Tbilisi Children's Railway
| Tbilisi Children's Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||
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.png) Route (in the left third of the map)
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| Route length: | 1.2 km | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 750 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Tbilisi Children's Railway or the Small Transcaucasian Railway ( Russian: Малая Закавказская железная дорога ) is an approximately 1.2-kilometer narrow-gauge children's railway in the Georgian capital Tbilisi . The line opened on June 24, 1935 as the first of the many pioneer railways in the Soviet Union according to official counts and is still in operation today.
history
Foundation and construction
In 1933 a group of railway enthusiasts decided to build a park railway with passenger transport. On December 28, 1933, the leaders of the Institute of Railway Engineering in Tbilisi announced their readiness to help the railway friends. They proposed building a 400-meter-long line with a gauge of 750 millimeters and with two stations, Pioneri / Pionerskaja ( Russian Пионери / Пионерская ) and Sicharuli / Radostnaja ( Russian Сихарули / Радостная ).
On September 13, 1934, construction of the line began in Sergo Ordzhonikidze Park (Серго Орджоникидзе началось, today Mushtaidi Park). Seven Komsomol brigades , each with thirty volunteers, were assigned to carry out the earthmoving work . The work was supervised by G. W. Akhalkadze, who was then still a fourth-year student and later became deputy head of the Transcaucasian Railway.
As construction neared the end, it was a challenge to find suitable rail vehicles. A two-axle tank locomotive was found that had been manufactured in Arnold Jung's factory (number 1721 from 1911) and imported to Russia by Arthur Koppel AG . The students of the Railway Factory School (фабрично-заводского училища) helped restore them. The three passenger cars had to be built by yourself: two twelve-seater with wooden benches for normal passengers and one softly padded eight-seater for special guests.
business
Until 1991, the children's railway was operated by students aged nine to fifteen, who drove the trains under the supervision of adult instructors and worked as assistants to the station masters, signal box operators, traffic controllers and conductors. On June 24, 1935, the first train with the 10-year-old engine driver Victor Sokolsky left the Pionier station. The train made 37 trips on the first working day and carried more than a thousand passengers. The operation was supervised all day by Kirill Papitashvili, the political director of the route.
Soon after, the main line was extended to Solnechnaya station (Солнечная), and a ring was closed at Pioneri station. The Msiuri / Solnetschnaja (Мзиури / Солнечная) station was opened on the new line. This made the route 1200 meters long. Since the Pionier station was not on the ring itself, but a little away from it, the locomotive had to be turned and moved after each trip. For this purpose, a track triangle was laid next to the Pionier station. During the Second World War, children grew tomatoes to be taken to military hospitals. Therefore, a new breakpoint called Junnatow (Юннатов) was built next to the property used for this purpose.
After the end of the war, the children's railway received the 159-205 steam locomotive, and for some time the old and new locomotives worked alternately. Subsequently, the locomotive А к -1721 was taken out of service and displayed on a pedestal in front of the Pioneer station. At the same time it was supplemented with an awkwardly built apparent tender. The historical locomotive А к -1721 has survived as a monument to this day. The steam locomotive 159-205, however, was shut down and scrapped in 1991.
modernization
In the 1960s, the children's railway was extensively renovated for the first time, with new station buildings erected at the Pionerskaya and Solnechnaja stations and a siding near the depot and one of the branches of the track triangle demolished. In addition, the butt tracks on both tracks at the Pionier station were shortened and the platforms were lengthened. However, this work was insufficiently thought out. The shortened butt tracks could not even accommodate the short steam locomotive А к -1721, not to mention the longer steam locomotive 159. As a result, the ability to perform a standard overtaking maneuver was lost.
The TU3-035 diesel locomotive was probably transferred to Tbilisi by the Riga Children's Railway in 1971. But it was rarely used because it was difficult to drive through the tight corners. It was handed over to the Donetsk Children's Railway in 1972 .
In the years 1987-88, the railway received the TU7-2044 diesel locomotive and several PV51 passenger cars. However, the wagons proved to be practically unsuitable for operation in the hot Georgian climate and were very soon replaced by open four-axle wooden freight wagons that were converted by hand. These are the wagons and diesel locomotives that are currently (2018) still in operation at the Tbilisi Children's Railway.
Before the start of the 1989 season, a further route renovation took place in which the second track in the Pionier station was dismantled, as it was no longer possible to use it properly since the renovation work in the 1960s. The second platform was built in its place. The depot and the track there were also dismantled.
Todays use
In the years 1990-92, at the height of the economic crisis in Georgia, the line was temporarily closed. It was saved from looting and was reopened in 1999, after being rebuilt, as an adult-run park railway .
Rail vehicles
Operational rail vehicles
- Diesel locomotive TU7 -2044
- 3 open passenger cars
Retired rail vehicles
- Steam locomotive А к -1721
- Steam locomotive LB-2 (M yr / 2) 159-205
- Diesel locomotive TU3 -035
- Pafawag PV51 passenger car
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Дмитрий Сутягин: Детские железные дороги СССР - История и современность: Тбилиси (Russian). Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- ↑ Bassa's Blog: About History - The First Children's Railway in the World. Published September 20, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- ↑ Dmitri Sutjagin: Children's Railways of the former USSR - Past and Present: Tiblisi (English).
Coordinates: 40 ° 47 '4.99 " N , 43 ° 49' 47.58" O