Back on the train, gang!

At some god-awful hour of the morning (4.30a.m or sommat like that) we were taken to the station by our guide Helen, to join train no. 4 to Ulaan Baatar. You know that feeling you get when you wake up early to go on a long journey, and departure is delayed? Well that's what happened here. The train was delayed by over an hour. 

We waited in the forecourt of the station, which was surprisingly busy given the time of day. Some more breakfast was obtained from vendors on the station. (We'd already been served some Russian porridge or kasha by mine hostess, which was very kind of her at that hour...but English taste buds do not respond well to melted butter and grated apple in porridge - particularly not at that hour of the morning!)

We had a brief chat with a young Indian woman travelling with her husband and her friend before the train swept in at around 6a.m. It was coooold.

The train was Chinese, with Chinese carriage attendants (provodniki) in uniforms and peaked caps. In our carriage the man was a friendly and cheerful fellow, which was a pleasant and refreshing change after the unsmiling Russians. The carriages were pretty much the same size as the Russian ones - that is, far longer, wider and more spacious than sleeper carriages in the UK. There are nine four berth compartments in each carriage, as well as an area for the provodniki to work and sleep. All carriages have a boiler or samovar so hot water is always available. There is a functional but basic lavatory at each end. 

The corridor is much wider than those on British trains, and the compartments reasonably spacious for four passengers. A short technical aside on the concept of "loading gauge" is called for. 

The track "gauge" is the distance between the rails. In most of the world it is "standard" gauge or 4 feet, eight and a half inches. The Russians (and also the Spanish) have to be different, and they use a broader track gauge of 5 feet. 

The more important "loading gauge" is a kind of measure of the cross-sectional area of the train - i.e how tall, long and wide a train can be without colliding with tunnels, bridges or trains going in the opposite direction on the other track. In most of the world this is quite generous, meaning that trains can be tall, wide and long. The UK has a very restrictive loading gauge - a consequence of having been the place where trains where invented in the first place. This means that British trains are very small and cramped - short, narrow and low - compared to Russian or Chinese trains.

The coaches were not air-conditioned, to our joy, which meant we could open the windows. However, only with great difficulty could they be closed again! The carpets in the corridor and in the compartments were completely loose and hence lethal! That would not even be legal in the UK - 'elf an safety.

The scenery, as dawn came on, was absolutely stunning. These few hours were more scenic than the entire four days of travel across the flat plains of Russia from Moscow to Irkutsk. After running through the woods and valleys, there was a switchback descent through curves to the lakeside, and then a long run along the side of Baikal. The weather was crystal clear morning, not a cloud in the sky, and the mountains could be seen on the far side of this immense lake. 

The rails here were not welded together so we were treated to a bumpy and comforting "clickety clack" train ride. Goods trains remained ubiquitous and continued to pass west-bound every five minutes. The stench of burning coal became apparent, and we found that the boilers in these coaches are coal-fired - like much else that is Chinese.

12:54pm local, in the valley of the Selenga river
An undulating, hilly or even mountainous terrain. Though the river bottom is lush enough, the heights look dry and arid. it is a picturesque country and the weather remains lovely.

14:11pm local
We have left Ulaan Ude, the last serious town in Russia on our journey. Interesting to note that the only place where any of us were asked not to take pictures was at Ulaan Ude. We have left the electric Trans-Siberian railway for the single-track railway into Mongolia and onto Ulaan Baatar, and are now being hauled by a large articulated diesel locomotive, the after half of which is emitting clouds of what my son as a very small boy used to refer to as "dirty horrible smoke".

As the train climbs up the river valley, the scenery, the vegetation and the climate are changing. Up here, the temperate mixed woods of central and eastern Siberia, the endless grassy plains, the vast swathes of silver birch trees, have given way to a drier, scrubbier land reminiscent of the western United States. You could film a Western here.

18:22 local
Passing through the Dead Marshes, it would seem..."a great battle, long ago..." The train is running through an area of river bottom marsh surrounded by low hills. The Lonely Planet guidebook does suggest that the scenery brings to mind The Lord of the Rings (though to the younger generation and those who wrote the guidebook that probably just means reminiscent of New Zealand...)

Here is a high town: some rows of sheds and some flats in the Soviet style. The surrounding vegetation, having changed from temperate woodland and green steppes to dry scrubby land, has g one green again as we have gained height. Now it is just grass. The temperature has dropped though, and there is 7/8 cloud. It is not as warm as I thought it would be here.

From Irkutsk this morning has been as picturesque and varied a railway journey as any I have made anywhere in the world.