Trans Siberian Railway on Google

[domd1979]

http://www.google.ru/intl/ru/landing/transsib/en.html

Hellfire!

 

[Speicher]

How did you manage to find that, thank you so much.

I especially like the sound track of the rumbling wheels, and hope there will be some squealy flanges.

 

[Fnaar]

Cool! I've just crossed the Amur river (cheated, and selected that clip). Speicher, you can change the soundtrack too, let me know if you find any flanges!

 

[ianrauk]

brilliant !!

 

[domd1979]

How did you manage to find that, thank you so much.

I especially like the sound track of the rumbling wheels, and hope there will be some squealy flanges.

Me Dad told me about it earlier, he'd read about it in the Grauniad!

 

[Speicher]

Cool! I've just crossed the Amur river (cheated, and selected that clip). Speicher, you can change the soundtrack too, let me know if you find any flanges!

When it speeds up, there are no rumbling wheels. I suppose squealy flanges would only happen in tight spots. Plenty of room across Siberia I expect.

Squealy flanges always remind me of the mountain railways in Switzerland, like the one from Interlaken to Grindelwald.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Wonderful. Crosses the Volga in Yaroslavl', a town I have some very fond memories of. I've spent quite a bit of time on Russian trains, and I have to say that there is only so much tea one can drink. The view is often obscured by windbreak plantations of conifers, too, so there isn't much of a view. Fairly uniform pink or yellow neo-classical architecture in the towns too. It's the people who make it interesting - I remember coming back from Volgograd (Stalingrad) after some election monitoring in Kalmykia. I shared a carriage with an environmental activist and an army colonel and we had some rather wonderful conversations.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Anyone done the whole trip yet ??????????????

 

[domd1979]

Anyone done the whole trip yet ??????????????

Yes, but not on Google.....!!!

I did Moscow to Beijing in 2006 via Trans Manchurian route, had a 3 day stop in Irkutsk rather than spend 7 days on the train in one go!

 

[jonesy]

Was interesting to see what looked like members of the public apparently walking freely right next to the track just outside the Moscow station. Presumably arse covering health and safety culture hasn't got there yet. I suspect you don't get a patronising announcement about taking a few minutes to read the safety instructions after every stop...

 

[mr_cellophane]

Yes, but not on Google.....!!!

I did Moscow to Beijing in 2006 via Trans Manchurian route, had a 3 day stop in Irkutsk rather than spend 7 days on the train in one go!

I have done Khabarovsk to Irkutsk, Orient Express it isn't Irkutsk was one of the best places we visited. Lake Baiykal is a stunning place, but the big dam around there is damaging the environment.

 

[domd1979]

I have done Khabarovsk to Irkutsk, Orient Express it isn't Irkutsk was one of the best places we visited. Lake Baiykal is a stunning place, but the big dam around there is damaging the environment.

I quite liked Irkutsk as well. Trams were ace, worked out at about 11p a go if I remember correctly. Caught the bus from Irkustk to Listvyanka to have a look at Lake Baikal. It was the proper service bus, not one of the minibus efforts, and was the most bonkers bus journey I've ever done!!

 

[domd1979]

Was interesting to see what looked like members of the public apparently walking freely right next to the track just outside the Moscow station. Presumably arse covering health and safety culture hasn't got there yet. I suspect you don't get a patronising announcement about taking a few minutes to read the safety instructions after every stop...

Saw lots of people walking down the trackside with their shopping. At one of the stations have a fantastic picture of everyone bailing off the train, ignoring the footbridge completely and just going across the main line with all their luggage to the platform opposite.

 

[dellzeqq]

happy days - although the food (bread, sour cream and tea from the old girl with the samovar at the end of the carriage) wasn't wonderful - and there are a lot of birch trees in Siberia.

We went from Nakhodka to Khavarovsk in a train that looked as if it had been designed for Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton, and then on to Moscow, Leningrad (as it then was) and then Helsinki, Paris and Balham in trains that were increasingly everyday...

My abiding memory is coming in to a town signposted in Yiddish...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birobidzhan

 

[domd1979]

happy days - although the food (bread, sour cream and tea from the old girl with the samovar at the end of the carriage) wasn't wonderful

Try being vegan in Russia....!!! I took all my own food for the train journey, good job I did as I'd have been jiggery pokered otherwise. Hotel in Irkustk were extremely bemused at my dietry requirements.

- and there are a lot of birch trees in Siberia.

You can say that again.