This is the second issue of the Russian-language magazine for railway enthusiasts. The magazine is still published by a group of railway fans united in a mailing list 1520mm@egroups.com. The magazine is available for downloading (for free) as a PDF file, and can be freely printed and distributed unlimited number of times.

VLADIVOSTOK ON RAILS, by S. Sigachyov

Sergey Sigachev continues his amazing story about the railways of the Russian Pacific Gem City - Vladivostok. In this issue, you will find a detailed story about the past and present of the main railway terminus, and the track maps.

CHILDREN (PIONEER) RAILWAY OF BAKU, by E. Aliev

Children (pioneer) railways were very popular in the USSR. However, it's not that easy for them to survive under the new conditions in Russia and other former Soviet republics. This gloomy statement is confirmed in a short article by E. Aliev about the children railway of Baku (Azerbaijan).

THE LAST NARROW GAUGE RAILWAY OF THE APPALACHIA, by D. Zinoviev

In October 2000, Dmitry Zinoviev visited the last surviving narrow-gauge railway west to the Mississippi river, the East Broad Top railroad. The trip report is well illustrated.

PERESLAVL-VYOKSA-TALITSY, by A. Vershinin

The only private railway museum in Russia is well-hidden in Talitsy (160 km to the north from Moscow). The stuff of the museum, mostly volunteers, carefully preserve and repair narrow-gauge railway machines. The museum is surrounded by picturesque virgin woods, close to the historic town of Pereslavl-Zalessky. The trip to the museum proved to be yet another fairy tale for the authors of the report.

A STORY OF THE TWIN DIESELS, by O. Izmerov

Many railway fans (especially American railway fans!) sincerely believe that Soviet diesel locomotives TEM1 and TEM2 were blind copies of the American-born RS1 (RSD1), delivered to the USSR and renamed to Da and Db. Is it true? The article by Oleg Izmerov brings in a lot of details, but does not give a definite answer to the question.

THE DAY OF M62, by O. Izmerov

In the first issue of "The Semaphore", we published an article by Ivan Andreev about the genesis of the M62 Soviet diesel engine. Some statements of the article have been found dubious by our readers. Oleg Izmerov suggests his own alternative version of the genesis of M62.

TURKSIB: THE SILK ROAD OF THE FUTURE, by D. Zinoviev

This is a comprehensive story of the Turkestani-Siberian railway, written by Dmitry Zinoviev. The article tells about the history of the Turksib, its geography, and future perspectives.

RAILWAY MUSEUMS OF ST.PETERSBURG, by I. Kopayssov

This information is for those of you who come to visit St.Petersburg but do not want to confine themselves to the Hermitage or to the Russian Museum. There are a plenty of railway museums in the Northern Capital and in the suburbs.

PHOTO ARCHIVES, by A. Kondakov

Some photographs taken by A. Kondakov in one of St.Petersburg railway museums.

RAILWAY CROSSWORD, HUMOUR, CARTOONS, CLASSIFIED�

You really need to know Russian to decipher the crossword and to appreciate the humor of the anecdotes� However, the cartoons use no words � they are for everyone! C

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SOME INTERESTING PLACES IN RUSSIAN RAILWAY WEB FOR ENGLISH-SPEAKERS
(OUR ADVERTISMENT)

• "STEAM ENGINE IS" � the largest Russian Railways Portal, where World comes for timetables, maps, photographs, articles, discussions, advice and entertainment! Visit us online at: http://parovoz.com
  
  
• "THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY - WEB ENCYCLOPEDIA" � the various information about Transsib - geography, stations, distances, maps, cities, rivers, tariff scale and another. More than 1300 images in Photogallery! Visit us online at: http://www.transsib.ru/Eng/
  
  
• "STATION OF PHOTOS" � is including many various photographs of ex-USSR railways and, it's something special, exhibits of railway museum in Shooshary (near Saint-Petersburg). Visit us online at: http://vokzal.ivk.ru/
  
  
• "RAILWAYS IN THE BRYANSK REGION OF RUSSIA" � a virtual tour into the history of railways in Bryansk region, and, of course, you'll see historical and modern Russian locomotives and rolling stock. Visit us online at: http://www.admin.debryansk.ru/~press/TRANS/Trans1.html
  
  
• "MUSEUM OF BRYANSK ENGINEERING WORKS (BMZ)" � BMZ founded in 1873 as rail plant. Now BMZ is one of the largest machinery works in Russia and one of the leading manufacturers in ex-USSR, too. Visit us online at: http://www.admin.debryansk.ru/~press/BMZ/index.html
  
  
• "EMU PAGES" � the place where you can find out many things that you ever wanted to know about the electrical trains. All about Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) trains. Visit us online at: http://emupages.narod.ru/
  
  

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