Zaporizhzhya Children's Railway

Among the initiators of the creation of the Railways are the head of the Dnieper Railway Lomonosov (who was a graduate of the Rostov Railways ), the Komsomol members of the electric locomotive repair plant and the Kommunar automobile plant ^{[2] [3]} . They also chose the place of construction of the railway - Dnieper floodplains near the Zaporozhye-1 station and the car factory buildings. Komsomol members announced the month of collecting scrap metal for future railroad tracks, and Zaporizhzhya schoolchildren collected more than one and a half thousand tons of metal, which went to the "pioneer smelting" ^[3] .

The proceeds were used to continue the construction of the railway. By the middle of May 1972, all construction work was completed, 3.46 km of tracks were laid on sand ballast, thus equipping three stations: Zhovtnevaya (Oktyabrskaya), Sportivnaya and Young Chapaevtsy with an intermediate platform Pionerskaya. A diesel locomotive TU2-077, a steam locomotive Kp4 -456 and five wagons were delivered to the railway ^[3] .

The grand opening of the Railways took place on May 19, 1972 on the day of the 50th anniversary of the pioneer organization . The meeting was attended by the leaders of local authorities and the Dnieper Railway. Exactly at 14.00 the first train departed from Oktyabrskaya station, which was controlled by a young engineer Gennady Stasenko, who later became the head of the Zaporozhye-2 locomotive depot. Organization of train traffic was carried out by telephone, and subsequently by the electric rail system ^[3] . At the final stop, the electric locomotive turned on special arrows and stood in the head of the train ^[4] .

At the main station - Zhovtneva - a train station and a two-bed locomotive depot were built. Of the rolling stock on the road was a TU2-077 diesel locomotive , a P24 locomotive and 5 Pafawag wagons .

Raisa Kozak, who became the head of the Railway since its formation as an independent unit of the Dnieper Railway, in April 1973 created a children's brass band. Subsequently, a vocal-instrumental ensemble, a cinema, photo, a circle of railway modeling, a sports section also appeared on the DZhD ^[3] . Raisa Kozak was the head of the Railway until September 2012 ^[5] .

Since November 1973, they began to prepare a project for the construction of the second stage of the children's railway, and in May 1974 they began to lay it down. Additionally, stops were built Obelisk of Glory, Komsomolskaya, Rowing Canal. A locomotive, five wagons and two freight platforms were received. The grand opening of the second stage of the Railways took place on May 17, 1975.

In 1973, the second turn of the road was built - the road closed in a loop around the rowing canal, while its length increased to 9.4 km (including the length of the main track - 8.6 km), while the Oktyabrskaya station remained dead-end. In 1975, replenishment arrived on the road - another TU2 diesel locomotive, 5 Pafawag wagons and 2 freight platforms. Also on the road were opened circles of railway modeling , a music studio, sports sections.

In September 1976, a zoo corner was opened at the Oktyabrskaya station, the first inhabitant of it was the Kuzya bear. From the reserve " Askania Nova " brought 18 species of rare birds. Now the zoo has become a real zoo where children look after animals. Subsequently, most stops were renamed. In particular, the Pionerskaya and Komsomolskaya stations were given the names of young heroes of World War II, operating in the region ^[3] .

In 1980, another TU2 diesel locomotive arrived on the road, and most of the stopping points were renamed.

October 29, 1982 on the Day of the Komsomol Zaporizhzhya Children's Railway awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize ^[6] .

In 1983-84, there was a significant re-equipment of the railway ^[3] . All Pafawag wagons were decommissioned, and instead, the road received 6 PV51 wagons , which are still in use. A four-story training and laboratory complex was built (commissioned in 1985 ^[2] ), where all the former circles were placed and new ones opened: dance, choral ^[3] .

In 1990, a hill was laid over the line of the children's railway in the direction of the nearby housing estate , in which a tunnel was laid. Gates were arranged on the portals of the tunnel, and now the tunnel is used for sludge cars.

In the mid-1990s, DZhD received the TU7-3108 diesel locomotive , which has since become the main one.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, up to a thousand young railway workers were engaged in circles working on the children's railway every year. The training was conducted in the railway professions - from the conductor and the driver to the station manager. In the summer there was a practice in which all the work was done by the students themselves. Young railway workers worked in a locomotive depot, serviced the passenger station, switch facilities and more. This practice led to the fact that about 30-45% of students chose a profession related to the railway ^[7] .

In the spring of 2002, the road was reconstructed: Zhovtnevaya station was thoroughly repaired, platforms were repaired, tracks were laid. Then the first diesel locomotive TU2-077 was decommissioned.

In 2006, young railway workers traveled to exchange experiences on the railway in Berlin .

At the Zhovtnevaya station in the 1970s, a steam locomotive Kp4-456 was installed on a pedestal. In April-May 2012, during the next painting, instead of a five-pointed star, a Ukrainian trident was painted on a steam locomotive ^[8] , but subsequently the trident was removed.

In 2012, on the eve of May 9, at the stop “30 years of Victory”, a memorial complex with eternal flame was opened ^[9] .

In connection with decommunization, the Oktyabrskaya ( Zhovtnevaya ) station in 2016 was renamed to the Yuzhnaya ( Pivdennaya ) station.

Today Zaporizhzhya children's railway is one of the best roads in Ukraine. She works all year round, and on vacation days every day except Mondays and Tuesdays. Since August 12, 2012, the head of the ZHDZhD is Chernenko Mikhail Ivanovich ^[5] .

It was planned that in 2013 more than UAH 700 thousand will be allocated for the development and maintenance of the Railways ^[10] .

Graduates

The graduates of the Railways were staffed by teams of Zaporizhzhya, Melitopol, and Simferopol railway junctions. In a 2012 interview, Raisa Kozak noted that almost a third of the staff of the Zaporizhzhya railway junction are graduates of the Railways who work in the directorate of the Dnieper Railway, station managers, station attendants, and dispatchers ^[2] .

• 69118, Ukraine , Zaporozhye , Privokzalnaya street (formerly Lunacharsky), 1
• Tel for inquiries: +38 (061) 764-41-44

• List of children's railways

• Zaporizhzhya Railways on the website of Dmitry Sutyagin
• Archived copy of the zdz.ho.ua page ( unopened ) (inaccessible link) . Archived on May 9, 2012.
• Krizhanovskaya N.Ya., Usacheva E.Yu. Children's railways of Ukraine . - Kharkov: KNAGH, 2008.
• Akbash Roman. October, 1982 . - True , 04/21/2011. - No. 16 (227) .
• Zvonareva Olga. Zaporizhzhya Railway - the pride of the region . - Region Express, 04.24.2012. - No. 17 (245) . - S. 5 . Archived on May 7, 2012.
• Kozlova Irina. Black Express . - Zaporіzka true , 05/08/2012.
• Loganov Єvgen. Vіchno yuna dityacha zalіznitsya . - Zaporіzka true, 05/19/2012.
• Noskov Vladimir. Further development of Zaporizhzhya Railways depends on personnel decisions . - True, 09/12/2012. - No. 36 .
• Photo: zabor.zp.ua • godrivefly.com
• Zaporizhzhya Children's Railway on Wikimapia