Legendary Moscow-St Pete Red Arrow Express turns 80 yrs old

MOSCOW, June 10 (Itar-Tass) - Friday marks the 80th anniversary since
the launching of the legendary Red Arrow Express - a plush express train
between Moscow and St Petersburg, then Leningrad.
The train that left for Leningrad at nighttime June 10, 1931, was
painted in blue but it received the brand name 'Red' (which in Russia also
means 'beautiful' in addition to denoting the red color) for the elegant
exterior look of its coaches and the special quality of services offered
en route.
It was the first train at Soviet railways that had buffets where the
passengers could order meals right to their compartments, and one of the
coaches was fitted out with a call office where from one could make
telephone calls to Moscow, Leningrad and even London and Paris when the
train made stops.
First-class coaches with one or two sleeping berths and a washbasin in
each compartment were also introduced at the Red Arrow for the first time.
Owing to this fact it received the status of a 'brand-name train.'
The Red Arrow coaches were given their current coloring of wine-red
and yellow in 1946.
The express has made more than 28,500 journeys over the past 80 years.
For the past six of so decades it starts from both Moscow and Leningrad/St
Petersburg daily at 23:55.
It is widely believed that this original schedule was adopted at a
proposal from Lazar Kaganovich, the omnipotent railway minister and
Politburo member of the Stalin era. This extravagant timing made it
possible for bureaucrats to get travel allowances for an extra day.
Officials at Russia's national railway operator company, the RZD,
point out that the only break in the Red Arrow's cruising occurred during
World War II, or from 1941 through 1944 when considerable areas of the
European part of then USSR were occupied by Nazi forces and Leningrad was
going through the notorious ordeal of the 900-days-long Siege.
After the Siege was fully eliminated in January 1944, the risk of Nazi
air raids remained for some time, and that is why the passenger trains
were augmented with special flat-cars, on which air defense artillery
pieces were installed.
St Petersburg-based Itar-Tass reporters said Thursday the jubilee will
be marked Friday by a big group of veteran coach attendants of the Red
Arrow. Like many years ago, steam engines of the SU (standing for the
Sormovo Plant Reinforced Steam Engine) and the L (Lebedyanka) families,
and second-class compartment coaches will be in the focus of attention of
the railway veterans, who are expected to get together in the Museum of
Railway Technologies exhibiting these rarities.
At different periods of time, the SU and L steam engines would pull
the Read Arrow along the railway connecting Moscow and Leningrad and the
old museum coach would provide comforts to the passengers.
The steam engines became history on many railways of the USSR in 1957,
giving way to diesel-powered and then electricity-driven locomotives. The
coaches have changed a lot, too.
"I recall the day fifty years ago when I joined the coach attendants
service harboring a dream I would get on a Red Arrow crew some time," says
Lyudmila Solomina, an RZD veteran. "Before I managed to it, I worked on
trains servicing other routes - a job that took me to literally all the
corners of the USSR."
"We always tried to be real hosts to our passengers, the caring
homemakers," she says. "I'm proud to say we met really extraordinary
people there over the many long years of our work."
Lyudmila especially recalls a number of famous Leningrad-based
theatrical actors, whose names were known to absolutely everyone in the
USSR.
"We were on especially friendly terms with the stars of the Great
Drama Theater - Kirill Lavrov, Yefim Kopelyan and Yevgeny Lebedev," she
says. "They would often come the station late night after the performance
and would take a train to Moscow where they were taking part in filming
some movies. They the next day they would again appear at the station in
Moscow to take a return train after a whole day on the filming ground."
"We could often hear them say, well, the train is a second home for us
and many thanks to the coach attendants who are so hospitable," Solomina
says.
At present, the RZD has an array of plush trains cruising between
Russia's two major cities but the Red Arrow has not lost its stardom. The
scope of the regular passengers dedicated to it includes famous actors,
scientists, businessmen, and public figures.
Muscovites using the Sokolnichesky line of the metro have an
opportunity to get in touch with the atmosphere and history of the Red
Arrow even if they do not have time to go to St Petersburg.
The Red Arrow is also the brand name of a train cruising between the
extreme northeast and extreme southwest of the city. Decorating the inner
walls of its coaches is an abundance of illustrative materials depicting
the history of its long-distance surface twin.
The metro version of the Red Arrow was launched five years ago to
commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Sokolonichesky line - the first
line of the no less legendary Moscow metro.