Soviet railroad encounters

Traveling by train in the largest country of the world is predictably an unforgettable experience. The railway has always played a special role in Soviet Russia. It is not for nothing that one of the most famous 1918 revolutionary songs had an energetic refrain: "Our steam locomotive, fly forward/We will stop at the commune/ We have no other way/ We have rifles in our hands!"

Train attendant carrying tea glasses in podstakannik glass holders. Photo by Yuri Belinsky, 1971

Travel booklet in French, 1932

Oktyabrskaya Railway workshops,1939

"Lenin on the way to Petrograd. Heading to the dawn" painting by Semyon Aladzhalov,1960s

Riga Children's Railway. Photo by Thomas Hammond, Latvian SSR, 1958

David Bowie travelling on the Trans-Siberian railway. April 1973

Express. Photo by Arkady Shaikhet, 1939

Train on Chavchavadze street of Batumi, Georgian SSR, 1985

assengers of "Krasnaya Strela" ( Red Arrow) Moscow-Leningrad night train,1980s

"Do not cross the track under the carriages. Life-threatening!" Soviet railway safety poster, 1950s

Prison guards. Photo by Vladimir Skovorodnikov, 1990

"Morning at the railway tracks" painting by Georgy Nissky, 1957

Railway employee. Photo by Vladimir Rolov, 1980s

Parting. On the platform of the Leningradsky station, Moscow,1970

"Soviet railways. Travel by Soviet railway carriages" advertising poster in German, 1960

RT-23 Molodets Soviet Combat Rail-based Nuclear Intercontinental Missile Complex

"Conversation in a train compartment" painting by Zoya Odaynik-Samoilenko,1950s

Minsk – Vilnius – Riga – Tallinn – Leningrad – Moscow – Minsk "Byelorussia" excursion train,1960

Turbojet train. Cover of "Tekhnika Molodezhi" magazine, 1971

Train compartment. Kaliningrad,1980s

"Railways of the USSR. Directions and stations" reference book, 1965

Moscow-Vladivostok train, 1980

Travel poster, 1932

Moskovsky station, Leningrad, 1970s

Tourists arriving at Sochi station. Photo by Peter Marlow, 1981