The Alma-Ata Children's Railway (russian: Алма-Атинская детская железная дорога, Alma-Atinskaya detskaya zheleznaya doroga) is a

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

children's railway in

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, which was called Alma-Ata from 1921 to 1993. The main route of the track had a gauge of and a length of . It was inaugurated on 13 September 1952 as one of many

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

railways in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and on 20 July 1997 it was temporarily decommissioned. Since 2006 it has operated as a ridable

miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petrol ...

for entertainment rather than an educational purpose.

History

In the summer of 1952, the

Pioneer Organization The Pioneer Organization ( ro, Organizaţia Pionierilor) was a pioneer movement in Communist Romania, founded on April 30, 1949. Most students joined the organization while in the second grade and remained pioneers throughout eighth grade, there ...

and the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

of Alma-Ata built the railway loop, a wooden platform, and a wooden station building in Alma-Ata's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

. Initially, the overhauled

Kolomna Kolomna ( rus, Колóмна, p=kɐˈlomnə) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva River, Moskva and Oka Rivers, (by rail) southeast of Moscow. Populati ...

type 63/65 locomotive ''UP-40'' and two self-built wooden passenger carriages were used. The

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

was replaced in 1958 by a

TU2 diesel locomotive TU2 (ТУ2) is a Soviet narrow gauge diesel locomotive for the track gauge of History The decision to replace steam locomotives by diesel ones on the narrow gauge railways was taken after the Second World War. The first diesel locomotive bu ...

and three

Pafawag Pafawag (Państwowa Fabryka Wagonów) (English: National Rail Carriage Factory) is a Polish locomotive manufacturer based in Wrocław. The company became part of Adtranz in 1997 as Adtranz Pafawag, and in 2001 part of Bombardier Transportation. I ...

-built metal passenger carriages. The same year, a new building for the Section Manager and the dual track ''Komsomolskaya'' railway station were inaugurated. Four PV40 (PV51) Kazakh railway carriages were acquired in the mid-1980s, and the diesel locomotive TU7A-2921 was acquired in 1986. Both

railroad switch A railroad switch (), turnout, or ''set ofpoints () is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction or where a spur or siding branches off. The most common ty ...

es at the ''Komsomolskaya'' station were equipped with electric actuators in 1993. ''

Pavlik Morozov Pavel Trofimovich Morozov (russian: link=no, Па́вел Трофи́мович Моро́зов; 14 November 1918 – 3 September 1932), better known by the diminutive Pavlik, was a Soviet youth praised by the Soviet press as a martyr. ...

'' station was renamed ''Dostyk'' ( Kazakh for "friendship") and ''Komsomolskaya'' station was renamed ''Zhastar'' ("youth"). In 1995 wireless communication were installed between the stations and locomotives. The Kazakh government railway

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy Kazakhstan Temir Joly (KTJ; kk, Қазақстан Темір Жолы, Qazaqstan Temır Joly (QTJ)), also National Company Kazakhstan Temir Joly, is the national railway company of Kazakhstan. Organization Founded by the government in 2002 as ...

transferred the railway to the city council, which manages Central Park. The City Council suspended operations on the railway on 20 July 1997 due to commercial considerations. Within a month, the locomotive was vandalised and the carriages were removed from the track to be used as sales pavilions.

Current use

Central Park was privatized in 1999, and the track and one of the stations was subsequently restored. The railway currently operates as a private enterprise using a miniature Italian diesel locomotive built to look like a steam locomotive with three open carriages. A fake tunnel that is too small for any of the traditional locomotives or carriages has been erected over the railway track. Prior to entering the tunnel, actors playing Native Americans sometimes pretend to attack the train. Inside the tunnel, the railway sometimes puts on a puppet show. At the end of August 2001, the wooden ''Dostyk'' station building burned down.

Cultural significance

Russian railway enthusiasts complain that the Alma-Ata Children's Railway has changed from an educational organisation, where children and youths were educated to become future railway workers, to a conventional ridable

, where children are just customers and do not take responsibility for operating the railway. However, it is the only children's railway in Kazakhstan, and its operation and ridership have been stable since privatization.

References

{{Coord, 43.25803, N, 76.96885, E, display=title Children's railways Railway lines in Kazakhstan 750 mm gauge railways in Kazakhstan Railway lines opened in 1952 Transport in Almaty 1952 establishments in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic