Good day! Dear Reader!
From 1985 to 1987, I served in Soviet army... Namely, in the railway troops. Then I did not think that I would get into these troops. And did not assume that they exist. When passing the commission in the military registration and enlistment office, many of us were previously enrolled in the missile, border, construction, airborne troops ... And they did not hear about the railway. It so happened that the majority got there. Now I cannot say for sure why this happened. But that's how it happened.
I would like to tell you about how I served on the Baikal-Amur Mainline - BAM. Many have heard about this construction site of the century. But they hardly know what BAM is. I am very sorry that everything there fell apart due to perestroika. I will also note that I do not regret that I have been there, in spite of any difficulties that were. As elsewhere and everywhere I was lucky to meet good people there. I will try to remember about them, whom I knew and remembered. Many thanks to those commanders who were in the unit in which I served. Major Sachenko Leonid Grigorievich - deputy chief of staff of the unit. Probably about him we can say that he is a man with a capital letter. Very strict, but at the same time fair. Syvorotkin Alexander Nikolaevich (at the time when I served he was still a major, but during the correspondence, after the dismissal, I learned that he had been awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel). A person with a firm and tough character. What I remember is that he is creepy, you know? I smoked a LOT. Words cannot describe it. You should have seen it. I would especially like to mention our platoon Viktor Fedorovich Medvedchuk, who was later awarded the rank of senior warrant officer after my dismissal. He commanded our platoon (at first it was a security platoon, then after disbandment - a support platoon). Very strict! I have always strived to ensure that cleanliness and order reigned in our barracks. And I think he did it.
I want to say in advance that in my memories I will not use conversational speech. This is due to the fact that after such a long period of time it is impossible to convey them word for word. And roughly - I don't want to. And what I will write about is all the real events that took place in the brigade battalions of military unit 40976 (this was our brigade - the higher military unit) in the village of Verkhnezeysk, Zeisky district of the Amur region.
But a little background to how I got to BAM. In 1985 I finished the 2nd year of the Glazov Pedagogical Institute (Faculty of Physics and Mathematics). And on one of the clear spring days, all of us guys were urgently summoned from a lecture to the military enlistment office. We had to stay there for a long time. We were warned that in May we would be drafted into the ranks of the USSR Armed Forces. Nobody was happy about it. But no one showed a view. Including me. It was April 1985. And our task was to pass the exams quickly. And the exams were in pedagogy, general physics, philosophy. My friend and classmate Dima Fedorov and I began to "storm" these subjects. Not even all the lectures and practical exercises have been completed yet. And I will tell you that in general, everyone treated us with understanding. Only officially I had to pass an exam in pedagogy. And so, when everyone saw our agenda, they rated "GOOD".
On May 3 we were summoned to the military registration and enlistment office and handed summons for May 11. And all these exams were from May 3 to 10. Since I lived 23 km from the city in another area, I checked into the military registration and enlistment office and went home. There were escorts at home. For some reason I associate this woman with the songs of the "Yalla" group. There was such a group. If, for example, I hear songs performed by this group, then everything is immediately remembered. On May 11, 1985, I boarded the Yar-Izhevsk train. My fellow students were already there. Because they sat down from the city of Glazov. Earlier. We arrived at the collection point in Izhevsk (the capital of Udmurtia). I remember very well the dining room, where we were immediately sent. The food was very good. We hung our duffel bags on hangers that were installed around the parade ground. During the day we were forced to march. Basically, these were sergeants who arrived at the assembly point with the "buyers". It was all very dark. I would not want to be there again. For the night we were herded into a room in which there was nothing. Bare walls and painted floor. We went to bed right on the floor. Morning. One can imagine the state of a person who for the first time "slept" on the floor, where there is no soft pillow, blanket ... Awful! Yes. There were also such things. The sergeants built us and asked to lay out all the things from the duffel bags. You can imagine the sergeants who like big people walked along the line and took away "favorite" things-products.
But to our surprise, it all ended quickly. Already at noon we were lined up on the parade ground and, having been put on buses, were taken to the railway station. We got on the train and drove off. Everyone thought about where they were taking us. The fact is that at the institute they always frightened us that they would be taken to Afghanistan. Because at this time, it was just the height of hostilities in Afghanistan. But, fortunately, when we learned that we were going east, we calmed down a bit. Later we learned that we were going to the Amur Region.
We arrived in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg). We were dropped off the cars and taken to the airport. Not far from the take-off field, there were tents in which there were bunk beds. The first time I saw then these bunk beds. We were there for exactly one day. There were also negative aspects. The boys took food and things from each other. In general, this is not a pleasant memory. And at night we were put on a Tu-134 plane. Again, this was news to me. Flight in an airplane. I have never flown before this time. We were fed there too. Liked. When I went to the toilet, I accidentally saw the pilots' office and the Earth appeared before my eyes. It's dark all around, and the sun rises on the horizon. It was very beautiful.
We arrived in Irkutsk in the morning. From Irkutsk by train. For half a day we passed Lake Baikal. There was still ice. Highly beautiful places... For some reason I have no special memories of this "piece". Apparently there was nothing memorable. We reached the Skovorodino station. This is the station from which the "up" branch goes to Tynda and another further to Vladivostok. We were all put on a passenger train and went to Tynda. We arrived in Tynda at night at 2.00. And we were all taken to some club. They planted them to watch a movie. Alas! I don't remember the name anymore. But the film was about the war. But practically nobody watched the film. Because everyone wanted to sleep. This is how I first began to comprehend a new type of sleep "Sitting". In the morning they put me on the train again, and we drove on. I don't know how long we drove, but we got to the Deepkun station. Before my eyes, the Deepkun station stood like a settlement with several high-rise buildings, a new store and an unfinished station. We all went straight to the store. We bought some food and ate it heartily. We stopped at an unfinished train station. Probably it would be wrong if I say an unfinished station. In principle, there was already a light inside. There were no other people (civilians). There were no seats, the cash desks were not working yet. Apparently, this station was about to be opened. Already there were a lot of recruits at this station. Here I felt what "fellow countryman" means. And it doesn't matter from one city, town or village. Even if you are from neighboring Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Perm, Kirov regions, you are already a "fellow countryman". And the soul rejoices. And there were already Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Chechens, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tajiks ... It was very surprising to see the clothes in which the recruits from southern republics... Some kind of dressing gowns, skullcaps and all that. It was just interesting. Because before the army, I practically did not go anywhere (not counting Krivoy Rog in 1980 and Moscow). Therefore, a lot for me was unknown and a little unusual. Despite the fact that they all seemed to be of the same draft, there were clashes based on nationalities. And Udmurtia and I kept together. And it helped all of us.
And our next trip has already continued in the teplushki. This is a covered wagon with a corner for the escorts (warrant officer and sergeants). As a heating stove. And there were about 30 of us in this heating house. The train was moving very slowly. This is understandable. If even now they are not moving along the BAM at high speeds, then even more so. The road was not electrified. Therefore, while we were driving, we heard some people walking and jumping on the roof of the carriage. At first, we did not understand what it could be. But at night we were stopped at a stop. Doors open. And there are three soldiers. It's dark, almost nothing is visible. They quickly jumped into the carriage. They had belts in their hands. The end of the strap is wrapped around the right hand. And the plaque sags at the other end. And they started swinging these belts. They began to take them out of the carriage one by one and search the money. But it didn't last that long. I don’t know what moved us, but at once they took the picket fence, which was intended as firewood and, jumping out of the car, gave it to these old men. And they kind of ran away. In the meantime, we got into the car again and closed. One circumstance amazes me now. Why didn't our escorts do anything. They were all this time in their corner. But at the same time, I imagine that they were practically powerless to do anything. And so we averted ourselves from everything. The train started moving. And we still heard walking on the roof for a while. Then everything was quiet. Now I think that perhaps we made a stop at some station where soldiers were serving (meaning on the highway). Then I already knew that along the BAM route there were small stations where the soldiers did their service. It is not necessary to understand the word station as any settlements. Basically it was a free-standing teplushka (trailer), where there were siding. Arrows. It seems that these soldiers also wanted to "rob" us. But it may not be so.
Morning. We, seeing the rays of the sun, opened the doors. And we drove all the time, admiring the nature that met us at the BAM. We arrived at the Zeya reservoir. There is a bridge over the reservoir with a length of about 2 km. The reservoir was still covered with ice. In general, the ice melts there towards the middle, end of June. When we passed the bridge, the train stopped. We were dropped off. Sun was shining. It was very warm. I even "wanted to live" after everything. We were all taken to the Fokine battalion. This is in honor of the name of the battalion commander. In general, all parts had such names. "Suleimanovo", "Ugarovo", "Almazovo", "Syvorotkino" ... And so we were taken to the club. The club was large and spacious. There was nothing there. There were several tables, several soldiers at the tables. We realized that now we will be given new clothes. Our accompanying warrant officer said that you can collect the hats and send them back home if you wish. Well, we are so naive, we passed everything. He left. And we never saw him again. But we still remained in our clothes. We were shown a place where to throw our clothes. Some guys started to tear their clothes and throw them there. And everyone threw off everything. Jackets, shirts, sweaters, trousers, underpants, swimming trunks, socks and shoes. And each of us approached the standing soldiers completely naked. At first, they gave out panties and a T-shirt, then cotton, tarpaulin boots, belts and caps. Yes, by the way, you still had to say your correct size so that they would give you clothes for you. There were also those who had no idea what size of shoes and clothes they wear. But, somehow then everything was resolved. Here. I also forgot, they gave out the famous footcloths. And what about in the army without them? And moreover, one had to be able to reel them. And so we, having put on all these unusual clothes, went to the soldiers' bath. We washed and dressed again. It was very unusual in these clothes. Cotton brand new and tough. We walked there like people who had sacks thrown over them. We were in this part for about 1 week. What do I remember there? The first time was taken to the dining room. On breakfast. We were surprised that there were pots on the tables, and there was semolina. No, it was not semolina. And mashed potatoes. It just looked like semolina. It was there that we first met the powder (food), from which mashed potatoes were made. And later there we were fed potatoes, which were cut into long dried parallelepipeds. They were in tin cans. Usually at that time, jam was sold in such banks. But there were dried potatoes here. To be honest, I got very tired of it for 2 years of service. Probably not because such potatoes, but because the cooks did not cook well. If they soaked them properly in the beginning, then the taste would be much better. And this morning there were pieces of butter on all the tables. The sergeants were very surprised at this circumstance. They stood and laughed that, they say, we'll see what happens tomorrow. And they were right. Then there was never oil on our tables at breakfast. For two years, the menu remained practically unchanged. In the morning a piece of butter, bread, porridge (millet, buckwheat, pearl barley, mostly with stew), coffee. I want to talk about coffee separately. It was just called that. It was a coffee drink. And how they cooked !!! They pour water into the cauldron, pour this drink and, the culmination of cooking ... open condensed milk and immediately throw it into this cauldron, without even tearing off the paper. All this is boiling and it seems like nothing. Usually soup was served for lunch. For the second also porridge with stewed meat or (rarely) fresh meat. The third is compote. Dinner. Here is the potato that I already mentioned and the fish. The fish was supposed to be fried. But the cooks did not want to bother with this, and they often broke the electric frying pan. And they just cooked fish for us. They cooked it very interestingly. Take frozen fish in a hotplate and put it in boiling water in a kettle. That's all. So much for bon appetit. In the evening there was always tea at dinner. It happened that the bakery broke down. Then we were given loaves of alcohol instead of bread. They were all in plastic bags, treated with alcohol and tightly closed. In principle, they were as fresh.
Well. Here's a little distracted from the topic. There were old servicemen in this unit. They kept guarding us at the cafeteria all the time to take the belts from us. And many, when leaving the dining room, fastened belts on their naked bodies under cotton. But they guessed that we were doing this. And they lifted the cotton and took it away. This was the first day. But, then, having seen such a thing, our platoon commander collected the belts for a while. And we went without belts. I remember the following events there. Work in the sawmill. We helped pull out the boards, roll up the logs, and carry out the shavings. We worked in a warehouse. I don't remember what we did there. But it was good there. Calm down. Nobody pulled. And once they sent me to the headquarters. They said that some boss was coming, so everything should be shiny. And we worked even after lights out.
Various training sessions... Combat, political training. And everything else. I liked to study in Lenin's room when there was a theoretical part. You sit and relax from everything.
Once I do not remember why, but our warrant officer arranged a showdown. I threw everything out, beds, bedside tables. Everything was scattered. I also had my Komsomol ticket lying on the floor. Now I think that in this way they tried to scare, or rather, to keep everyone. I don't know if this is right or not. Can such actions be justified? I can’t say yes, and I don’t want to speak. They, too, could be understood.
I remember that as part of the exercise, they lifted us up at 24.00, put us in cars and took us to the track. We stopped near a small bridge. A train came up. There were cobblestones that were lined with bridges. So we were forced to unload and line this bridge. I still remember this moment. We sat down to rest and talked something with one guy. Now I do not remember his name. But we counted how much we still have to serve. It was over 23 months old. But we reassured ourselves that there was already a beginning. Not knowing what will happen next. At 3.00 am we finished work. But there was no car. And we went back on foot. Where by running, where by step. We got there at about 5 o'clock in the morning. And we managed to sleep for another hour before getting up.
I also remember one such episode. We were forced to run to check if we had wound the footcloths correctly. Out of 30 people, one guy had blood all over his leg. When he took off his boots, it was a very terrible phenomenon.
And one guy was simply fired. I don't know how he succeeded, but the fact remains. The fact is that he could not march in the ranks with everyone. They gave the commands "Levoy", "Levoy" ..., and all the time he raised the wrong leg. This is what I remember. But maybe he had some other deviations. I don't know that anymore. But he was discharged. And can you imagine? What was my condition. You just had to think that a person is going HOME !!! And I have to go 730 days in boots.
Then a week later we were sent to battalion 51560 (Almazovo). Where I took the oath and completely completed the Young Fighter Course. This is another story. To be continued.
I can write to the address
Vostochny BAM is a section of the railway from Tynda to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. This site, in general, is not as beautiful as the western one (from Lena to Tynda), but, nevertheless, it will be of interest to travelers, so you should not neglect it. Some sections of the eastern BAM were built by prisoners. During the Great Patriotic War some of the rails were removed and sent to the west for military needs.
If the western BAM is sparsely populated, the eastern one is practically uninhabited. Between Tynda and Komsomolsk, which is 1469 km, there are only a few urban-type settlements. The largest of them is Fevralsk (it even seems to have the status of a city), located approximately in the middle of the site.
So, on the evening of August 2, the 963Z cargo-passenger train Tynda-Komsomolsk-on-Amur departed from Tynda and headed east towards the Amur.
For some time (to the Bestuzhevo station, this is about 30 km from Tynda), the AYAM - Amuro-Yakutskaya highway runs parallel to the BAM.
Currently, the road has been built to the Tommot station, several hundred kilometers and a bridge across the Lena are left to Yakutsk.
Then AYAM goes to the left - to the north, towards Yakutsk.
We passed the unremarkable Dzhelingra station, 45 km from Tynda.
A little more nature in the north of the Amur region. One of the photos shows the Gilyuy river.
The Marevaya station and the tiny station village were built by residents of the Tula region.
Marya is called a swampy area covered with sparse oppressed larch forest, interspersed with areas of treeless swamps. In our country, this type of natural community exists only in Eastern Siberia and the Far East of Russia. When the BAM was being built, temporary roads made of logs were laid along the yards, along which material was transported and dragged.
Evening came after Mareva.
Unfortunately, the Zeya reservoir was moved in the middle of the night. By the way, it cannot be seen from the train window during daylight hours and when moving back from Komsomolsk to Tynda.
In the morning, an absolutely flat plain covered with taiga and numerous rivers stretched outside the window.
Recently torrential rains were observed here, many rivers overflowed their banks, the Zeya reservoir turned out to be overflowing. To avoid the tragedy, it was necessary to drain the water and flood a number of settlements. This is a compulsory measure aimed at preventing the dam from breaking, which could have led to a real tragedy.
As a result of the rains, the Selemdzha River overflowed its banks.
Fevralsk, parking 31 minutes. More than half of the population of the train left the train, the train remained practically empty.
The station building from the side of the station square.
There is also a bus station here, most of the buses are tied to the arrival time of the 963/964 train. A bus-groove drove up to Blagoveshchensk - the capital of the Amur Region, about 400 km to it, about 7 hours to go. The groove was almost to the eyeballs, there were many standing, I hope that they do not need to finish.
The central part of the city of Fevralsk, located a 10-minute walk from the station.
There are about 4,600 people living in Fevralsk - very few. The future of the village is connected with the railway, as well as with logging and mining on the territory of the Selemdzhinsky district. Thus, there are plans to build a railway line 144 km to the Ogodzhinsky coal deposit.
Low mountains appeared in the distance - this is the Turan ridge, which railway crosses perpendicularly. The huge uninhabited territories are still surprising.
Midday, extreme southeast of the Amur Region, Isa station.
Crossing the Turana ridge.
Near the road there is a stone with a commemorative plaque and a Cross, which, unfortunately, I did not have time to photograph in time, I noticed it too late. This photo shows that the monument should be illuminated in the dark, as there is a lantern.
Etyrken station is the Khabarovsk Territory. Here the time differs from Moscow time by 7 hours! I have to stay in this time zone for a long time.
On the mountain slopes, in some places you can see whole strips of dried trees, it seems, these are birches.
The serpentine road climbs to the next pass. And finally, the Turan ridge was left behind.
An unfamiliar plant appeared, which is a cross between sea buckthorn and broom.
Station of the station and the village of Alonka. This settlement was built by the inhabitants of Moldova.
Immediately after Alonka, we drove through a very large burnt-out, it is clear that the fire came close to the railway. Low cliffs sometimes approach from the left, then from the right. When there are no rocks, then vast expanses are visible. The vegetation began to change, it became richer, and this is not surprising - in comparison with Hani, the train went down quite significantly to the south, approximately to the latitude of Voronezh. And the ocean has become closer.
The plain began again, a bridge across the Bureya was passed in front of Novy Urgal.
Station Novy Urgal, parking 35 minutes. Stanislav and I went for a walk around the village, went up the tiled path up to the stele "BAM", where we took pictures.
View from the stele down towards the station.
The settlement of Novy Urgal was built by the inhabitants of Ukraine. After a little walk and buying mineral water, we moved on. After 11 km, Urgal 1 station, parking for 18 minutes. The train "Khabarovsk-Chegdomyn" arrived on the next track, the Chegdomyn station is located 17 km from the main branch of the BAM, I would never have thought that a whole train from Khabarovsk goes to this branch! After all, only 15 thousand people live in it! It is noteworthy that in Fevralsk, which has the status of a city, the population is 3 times less.
For some time the branch to Chegdomyn runs in parallel.
For the first time in many days I saw heap-rain clouds, but there was no sense from them.
The Bureinsky ridge appeared - a tough nut to crack on the way of the BAM builders.
We are approaching the Dusse-Alin tunnel. The mountains covered with taiga look very beautiful in the rays of the evening sun.
The Dusse-Alin tunnel has a length of 1806 meters 75 cm. It was pierced in rocks and permafrost back in the fifties. But it so happened that the tunnel was not used then: the construction of the line was suspended. Time has not been kind to the unique structure. Drainage devices fell into disrepair, observation wells were covered with rock. For decades, water and severe cold have destroyed the tunnel. In the end, the tunnel was completely blocked by ice. The railway soldiers had to clear the tunnel and lay the rails. The tunnel was cleared of ice four times faster than the project envisaged. The rails were laid through the tunnel in 2 days!
On the wall of the Urgal 1 station hung a payphone operating on Rostelecom cards. Using the card I had lying around, I called my grandfather, which indescribably surprised the local railroad woman: according to her, in the 2 years that have passed since the installation of the phone, she sees for the first time that someone was talking on it.
The car of the Tynda - Komsomolsk train, in which we boarded, was half empty: it was hitched only in Novy Urgal and it was filled on the way. About 20 minutes after the departure, the conductor decided to clean up the carriage.
“Let me wipe the table for you,” she said happily.
- And we already wiped it, - I answered reproachfully.
- What?
- Napkins, - Katya entered the dialogue.
- Do not wipe the table with paper!
- It was a wet wipe for intimate hygiene.
- It's still impossible!
Dumps of coal mines - in the previous part they were visible from Chegdomyn, and this picture was taken near the Chemchuko junction.
On the rise to the Dusse-Alin tunnel along the river valley. The landscapes of Soloni were pleasing to the eye - on the one hand there were rocky half-cuts, on the other - a mountain river. And all this is on numerous curves. In anticipation of tomorrow, in which we had to walk on foot from the eastern side of the ridge, we rolled into the darkness of the tunnel, immediately after which the arrows of the Dusse-Alin junction began, where we left the train. Despite the vigilance of the station attendant, who looked out several times to see who had arrived with large backpacks, we managed to photograph the tunnel: the permission I had did not include tunnels and bridges, although I applied for them.
Having moved away from the station for a couple of kilometers and descending from a steep and high embankment along the stairs along a large reinforced concrete pipe, from which a rapid stream burst out, we made our way through the thicket to the river called Devil, along the valley of which the railway was laid. Regardless of the name, the place to spend the night turned out to be the first for the whole trip, which was really pleasant for an overnight stay, and did not get out of despair: soft moss pillows, cedar elfin, mighty trees and a river rustling nearby, were happily complemented by the absence of midges.
The next day we went down the river. Hell, where, judging by the map, a great photo shoot should have taken place. However, suspicions about the railway photogenicity of this stretch arose even during the search for an overnight stay. The suspicions were confirmed in full. There are no notches, no rocks, no river flowing along the embankment - only forested hills around.
There was still a lot of time left before the evening train, and few kilometers to the Suluk station. Therefore, we stopped for a long rest in the floodplain of the river. Damn near the railway bridge. Managed to dry all things, including the tent, and pack up before another rain. While we were resting, an armored personnel carrier unexpectedly drove to the river on a semitrailer tractor - people from the tractor took water and drove away. From 8 in the morning, when we woke up, not a single train had passed yet, and I began to worry if an accident had happened somewhere. The first train showed up only at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, dispelling the gathering fears by its appearance.
Soon r. The devil ended her run by flowing into the river. Egono, we got to the Suluk station with an unexpectedly dull train station, identical with the service building - we didn't even immediately figure out which of the buildings was the station. Only later it was possible to find out that once there was a huge railway station in Suluk, but the project was flawed and already in the second year after its construction, the station was closed, as dangerous cracks went along it. Unfortunately, on the spot, I did not know such details and did not photograph the ruins of the station.
The collapsed Suluk railway station. A snapshot from the BAM photo album.
Leaving Katya at the station, I ran to the center of the village to bribe in the store. As in most villages on the BAM, the discrepancy between the large-scale plans and what happened, inspired despondency.
Having got on the train to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a pleasant surprise for us was the beginning of perhaps the most beautiful section of the Eastern BAM - the majestic mountains of the Badzhal ridge to the south of the railway.
Wide rivers, carrying their waters from the mountains into the wide Amgun River, were often encountered. Moreover, interestingly, the Orokot river spilled into 2 branches, more than a kilometer apart from each other, so that the railway was laid along a real river island. Before Orokot, the construction of the crossing of the same name was actively underway - this year it should be put into operation.
An unpleasant addition to the trip was a fellow traveler in a compartment - an aunt of 45-50 years old. She commented on every action and many thoughts aloud: "Now I'm going to get some water", "I need to wash," "I wonder, where does Nikolai?" - this is about the carriage-church to them. Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. And she continued to do this at night - she had to leave in Postyshevo, where the train arrived after midnight.
According to the original plan from Komsomolsk we had to return back to the station at night. Postyshevo (since in the western direction the train goes much more during daylight hours) and take a working train to Gerbi. But reality made its own adjustments: the working train did not run on Saturday, so the plan could not be fully implemented. In addition, by this time we had already decided that since Katya started trying to get sick and coughed regularly, she would live for 2 days in Komsmolsk while I was skating back and forth. It remained to figure out how to act for me in the current situation with the cancellation of the train.
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"Morning of BAM". Artist Marat Samsonov
The correspondent of the "Russian Planet", the author of this article, who got to the construction site as a soldier-railroad worker, recalls how he saw the great Soviet construction site.
Tynda
I got to BAM almost 30 years ago - in the late autumn of 1984. In the capital of BAM - Tynda - I, a junior sergeant-communications officer from a training camp near Moscow, was taken along with a whole echelon of military railway workers.
Here we were met by a dog's cold, at the end of November there were already decent frosts. Immediately I was struck by the local station - there were no such things in those days anywhere else in the USSR: the covered viaduct and exits to the platforms looked like huge transparent corridors, inside which passengers walked back and forth. An unusual structure towered over the entire station complex - two wide columns, each as high as a 9-storey building, stood next to each other, and almost at the very top they were connected by some kind of room that had the shape of a regular polygon. It was the station dispatching office, which then became the unspoken symbol of Tynda, the hallmark of the young city of railway workers.
Our unit was located on a small hill, that is, we had to go downhill, and soon all the arrivals began to have severe shortness of breath. As the fathers-commanders explained to us, the shortness of breath began "from habit", since in Tynda, due to the high, 500 m above sea level, the location of the city there is a lack of oxygen. Later, we learned from the commanders that the natural radiation background in Tynda is slightly increased.
Among the servicemen, Tynda was also famous for the garrison guardhouse, which was commanded by a Georgian major, famous for his rigidity. There were such chilling stories about his cool temper all over the track that not only conscripts, but also officers were afraid to get on this "lip". That is, our first impression of the BAM capital was not very funny. Although the place is beautiful - the city is surrounded by hills, it seems to be at the bottom of a huge pit.
I don't know how it is now, but then - 30 years ago - it was a stretch to call Tynda a city. At best, it was an urban-type settlement, since there was only one city street - Krasnaya Presnya. Only there were modern multi-storey buildings and shops located there. The rest of Tynda mainly consisted of small village houses and construction trailers with stove heating.
If you look at Tynda from a hill in the morning, then during cold weather (and they last about 9 months here) the city is practically invisible. Houses are barely distinguishable, they are like in a thick fog. But this is not fog, but smoke from stoves. Smoke was everywhere, so the snow in the city was light gray. When another snow fell in the afternoon, everything turned white again for a short time. Therefore, the snowdrifts in Tynda had a layered-striped structure - layers of white snow alternated with gray soot.
The harsh climate and permafrost, on which Tynda and almost the entire eastern section of the BAM were erected, made very serious adjustments to the construction. High-rise buildings were built on piles, but something else was surprising - the houses seemed to be hanging on these piles, that is, they were at a meter height from the ground. There was nothing in the gap between the ground and the house - there were winds and cats walking. The window frames had three rows of glass. All this was done solely for the sake of warmth, which in these parts is worth its weight in gold.
In those days, the capital of the last Komsomol construction site was well supplied with food and manufactured goods. In the local department store, some imported jeans, Adidas sneakers and Salamander shoes were lying quietly, various household appliances were on the shelves. In the bookstore one could buy Dumas and Zoshchenko, and in the grocery stores - coffee, sausage, mayonnaise, butter, condensed milk, buckwheat, milk powder and egg powder. All this "on the mainland" was a terrible deficit. My friends and I immediately pounced on condensed milk, which was sold in bulk, and ate so much that then, even after several years, we could not look at it. From Tynda I sent home several parcels with books.
Here I saw for the first time Soviet canned food intended for abroad. How they got to Tynda - I don’t know, but then all of us were very impressed: the usual "Mackerel in oil" had such a beautiful glossy label with inscriptions in English and French that caused pride in their country. Like, we can do it when we want.
The problems here were with perishable food. At BAM I have never seen real milk, kefir, sour cream and cottage cheese. It was also difficult to find normal - not frozen - potatoes. Many vegetables and fruits, especially apples and pears, were Chinese. Although in those days, relations between China and the USSR were truly hostile.
This is how the capital of BAM lived, but on the highway itself, living conditions and supplies were, of course, much worse.
BAM warriors
The most difficult sections of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, where civilian specialists simply refused to work, built railway troops (ZhDV). The conditions in which the military railroad workers served were often simply inhuman.
The railway battalions, as during the war, were not directly named by their military numbers (for example, military unit 30976), but had plaques with the inscription "farm" and then the name of the unit commander followed. For example, if the battalion commander was some major Ivanov, then there was a sign in front of the checkpoint with the inscription "Ivanov's economy." This "secrecy" was explained by the proximity of the Chinese border.
Military units were located right next to the section of the highway that was being built or being completed, that is, directly in the taiga. And the taiga in those places, although beautiful, is extremely unfriendly - permafrost, Mary - bottomless frozen swamps, mosquitoes and gnats. Add to this 35-50-degree frosts and 9 months of winter. Spring and autumn here last no more than two weeks. Summer is also very short, as they say here “June is not summer yet, July is not summer anymore”.
The Mekhbat, where we were sent from Tynda, like all similar units, stood on the so-called "dump." This meant that sand with a total area of \u200b\u200babout 3 km2 was poured directly onto the haze swamp from above. The sand layer was about 1 meter thick. This "dump" housed a mechanized battalion with all its infrastructure.
It turned out that the battalions actually lived in the swamps all year round. Swamp pathogenic microbes led to the fact that any wounds on the body did not heal, but began to rot for a long time and painfully. Even a minor mosquito bite that was combed could lead to the formation of a non-healing funnel, rotting right down to the bone. Among the military, it was called the "BAM rose". For some reason, no medications had any effect on the “roses”. Therefore, the soldiers often simply burned them with cigarettes or cigarettes. True, this also did not always help. The marks on the body from the "roses" remained for life and resembled traces of severe smallpox.
The BAM warriors were not fed very well. Porridge began to alternate with pasta. In the morning they were given "butter". It was supposed to be creamy, but it was mixed with some kind of fats, and from this everyone had wild heartburn. The "butter" was very frozen and it was impossible to spread it on bread, so they ate it with a bite, dipping it into hot tea. On holidays, boiled eggs, caramel candies and cookies were given.
Sometimes there was “mashed potatoes” made from ice cream. The puree was dark brown in color and had a disgusting sweet taste. The frozen potatoes themselves were cleaned exclusively in mittens, since it is impossible to hold an icicle potato in your hands for a long time - you will freeze your palms. Because of this "puree", many had stomach pains, and some had dysentery.
Until a bakery was built in the unit, we were fed with the so-called “bread for geological parties”. Each loaf of this "bread" was hermetically sealed in a plastic bag with alcohol vapor, as a result the loaf did not stale for 2 months. True, this "bread" had a persistent rubbery taste and was disgusting to eat, but there was no other.
When their own bakery appeared, they began to make bread - white wheat and black rye. White turned out to be almost excellent, but there was not much of him and there was not enough for everyone, so he went mainly to officers, demobels and Caucasians. But with black bread there were big problems. For some reason, it was not baked at all: the crust burned to coals, and inside there was a batter. It was half the size of an ordinary loaf and looked rather creepy - all black and black, like a burnt firebrand. It was this "bread" that was fed to the soldiers. When I was going to "demobilize", I hid one such loaf to show at home what we were fed with, but the political officer who searched our suitcases took away the "bread" and with the words "why do you need this in civilian life?" threw it somewhere.
We had no money, but even if we did, there was practically nothing to buy with it. The caravans that came once every two weeks were completely bought up either by officers or by Caucasians. However, there was no special assortment there: cigarettes, cookies, sweets, condensed milk, tomato juice... There was also the cologne "Sasha", which the soldiers were strictly forbidden to buy, since many people used it inside.
It was possible to receive treatment only in the medical unit. In our medical unit, there were three people who, rather conditionally, could be called doctors, because only the eldest of them had an incomplete medical education - he was expelled from the 4th year of the medical institute. And the other two played the role of nurses, having only a school certificate in their hearts. They "cured" all diseases with the help of the "army triad" (analgin-aspirin-amidopyrine), adding to this set in wild quantities soldier's vitamins and obligatory "occupational therapy" - the preparation of firewood and cleaning the premises. Once I had a terrible tooth ache, and it was pulled out in the medical unit without any anesthesia with ordinary pliers. The jaw after this "operation" ached for several months.
Railway officers, as a rule, lived in construction trailers. But the soldiers slept even in 50-degree frost in army tents, where stoves "a la bourgeois" were installed, made from 200-liter iron barrels. Through the entire tent stretched a "cardan" - an exhaust pipe, which heated the area around it 2 meters. As a result, the temperature regime in the tent in winter was very peculiar: the water froze on the lower tier, and the heat + 40-45 degrees on the upper one.
Of particular note are the toilets. If in Tynda the staff toilets had electric heaters, then there was no heating in the toilets on the highway. It is clear that all human waste in such conditions quickly froze, forming gigantic, terrible-smelling ice "stalagmites". Periodically, they had to be removed so that they did not interfere with the further process. The cleaning was carried out by especially guilty soldiers, who, like miners in a face, hammered the frozen excrement with crowbars and axes.
The water was imported, and it was only enough for cooking and sometimes for the officers' bath. The "water carrier" - a car that carried water - often broke down, and then it was necessary to melt snow and ice in large tanks. Due to the lack of water, the soldiers went around unwashed for several months. Everyone had lice from this, and there was only one way to get rid of them: to completely wash out with gasoline, diesel fuel or kerosene. But only an old-time employee could get the required amount of these oil distillation products.
The morals among the BAM soldiers and officers who were truly enraged by such a life were also wild. We were brought to the battalion from Tynda after midnight, but the local "grandfathers" greeted us as expected: they beat us until 6 in the morning, that is, until we got up. Not a single officer ever showed up at night.
Terrible hazing was combined with fellow countrymen and ethnic hatred. At the same time, in our mechbat there were guys from almost all of the Union: Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Lithuanians, Moldovans, Ukrainians, Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Chechens, Ingush and Russians.
In my platoon there were Armenians and Azerbaijanis from Nagorno-Karabakh, who were so hostile that sometimes ordinary everyday quarrels ended in stabbing. Azerbaijanis constantly and cruelly mocked the young soldiers.
The officer corps of our unit was formed in Ukraine. And even then it was clear that terry nationalism was flourishing there. With great surprise, I learned then from the Slavic brothers that Ukraine "saw in its grave" impoverished Russia, which the Ukrainians feed and drink, and that without Russia Ukraine would live like the United States, because Muscovites do not know how to work.
The officers constantly severely beat the soldiers. Once I witnessed a bloody skirmish between two senior lieutenants: one nearly killed the other in the heart with a steel fork. The incident was immediately hushed up by employees of the military prosecutor's office, which was created, apparently, in order "not to wash dirty linen in public." By the way, the soldiers were not given a fork, fearing the massive nature of such incidents.
There were no weapons in the railway units on the track. It was dangerous to have a weapon in such conditions: the people could simply shoot each other.
Route-84
Anyone who drove 30 years ago through areas of the BAM open to traffic involuntarily had a feeling of the recent hostilities. Everywhere along the road lay a variety of twisted and half-disassembled tractors, dump trucks, excavators, trucks, railway platforms and even trains.
The post-war sensation intensified when in the summer drained peat bogs began to burn along the entire route. Then the fire and smoke stretched for hundreds of kilometers, since no one extinguished them: it was useless.
Oddly enough, but in those socialist times on the BAM there was a lot of construction equipment from the "capitalist countries". Japanese cranes "Kato" and excavators "Komatsu", American bulldozers "Caterpillar" and dump trucks "Magirus" from Germany. However, there were also Tatra dump trucks from socialist Czechoslovakia.
Some of the methods of operating the railway itself were also surprising.
For example, in some places the ground supports of bridges - bulls - looked very strange. They looked like some kind of giant hedgehogs, since they were all in huge "needles". In fact, these "needles" were large hollow tubes that were unusual refrigerators! They freeze and anchor the soil around them. The principle of operation of such refrigerators is original and simple: kerosene was poured into the pipes, which, cooling down in winter, sank to the bottom. Even in summer period such refrigerators would freeze the soil within a radius of 1.5-2 meters.
Dean Reed on the set of the video
Since many sections of the BAM and bridges were built by the military, the quality of these facilities was terrible. Therefore, train crashes happened very often on the track. For this reason, civilian railroad workers in those days moved on the main line with great caution.
To ferry the freight train across the dangerous bridge, the railroad workers acted cunningly. Before the unreliable bridge, the driver would stop the train, get out of the cab, and walk to the other end of the bridge. The assistant driver cut in the quietest move and immediately jumped to the ground in front of the bridge. The train slowly walked across the bridge without people. At the opposite end of the bridge, the driver jumped into it, who stopped the train and waited for the assistant to come running up. And only after this procedure did they start moving again.
The people came "to the track" very different. Among the BAM workers, there were also absolutely asocial personalities: vagabonds, ex-convicts, criminals, chronic alcoholics, people without documents, hiding from law enforcement agencies and simply degraded. On the route they were called "scourges", and the places where they lived were called "bicharni". The authorities and the military were afraid of "scourges", because no one knew what to expect from them. The "scourges" lived in small, isolated colonies, organizing the same separate brigades, which competed very fiercely with each other for money.
I didn’t have a chance to see real Komsomol members, whom the Komsomol ticket called on the road, and romantics who traveled “behind the fog and the smell of the taiga”. Most of the BAM builders in the 1980s still just wanted to make money, since they paid very well at first. Therefore, the local hard workers remade the song “about the fog” as follows: “And I'm going, and I'm going for money, only fools go for the fog”.
Many expected to accumulate a decent amount in order to leave and buy "on the mainland" housing or a car. That is, people perceived work at BAM as temporary in order to earn extra money and go home. But this did not work for everyone and not always. Life sucked in. In addition, in the 80s, paying became worse and it was already more difficult to save the required amounts. As a rule, there was nothing and nowhere to go.
Dean Reed's songs about BAM
