TU2-134 on the Dnepropetrovsk pioneer railway in October 2000.
Photo: E.H. van Gulden.
TU2-134 on the Dnepropetrovsk pioneer railway in October 2000.
Photo: E.H. van Gulden.
Dnepropetrovsk pioneer railway
This is the second-oldest pioneer railway in the former USSR. (The oldest one is in Tbilisi). The line opened in 1936. It is 2 km long and runs around the Globy Park (formerly known as the called Chkalov Park).
Originally, steam locos (amongst which class 159) and two-axle passenger coaches were used. In 1958 the railway obtained TU2-172 and several Pafawag coaches. Even after the arrival of this diesel locomotive, steam engines continued to work on the line. The second diesel locomotive (TU2-134) was obtained second-hand from Estonia in 1972. This seems to have been the end of regular steam.
Nowadays the pioneer railway is still open and both TU2’s (134 and 172) are still in service.
The pioneer railway is situated in the Leninist Komsomol Park and opened in 1972. The line is 2 km long and runs from north to south. It uses the trackbed of a former broad-gauge mine railway. The depot is situated in the northern station called Shakhterskaja.
When opened the railway posessed 3 diesel locomotives: TU2-023 (ex-Atbasar?), TU2-040 (ex-Volgograd pioneer railway) and TU3-038 (ex-Panevezys). The TU3 was dumped in 1976 already. But both TU2’s have remained in service until now.
This postcard from the 1970s shows TU2-023 in a colourful livery in Donetsk. Collection Paul Engelbert.
Evpatoria is a little town on the Crimea Peninsula. Just outside Evpatoria, near the Mojnaki Salt Lake, a pioneer railway was build. It opened in 1988 (or 1990?).
Evpatoria’s first loco was TU2-142, which was probably obtained from the Tjumen pioneer railway. Panevezys MPD handed over TU2-252 in 1988. Three passenger coaches were send as a gift by the Zaporozhe pioneer railway. Later TU2-227 could be obtained from Gajvoron MPD.
The pioneer railway did not have a long life. In November 1991 i.e. after 4 (or maybe even 2) seasons the project was already abandoned. The TU2s were probably cut.
This is one of the oldest pioneer railways in the Soviet Union. It opened in 1940 and ruins through a forest park in the northern part of the city. The line is 4 km long and runs in a more or less straight line between two terminusses.
From the steam engines used earlier, Kv4-039 has remained operational until 1990. The other steam locos, amongst which the Jugoslavian 83-040, have been dumped in the 1950s, when the line was dieselised.
In 1957 the Kharkov pioneer railway received the brand new (but non-standardised !) TEU3-001 alias TU2-125 as a gift from the Kharkov Transport Machine Factory. Probabaly it started working on the Kharkov pioneer railway in the 1958-season.
On 26 July 1964 TEU3-001 was photographed by P.H. Kiers. Collection NVBS.
It seems TEU3-001 and Kv4-039 have been the only two locos for almost 30 years. It seems that in 1974 or 1986 the steam engine has been replaced by TU2-054, at least for regular train services. It is unclear where this loco worked before. However it has been spotted at the Gajvoron main repair workshop in 1982.
In 1991 the brand new TU7A-3198 was supplied to Kharkov. Not much later TEU3-001 alias TU2-125 has been taken out of service. Maybe it was hard to find spare parts for this non-standardised member of the TU2-family? It was found dumped at the depot in 1996. By then, steam engine Kv4-039 was also still in Kharkov, but in 1997/1998 it was transferred to the Mikhailovka sugar railway where it has been used for special trains for railway enthusiasts.
Nowadys TU2-054 and TU7A-3198 are used alternately for the passenger trains on this pioneer railway. Furthermore, in 1999 TU2-025 could be obtained from the closed Novopoltavka-Vladimirovak line. It is probably only used to supply spare parts.
The Small Southwestern Railway opened in 1953. The railway consists of a circle and a turning-loop. It has a total length of 3 km and is situated in the Syretskij Park.
Gr-336 was the first locomotive to work on this railway. In 1957 also the prototype diesel locomotive TU1-001 was obtained from Kazakhstan. In the early 1960s the Karaganda region in Kazakhstan (Atbasar?) also handed over TU2-021 to the Kiev pioneer railway.
Around 1990 two new class TU7A diesels were supplied to the railway. Nevertheless the TU1 and the TU2 remained in service. But TU1-001 was set on fire by vandals in the mid-1990s. Unfortunately this historically important locomotive could not be saved. It was cut in the fall of 1999. In winter 1999-2000 many valuable metal parts were stolen from the last remaining old diesel locomotive, TU2-021. Technically, the loco was completely ruined and could not run on its own anymore. However it has been preserved as a static respectively rolling object for some time. In the Spring of 2005 TU2-021 was scrapped.
Nowadays the trains are hauled by the TU7A-s.
By May 2003 TU2-021 was not operational anymore....
.... and on 14 June 2005 the locomotive had been scrapped (photo: Dmitry Babarika).
The Lutsk pioneer railway was build 1952-1954. At first, the line was steam-operated. In 1962 Pafawag passenger coaches appeared. The line was not dieselised before 1972. In that year TU3-033 was obtained from Panevezys MPD. It worked in Lutsk only until 1976.
In MArch 1976 also TU2-149 was obtained from the Valmiera system in Latvia. It has been in service in Lutsk until 1998. It is not known what has happened to it. Since approximately 1997/1998 the Lutsk pioneer railway has used TU2-097. This loco was obtained from Beregovo MPD and has been overhauled by the main repair workshop in Gajvoron in 1996/1997 before it came to Lutsk.
The railway operates every Saturday and Sunday from May through August between 11:00 and 16:00 hours.
On 18 May 1951 a pioneer railway was opened in the Strijskij Park. Originally, the line was 1.9 km long. But in 1976 the last section was closed and only a 1.2 km long line remained in use. The depot is situated at the station called Parkova.
When opened, steam engine Kc4-027 hauled the trains, which were composed of wooden passenger coaches. Around 1970 more modern rolling stock could be obtained. The railway acquired metal Pafawag coaches and three diesel locomotives. The first diesel was TU2-087. It is speculated it arrived in Lvov in the 60s already. Previously it worked in the Juzno-Ural railway region of the MPS, possibly in Kustanaj. The other two diesel locomotives were of the Chechoslovakian class TU3. Both engines, TU3-039 and TU3-040, were obtained from Panevezys MPD in Lithuania in 1971/1972.
Since 1989 only TU2-087 and TU3-039 have been used. The season is from May until September. For regular trains TU2-087 is used. TU3-039 is the very last operational class TU3 in the whole USSR and therefore only hauls specials.
TU2-087 in the station 'Parkova' in May 2003. The loco has this blue-yellow livery since the 1990s.
Uzhgorod pioneer railway
The pioneer railway on the right bank of the River Uzh was opened in 1947. Until the mid-1950s former Hungarian rolling stock was used. But then the new steam engine Kp4-452 and Pafawag passenger coaches were supplied to the railway.
In the 1960s diesel engine TU3-042 could be obtained second-hand from the Teresva forestry railway.
The first TU2 did not appear before 1992. It was TU2-074 from Beregovo MPD. After one year it had to be dumped and replaced by TU2-018, which also came from Beregovo MPD. This bright red loco has remained in service until the end of the 2007-season. Before the start of the 2008-seaon the line has been closed and the TU2-018 and passenger coaches have been sold to an unknown buyer. By June 2008 the TU2 and the coaches were still stored in Uzhgorod, looking very dirty.
TU2-018 in Uzhgorod in October 2000. Copyright: E.H. van Gulden.
On 9 May 1949 the pioneer railway on the shore of the River Usti was opened. It is 2 km long and runs between the station Partizankij (1 km south of the main railway station) and the terminus of Ozernaja. The line was steam operated, at first using a type 86 and later a class Kp4 steam engine.
In 1973 Pafawag coaches and diesel engine TU3-034 could be obtained second-hand. The TU3 worked in Rovno until 1982. Afterwards it has been phlinted in a recreational camp for children of railway personnel in Alexandrin (just north of Rovno).
In 1982 the railway obtained its first TU2 from the Mikhajlovka sugar railway. This was TU2-002. It had been overhauled by the Gajvoron main repair workshop before it came to Rovno. The loco has worked here until 1991. Then it was replaced by TU2-137 (ex-Vapnjarka). TU2-002 is said to have gone to a museum in St. Petersburg, but it never reached its destination.
TU2-137 is still in use on the Rovno pioneer railway today. The trains run every Saturday and Sunday from May until August. they leave Partizankij station every hour between 11 and 18 o'clock.
TU2-137 with two Pafawag coaches in Rovno on 23 August 2003.
Photo: A. Porev.
The next year both the TU2 and the PAFAWAG coaches had received a slightly different livery. Here the train is seen near Partizanskij station on 31 July 2004.
Another picture of TU2-137 taken approximately 1 km south of Partizanskij station.
This line is situated on a beautiful location in the industrial area between the main railway station and the River Dnjepr. The line opened in 1972. After a reconstruction in 1975 it had reached its present extension of almost 9 km.
When opened diesel engines TU2-077 (ex-Riga), TU2-144 (ex-Tallinn), steam engine Kp4-456 and five Pafawag passenger coaches were stationned on the line. Because of the planned extension of the line, more rolling stock was needed. Therefore TU2-136 was obtained from Alsunga MPD in Latvia in December 1976. Also 5 additional Pafawag coaches and 2 freight wagons came to Zaporože.
Since 1975 two train compositions with both 5 Pafawag coaches have been in use. One composition had a red livery, the other one was blue. The red train was normally hauled by TU2-077, which was also painted red. TU2-144 had a blue livery and normally hauled the blue train. The reserve loco since the 1977-season has been TU2-136, which had a mixed red/blue livery.
In the mid-1980s the Pafawags were replaced by PV51 coaches from domestic production. Also a new class TU7A diesel locomotove was supplied to Zaporože. This loco replaced TU2-077. The other two TU2’s (136 and 144) have remained in service alongside the TU7A for some time. By 2002 only TU2-136 was still present and TU2-144 was being overhauled by the Gajvoron main repair workshop.
TU2-136 with class PV51 passenger coaches in October 2000.
Photo: E.H. van Gulden.
By 2002 TU2-136 had become a new livery.
Photo: Till Puetz.
In 2002 TU2-144 was overhauled at the Gajvoron main repair workshop. It is seen here in its new livery in Gajvoron.
Photo: A. Roosma.
