“Cheerful Train” in the city of Minsk
The Children’s Railway Station “Zaslonovo”
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| Photo credit: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/ |
Almost
everyone in their childhood had an electronic passenger train or a
locomotive, put traffic signs, built tracks for it and played with it
for hours and hours imaging as if you were a train driver.
Being
an adult people already buy electronic toy trains for their children as
it also gives them an opportunity to return back to their childhood. In fact, it does not matter how old you are, whether you are a child or already a grown-up, toy trains attract all people.
If you want to return back to your childhood, hear the sound of an engine horn, the sound of train wheels again you must visit “Zaslonovo”
– the Children’s Railway Station located in the center of the
Belarusian capital. Despite its name, everything there is real:
locomotives with their wagons, and traffic rules, and train drivers, and
train conductors, and, of course, passengers.
The Children’s Railway Station “Zaslonovo” was opened in 1955. However, till 1971 it had been called the station “Park of Culture”. Why it was named “Zaslonovo” you can get to know about it later by reading some piece of information from the history of the Belarusian children’s railway that is given at the end of our Blogger lens.
"Zaslonovo"
The station “Zaslonovo” is a beautiful cozy and spacious railway station with its ticket windows and waiting-room.
Like any railway station, in “Zaslonovo” there is its own head and substitute. However, how it turned out that all the service staff from the head till a train conductor are children.
After buying tickets you will have to wait for a train a bit. You can do it in a waiting-room.
When you enter the railway station waiting-room you will see an operating model of a railway. There is a railway station, houses, trees, a lake, roads, bridges, and, of course, a moving train there. Everything looks real.
Except the operating model of the railway, there is also a small so-called museum which exhibits are models of various trains.
With a speaker they inform about a soon arriving train. And immediately after it the main platform of “Zaslonovo” becomes full of passengers.
A bit later a runaway locomotive with its six wagons appears around the bend. People standing on the platform are usually enlivened. As it is time to go on the train “Capital Express – Pine Woods”.
After getting inside music stops playing and a pleasant girl’s voice welcomes all passengers of the train and wishes to have a nice trip after telling a brief piece about the history of the Children’s Railway station “Zaslonovo” and interesting facts connected with it.
The train moves farther and farther and trees, roads, rail crossings sail outside the train window.
During your trip there are 3 stations: “Zaslonovo”, “Pionerskaya” and “Pine Woods”.
“Zaslonovo” is the main station where you depart and arrive.
“Pionerskaya” is a technical station where there is a control panel of the arrows and signals.
"Pionerskaya"
"Pine Woods"
“Pine Woods” is a terminal station where passengers will have around 5 -10 minutes and can go outside to go for a short walk in a beautiful pine woods, take photos, or just breathe fresh air and rest from everyday routine and the city bustle. After having a short rest you will hear the sound of a locomotive horn which means that it is time to leave a beautiful pine forest and get inside the train to return back to the main station “Zaslonovo” from where you have started your journey.
By the way, the width of the railway track is 750 mm, the power of the locomotive is 400 ph that is able to make the train go with the speed of 50 km per hour, and the weight of the engine is around 20-24 tons. The length of the whole route is 4.5 km.
Annually the Children’s Railway Station “Zaslonovo” opens on the 1st of May and closes for a winter season last Sunday of September.
Usually the railway station works according to the following existing schedule:
- in May (on Saturdays, Sundays including official days-off) is from 11.00 till 18.00;
- in June, July, August (on Wednesdays and Thursdays is from 11.00 till 14.50; on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays is from 11.00 till 18.00) .
The Children’s Railway Station “Zaslonovo” has got a very convenience location as it is situated in the center of the city of Minsk at Independence Avenue 86 which you can reach by metro train getting down at the metro station “Cheluskincev Park”. After your train journey in “Zaslonovo” there is a nice opportunity to continue your examination of the city of Minsk and visit one of the beautiful capital parks called “Cheluskincev Park” just like the metro station and there is also an opportunity to find yourself in a so-called paradise in the center of Minsk, we mean the Central Botanical Garden about which you can get to know more by reading our previous Blogger lens “Summer Paradise in the Center of Minsk”. Don’t lose such a chance as all these three wonderful places are situated in the same location.
"Train from Romashkovo"
As our today's Blogger lens is about "Cheerful Train" we'd like to end it by offering you to watch one of the nicest old cartoons called "Train from Romashkovo". Enjoy!
By the way, at the present moment the children’s railway is under some reconstruction or better to say under a wide scale modernization. They are planning to finish it and open its doors in front of visitors in a new season this year again. But how the modernized “Zaslonovo” will look like it is a secret. It will be a surprise for everyone.
From the history of the Children’s Railway Station
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| Photo credit: http://www.minsk.rw.by/ |
The 1st Children’s Railway Station in the world was established on the 24th of July in 1935 in the world of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. For the six prewar years, around 20 children’s railways were founded all over the former USSR countries.
The 1st Belarusian Children’s Railway was established in the city of Gomel in August in 1936. Unfortunately, during the Great Patriotic War almost all the opened children’s railway stations turned to be in the occupation zone and were destroyed during battles with fascists. After the year of 1945, the half of the children’s railways was restored and the building of new ones started.
However, they did not want to restore the 1st Belarusian Children’s Railway in Gomel as they had decided to build a new children’s railway in the capital of the Republic of Belarus in the city of Minsk. Already in autumn in 1954 they started its building. Schoolchildren of Minsk, young people, and, of course, railway men of the Belarusian Railway took part in the building of a new children’s railway in the city of Minsk. From Estonia they sent a locomotive 159-232.
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| Photo credit: http://www.minsk.rw.by/ |
On the 9th of July in 1955 a scarlet ribbon was cut by the minister of Education of the BSSR N. Kazakov. Hundreds of railway men, citizens of Minsk together with their children, guests of the city came to the opening ceremony of the Children’s Railway Station that was called “The Park of Culture”. On that day near a platform of the new station a small train consisting of 6 green wagons at the head with a locomotive was standing and waiting for its departure. Since that day the Children’s Railway Station “Park of Culture” has started its work and it has been working already almost for long 59 years.
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| Photo credit: http://www.minsk.rw.by/ |
However, in the year of 1971 they changed the name of the station and named it after the legendary Belarusian partisan and railway man Konstantin Zaslonov.
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| Photo credit: http://www.minsk.rw.by/ |
Konstantin Zaslonov and his brave deeds
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| Photo credit: http://www.21.by/ |
Konstantin Zaslonov was the head of the railway station in the town of Orsha and a locomotive engineer. During the World War II he became also one of the most active and famous partisan leaders among railway men.
Konstantin Zaslonov created a partisan detachment of so-called people’s avengers in Orsha region where he was highly appreciated. They became a very powerful brave partisan detachment that frightened German invaders a lot. During the three first months of the war, Zaslonov’s partisan detachment destroyed more than 118 enemies’ locomotives together with German soldiers and their weaponry. They used so-called “coal mines” that were normal mines designed like coal.
Fascists even put ad notes everywhere in the town of Orsha and Orsha region. They promised to give the reward worth of 30 thousand German marks to a person who would show the location of Zaslonov and his partisan detachment or who would deliver him dead or alive.
The commander of the partisan detachment Konstantin Zaslonov also trained and taught secret service agents showing them particular examples in practice. Together with them he went to fulfill responsible tasks. Sitting in ambush for many hours Konstantin Zaslonov taught his battle assistants an art of observation and how to distinguish enemies’ tricks.
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| Photo credit: http://z-pix.ru/ |
All the time Konstantin Zaslonov wrote his special military diary. However, all the notes in that military diary were stopped making one week before the heroic death of the commander of the Orsha partisan detachment. On the 14th of November in 1942 Konstantin Zaslonov fell in battle in the locality of Kupovat in Vitebsk region.
"Train from Romashkovo"
As our today's Blogger lens is about "Cheerful Train" we'd like to end it by offering you to watch one of the nicest old cartoons called "Train from Romashkovo". Enjoy!
Video credit: Whale Crane
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