Moscow Railway Museum: travelling through time

Around 50 vintage trains and rare items of railroad equipment are on show at the Moscow Railway Museum. Some of the treasured locomotives have starred in historical films. Visitors are even invited to ride a vintage train.

The oldest locomotive is the 1903 steam engine, nicknamed “Ovechka” or the “Little Lamb.” There is also a Soviet train which was one the most powerful engines in Europe in the 1930s. The collection ranges from German trains, captured in World War II to special-purpose railroad equipment.

Besides riding an old-fashioned train departing from a century-old station, the museum offers its visitors another show, with a locomotive driving onto a rotating platform. The device dates back to a time when trains could not travel backwards. While now it is done automatically, back then. several people had to turn a locomotive around manually.

Some steam engines were used up to the 1980s in Russia. Even today it's possible to get a licence to drive a steam locomotive, but the number of such experts is now decreasing.

Now that the days of steam locomotives are gone a visit to the museum offers a most intriguing experience and gives an unforgettable impression of time-travelling.