8 September

Success! I found at least one of the power points in the corridor which fits the 220 V round pins and so I can at least charge the laptop up.
I went to bed about 2200 last night and found the bed narrow and the mattress rather thin, but with the gentle and slight rocking of the train (the wide gauge must make it a little smoother) I found I was asleep quickly and just woke up briefly at stopping points (some were stations but some were literally in the middle of nowhere). I did wake about 0630 and decided I should get up – and then thought, what the heck, and stayed in until 0730. As I haven’t yet worked out all the arrangements, I had a quick wash with the wipe supplied from last night, then dressed.
To get my priorities correct, I first went out to the corridor, plugged in the laptop with my fingers crossed … and success! The charging light went from green to orange, so the laptop was being recharged. I started writing up my blog to have an officer in uniform (of what I don’t know, but he did say “S’cuse” so he must realise I don’t speak Russian. Also, the man in the compartment next door speaks some English.
No-one else was ushered in last night to share the compartment, so perhaps this too augurs well for the future.
Outside the weather is overcast and foggy.
I tried to find my way to the restaurant car, but couldn’t work out how to open the doors at the second carriage along. I did get the bottle of water (?) opened but it tastes terrible. I can see why the carriage supervisor looked reluctant to open it.
We stop quite regularly in towns. It was funny earlier in the morning to see a person walk up to a locked door, feel around and find the key, then open it up and walk in. Things are the same all over the world in some respects.
A little about the train while I remember and the battery is again charging. The locomotive is electric, as obviously is the line. I’m not sure how many carriages but at some stage I’ll find out. The sleeper I’m in is a double, as are all the ones in this carriage. One bed each side, quite narrow but still comfortable. In the four-berth areas, there are two each side, one over the other. There are ten compartments in each carriage, but one is occupied by the supervisor. The roads have flashing red lights for the trains, some have booms and at least one has a raised metal road barrier – no going through the red lights here, which probably would save a lot of lives if used in Australia. The compartments are warmed, but not hot – for which I am grateful. The corridors are not warmed.
The officers walking along appear to be Air Force, with most having wings on their uniform. It also seems that we have no more in this carriage yet – which is both good and bad, as I haven’t really found anyone I can communicate with yet. However the man next door seems to be taking every opportunity to have a smoke each time we stop. At the moment I’m not sure when and for how long I can get off the train and I have no desire to be stranded part-way between Murmansk and Moscow when I should be on a cruise ship on the Volga.
At least the procedure for starting seems consistent. An announcement, the ventilation system starts up, the locomotive whistle blows and the slack is taken up, then the air brakes hiss as they release and we move gently off. The most abrupt move is when we stop, but even that is smooth compared to most systems.
I found how to read the timetable on the wall in the corridor and we were stopping for ten minutes at 1152. I got off, had a stretch and saw platform vendors with dried fish, shrimps, berries, some breads and other standard fare (drinks and confectionary). I took some photos, although I’m not sure whether the answer from the supervisor was no from the platform but yes from the train or not in the station. One of the vendors put on a show when she saw me taking photos form the train.
When we started off I found my way to the dining car. There was a girl reading a Russian book who told me to sit down. I found she cold speak a little English and was the waitress in the car. However she wasn’t supposed to speak to the customers unless it was business, so after I had ordered a coke (R50, but still cheaper than in some Scandinavian countries) and my lunch (which turned out to be chicken with rice, a side salad and two miniature bread rolls (but at least white bread), she had to head off and, after doing some tidying-up work, then had to do her makeup and make herself look better for the customers.
The countryside we passed through was forest, mainly birch as the pine ceased being so predominant. There were lakes and streams, and as for last night, there were people boating and fishing on them. The towns seemed quiet and far les colourful than in the other countries around here. Individual houses were painted up, but in general they were plain unfinished wood. Most houses had some form of garden, though it looked to have already been harvested. Also, many of the trees had part autumn foliage.
At the next station the vendors were out in force. With small shopping trolleys filled with goods and more bulky items such as potato chip bags, clothes-pegged to the edge and dried fish being carried in plastic crates, it looked interesting. I walked along the train – only one “soft” carriage, twelve “hard” and one communal, together with a baggage car and the locomotive. We had started with a blue electric locomotive, 2 + 2 + 2, 4000 HP, 135 tonnes and a maximum speed of 140 km/hr. By this stop we had a red electric locomotive, 3 + 3. All the details were on the other side, so I can’t rattle them off.
After this, I had another bottle of coke from the restaurant car (at least they are cold there) and, after looking out the window for another hour or so (wonderful scenery), I retired to bed and listened to the iPod to try to get to sleep early as we have an early start tomorrow. I just dropped off a little when we stopped at St Petersburg. Here my individual journey finished, as I now had a cabin partner – a tallish Russian woman in a black coat suddenly became my partner. However, as she had obviously been out, she then proceeded to have a snack, then tea, before finally going to bed.