What it was like to travel by train in the USSR (PHOTOS)
Soviet trains were a universe of their own – with card games played to the rhythm of clicking wheels, the smell of strong tea from glasses in metal cup holders and endless heart-to-heart conversations.
1. 1966. Passengers playing cards in a compartment on the Trans-Siberian Railway. This photo was taken by American photographer Dean Conger. He visited the USSR more than 30 times and captured the everyday life of Soviet people.
2. Conger noticed the main tradition of long-distance travel: to pass the time, people played cards, dominoes and chess. 1966.
3. A waitress in the dining car of the Trans-Siberian Railway. 1975.
4. A railway compartment for guests and athletes of the 1980 Olympics. 1980.
5. For fans of winter fishing, the USSR had special trains that took anyone interested straight to the best fishing spots. These carriages were noisy, smelled of fishing gear and filled with tall tales about the catch. 1973.
6. The ‘Rossiya’ express train running between Vladivostok and Moscow – the longest regular scheduled route in the world. The dining car of this legendary train.
7. Chita Oblast, 1984. A second-class sleeper car on the Baikal–Amur Mainline (BAM).
8. A Komsomol (Young Communist League) detachment heading out to develop the new oil frontier, 1979. Songs with a guitar, stacks of magazines and faith in a bright future – the Komsomol spirit never waned, even on the road.
9. An elegant compartment on an RITZ‑class international passenger train. Moscow, 1977.
10. Stewardesses in the dining car of a long‑distance train, 1980.
11. February 1978, Irkutsk Oblast. The ‘Komsomolskaya Pravda’ propaganda train on the BAM. A performance by the propaganda troupe from the Tallinn Plant for the railway builders.
12. Passengers on the Trans‑Siberian during a stop in Siberia, 1969.
13. Pioneers looking out of the train window, 1937–1939.
14. Dmitri Shostakovich with his son at a window of the ‘Red Arrow’ train. 1966.
