trying to sell
beer, fags and vodka (I suspected they were all full of chemicals which would make you go blind so I limited myself to 4 bottles and one pack of snouts, only joking mum). Then the train went back a bit, then forward again, and the gypsies got off. Then it went back again and forward into a massive workshop. An engineer walked into my cabin, lifted the carpet and , without saying a word, unscrewed something in the floor and took these huge pins out. Then they jacked up the entire train (and it was a bloody big train) so it was about 4ft above the bogies, did something with the wheels, and dropped the train down again! I've never seen anything like that before. Then there were some massive bangs which sounded like a train had crashed into us, then some more gypsy women got back on, then we went backwards, then forwards, gypsies got off, then backwards, forwards and then continued the journey. The whole thing took about 3hrs just to cross into Belarus.
I can't download any pictures where I am now but I'll try and find an internet cafe later on.
My cabinThis is what the engineer came and did in my cabin, without telling me what he was doing
My CabinThis was surprisingly cozy, although I certainly wouldn't like to share it with two strangers for a 20 hours.
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Send Private MessageI know everyone is wondering why the train had to be jacked up so I wil clarify it for you. It is due to the different gauge of tracks in europe and Russia. we operate on a 5" system whereas the reds use a 4" gauge to save steel. New wheels have to be added so the carriages are lifted, or "jacked up" to enable a change. Keep it realand you know where to ciome with any future railtrack enquiries.
Matt, I'm a bit confused but will you clarify how many times the train went forwards and backwards?
That's what I thought was happening, but that would also involve lifting the train onto another track, would it not?
Yes Stephen is spot on. I guess they lifted it off one set of bogies onto another or does the train carry 2 sets. If it had been the UK they would have vacated the train and the station while that was going on. Yes Craig ,we are losing sleep as well wondering just how many times the train went forwards and backwards
There seems to be a bit of hysteria developing these rail gauges (especially for trainspotters like Dad). I can confirm that Russian track gauge is 5', but most of Europe (including the UK) is 4' 8½". They must somehow widen the track as well to fit the wider gauge sleepers.
Russian track gauge is 5', but most of Europe (including the UK) is 4' 8½", so at Brest on the Belarus frontier the sleeping-cars are shunted into a shed, each car is separated and jacked up to have its bogies (wheelsets) changed. You remain on board while this is done - quite an experience..! ----Quote from a fellow traveller, that's what was going on apparently.
The different gauge of train track was also a very important factor in the defeat of the German Army when they invaded Russia in WWII. With Hitler's boys having to leave their trains at the border they had to rely upon horse, mule and man to carry their supplies to the front line and with the Russian winter being in full swing ... they didn't do so well with horse, mule and man ...
That's actually very interesting - I knew the cold weather caused problems but it could have been a lot different if the Germans could have used their trains.
Belarus' Flag
Map of Belarus