In the spring of 2007, when the March drop had already passed, snow almost melted in the fields and warm sunlight revived nature every day, a locomotive tour of the Sonkovo - Vesyegonsk section took place. What is a locomotive tour? This is a run-in of a real "live" steam locomotive. As a rule, it is held at one of the inactive sites, with the invitation of a group of people photographing and shooting the steam locomotive with video cameras during the trip at points previously selected by the tour organizer - photostops. The Vesyegon tour, like most beautiful and "soulful" locomotive trips to the Russian outback, was organized by the chairman of the All-Russian Society of Railway Lovers Alexei Borisovich Wulfov. For the tour, a quiet picturesque section of the October Railway was chosen. And the steam locomotive was with Oktyabrskaya, СО18-2018, the name of the famous among locomotive fans of ТЧ-7. Departure from Sonkovo was scheduled for 9 in the morning of March 24, on Saturday. By this time, St. Petersburg lovers could get to this station in a specially allocated car attached to the train 607 St. Petersburg - Sonkovo, while Moscow lovers got to the Tver outback either by a leisurely train 602 by Moscow - Rybinsk from the Belorussian station, or by personal vehicles. The last way our little group took advantage.
We left Moscow in the early morning on Saturday. Quietly flew two hours to Tver along the dark semi-desert Leningradka. Tver, Volga bridge. A quiet, calm river, already thawed from the ice, carries its waters south. Beyond Tver comes dawn. The first stop was on the Bezhetsky highway overpass through the peat narrow gauge of the Vasilyevsky PPZHT. Shiny rails on a black embankment surrounded by a gloomy forest rushed exactly east, just where a bright red disk of the sun stood above the horizon. An awesome sight!
In Bezhetsk, the sun was already quite high. Half past seven. Cute provincial town came to life, met a clear spring morning. Having swam a little along the streets, we found a difficult way through the city leading to the highway we were looking for. And finally, Sonkovo is a large village of the railway junction of the October Road. Two single-track railway tracks intersect here: Rybinsk - Bologoe - Pskov, and Moscow - Savelovo - St. Petersburg. But if the first movement is more or less frequent and stable, the second train to catch is an event. A pair of freight, a pair of local cargo and passenger - this is the entire schedule set. But we are interested in this small road. Here we will not hurt anyone with a steam locomotive and photostops!
Behind the wooden one-story houses appeared a green station. We arrived on time at the beginning of the ninth. Having parked the "wazik" on a deserted station square, they went to the apron. And there life boiled with might and main. The cargo and passenger train Sonkovo - Pestovo with a diesel locomotive М62 was preparing to depart, in the eastern neck the sky arrived from Rybinsk 2ТЭ116 with a bulk one, and on the fifth from the station the smoke cloud was allowed into the sky. He stood with a composition of one classroom and eight empty tanks, steaming and hissing. Around were fans with cameras, an assistant driver with a large black oilskin. At the station, a bunch of railway workers in orange vests and two policemen marched. Yes, not often in Sonkovo such a "demonstration" happens.
While they greeted friends and acquaintances, the schedule trains dispersed, the tracks were empty, and our special train began to prepare for departure. He had to go to Ovinishche station without stops, so we decided to accompany him by car, taking pictures along the way. They went to the first photostop in advance. The shooting point was chosen near Sonkovo, two kilometers from the station, at the crossing. The railway here carefully climbed out of the gallery of Christmas trees, crossed the highway and went into the left curve. After a few minutes of waiting from the station, the characteristic sound of a locomotive cutoff was heard. It could not be confused with the grumbling of a diesel locomotive. Releasing white smoke flakes into the sky, the black steam locomotive approached the move, issued a powerful beep. Hissing, flew by, cluttered at the joints of the train. The procession was closed by a diesel locomotive ТЭМ2 attached to the tail. He was destined to transport a train with a steam locomotive back from Vesyegonsk. Not without interest, we watched how, in front of the steam locomotive itself, a surprised guy jumped out of the "lizard" stopped at the crossing with local numbers and began to remove the train passage to the cell phone
Smoke has not yet scattered in the sky, and we were already racing to the "Uazik." The steam locomotive is going fast, and we need to have time to overtake it to Red Hill station. There is no road along the railway line, you need to navigate the map. Having slipped Sonkovo again, we left for a broken country. Part of the path here lay asphalt, the rest was an uneven grader. On the grader, we lost a lot of precious minutes, but, whirling into the Red Hill, we managed to get to the passage of the steam locomotive along the old bridge over the Mogochu River...
Beyond the Hill it was easier, here the highway went almost parallel to the railway. The next photostop was organized at the crossing at the entrance traffic light of the Ostolopovo station, which met our retro train green, then in the picturesque S-shaped curve of the Ostolopovo-Ovinishche stretch. Finally, turning off the highway to a forked field road with huge full-water puddles, we arrived at Ovinishche-1 station. While the "wazik" made his way here from the highway, the train had already arrived on the main track, and measured opposite the cozy wooden station. Only the steam locomotive was quietly breathing, breaking the silence of a warm spring day.
In the outlet neck of the Ovinishche-1 station, track work was carried out, on the side track there was a track layout, on the arrows there was a business train with a 2M62u diesel locomotive. The departure of our retro train was postponed. Having found out the principle of further movement (and from that moment it was supposed to go with photostops), we decided to leave the car at the station and continue to go by train. Having thrown things into the reserved seat car, they began to wait for departure. And near the steam locomotive, talking about something, the instructor driver, team, travelers, on duty in a red cap, laid out. In the bright sun, the last islands of snow sparkled and actively melted, black wooden sleepers heated in the sun smelled with creosote. Finally, a green light caught fire at the exit traffic light. The steam locomotive puzzled over, hissed and with clouds of steam and smoke touched the train from the spot. The first departure was not real, but staged for photos and videos (on slang - "falstart"). The waiting lovers occupied the stack of old-fashioned sleepers, nodding in it the ideal point for filming, and hung on it like bunches. While everyone was busy with a steam locomotive, my wife Elena caught the moment, capturing photographers who were measuring in tension.
But everyone loaded into the car. They swarmed along the joints of the wheel, reached for the windows of the spring forest. The train driven by a steam locomotive went almost smoothly, with a light twisting characteristic of steam traction. Walked along a quiet railway into the sun-filled distance. The amateur brethren noisily talked, discussed the last impressions, recalled previous trips. Less than ten minutes later, as somewhere far ahead of the steam locomotive issued "three short ones," and the composition stood up quite sharply. "What kind of stop is this?" - comments were heard. We jumped out of the car to the snow. Ahead, behind the composition of the tanks, the steam locomotive was "smoked," before it the "two yellow" the entrance traffic light of the Ovinishche-2 post was burning. That's what the stop is. Familiar with the specifics of locomotive tours, participants in the trip, armed with cameras, have already rushed forward along the train. We must have time to get to the post and take a convenient shooting position.
The Ovinishche-2 post was a small wooden house located at the tracks. Opposite him, a branch to Vesyegonsk branched off the main passage. Track development is extremely simple: arrow, safety dead end, curve. The post was in a recess, which made it possible to remove the passage of the steam locomotive from a height, climbing onto the bugle. Some of the photographers were not high, and he saddled the telephone pole. And then again a long beep, and a smoky steam locomotive is shown from behind the trees, majestically approaching the arrow. A powerful pole of steam soars over slender bright green spruce into a clear blue sky.
On the Ovinishche-2 - Vesyegonsk stretch, the steam locomotive stopped several times at photostops, "passages" were arranged - the steam locomotive planted the composition of meters five hundred ago and, opening almost the full regulator, swept past the crowd of photographers, adding steam and soot to them, removed into the forest filled with sun, and then waited, participants while At the last "foot," we finally got off the train and, having finally photographed, waved to him with our hand. We did not want to hang out in Vesyegonsk, the best option was to arrange a small picnic in nature, relax on grass under the crushing of birds and leave after an hour and a half in Ovinishche with a cargo and passenger. That's what they did. They walked from a kilometer to the nearest stopping point of the 354th km, located near the quiet village of Lukino, settled on a dry thawed tumble, and laid a fire. The sun's rays played on the trunks of spreading birches, the buds swelled on the branches of the shrub. Somewhere under the embankment was a spring brook. Calm, peace of mind. And nearby shiny rails of the "wooden road" are winding in a curve - on wooden sleepers and sandy ballast, and soon a train will go along them.
And the cargo and passenger train No. 953 was not all. It turned out that our steam locomotive knocked him out of the schedule in Vesyegonsk for an hour. During this time, I was picked up by comrades passing by on the highway (they did not leave the car, but drove parallel to the train to Vesyegonsk) and planted in Ovinishche, where I got on my "wazik" and returned for the rest. You could, of course, not be in a hurry if it were not for the long journey home.
While I was driving, freight and passenger appeared from Vesyegonsk. It fully justified its name: a diesel locomotive М62-1746, three cool (one local, the second - trailed Vesyegonsk - Moscow, the third - trailed Vesyegonsk - St. Petersburg) and one empty gondola car. At the stop, as many as five passengers left the train, went to the village. The knock of the wheels of the dash, the Vesyegon branch again plunged into silence and calm.
And we finished this trip with a half-hour stop at the Bezhetsky Vasilyevsky narrow gauge junction near Tver. This time, the brilliant, unusually narrow path after the "wide-gauge" day led to sunset. The sun has already settled, only a narrow pink strip stood out above the black outline of the forest. She gave an unusual reddish shine on the rails. But five minutes passed, and this fire was gone. The sunset was completely extinguished, the small passage plunged into darkness. A busy, impressed day is over. Turning on the headlights, I drove onto the highway and, with regret, looked back, headed for Moscow.
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