Children's Railways of the former USSR – Past and Present

Where Can We Find the ChRWs?

Stop the cursor on an interesting point, and you will see the name of city.
Click a mouse button on a city sign, and you will open on page about this ChRW.

The first children's railway in the world was opened in Tiflis (Tbilisi), Georgia on 24^th July, 1935. Within six years before the war not less than 20 children's railways had been built in the country. Many of them were built in the areas invaded by the Nazi and were destroyed during the war. Almost all other children's railways also ceased their activities. After 1945 a number of children's railways were restored. A lot of new ones were built.

Next two waves of the construction of the children's railways took place in the middle of 1950s and in 1970s. Then the construction was temporary suspended again. By the time of the USSR breakdown the number of operating "small" railways had mounted to 52.

During the recent decade some of the children's railways were closed or dismantled. It happened not only because of the economic crises but also because of the lack of attention from the "big brothers", i.e. railway's departments and city authorities. In Russia the number of the children's railways reduced to twenty. However recently the situation has changed for the better. New railways are being built (Penza, Liski). The existing railways are being upgraded (Chelyabinsk, St.Petersburg).

It is not easy to determine the precise number of the children's railways and to collect the information about them. Below you can find a list of 80 children's railways known to us (including formerly operating but presently closed ones). Quite often we come across the fact that people have no idea about the children's railway operating in their home town. Look through this list and maybe you will find your own town in it.

Sorry, the English version of the Links below is coming!
In some cases of the links "Previous"-"More" can work not correctly.
(It can transfer to the Russian version of the site).

 

ARMENIA (2)
Gyumri (Leninakan)
Yerevan

AZERBAIJAN (2)
Baku
Nakhychivan (Nakhichevan)

BELORUSSIA (2)
Gomel
Minsk

ESTONIA (2)
Kohtla-Järve (Kokhtla-Jarve) (never realised project)
Vääna-Jõesuu (Vaana-Joesuu) (never realised project)

GEORGIA (4)
Khashuri
Poti
Rustavi
Tbilisi (Tiflis)

KAZAKHSTAN (14)
Aktyobe (Aktyubinsk)
Almaty (Alma-Ata)
Astana (Akmola, Tselinograd)
Atbasar, Akmola region
Derzhavinsk (Arkalyk), Akmola region
Ekibastuz, Pavlodar region
Karaghandy (Karaganda)
Kokshetau (Kokchetav)
Kostanay (Kustanay)
Pavlodar
Schuchinsk (Kurort Borovoje st.), Akmola region
Semey (Semipalatinsk), Shyghys-Kazakhstan region
Shymkent (Chimkent)
Zhezkazghan (Dzhezkazghan), Karaghandy region

LATVIA (1)
Riga

LITHUANIA (3)
Anykschiai (Aniktchyay)
Ignalina
Vilnius

RUSSIA (28)
Abakan (never realised project)
Chelyabinsk
Chita
Irkutsk
Khabarovsk
Krasnoyarsk
Kratovo, Moscow region
Kurgan
Liski (Georgiu-Dezh), Voronezh region
Moscow, Gorky Park
Moscow, Izmailovsky Park (never realised project)
Murmansk (project)
Nizhniy Novgorod (Gorkiy)
Novomoskovsk, Tula region
Novosibirsk (project)
Orenburg
Penza
Rostov-na-Donu
St.Petersburg (Leningrad)
Svobodny (Mikhaylo-Chesnokovskaya st.), Amur region
Tumen
Ufa
Uzhur, Krasnoyarsk region
Vladikavkaz (Ordzhonikidze)
Volgograd (Stalingrad)
Yaroslavl
Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk)
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

TURKMENISTAN (1)
Ashgabat (Ashkhabad)

UKRAINE (20)
Bakhmach, Chernihiv region
Bryanka, Luhansk region
Dnipropetrovsk (Dnepropetrovsk)
Donetsk
Kerch, Crimea
Kharkiv (Kharkov)
Kommunarsk, Luhansk region
Konotop, Sumy region
Kyiv (Kiev)
Lutsk
Lviv (Lvov)
Makiivka (Makejevka), Donetsk region
Melitopol, Zaporizhzhya region
Odesa (Odessa) – Children's tramway line
Rivne (Rovno)
Uzhhorod (Uzhgorod)
Vinnytsya (Vinnitsa)
Yevpatoriya, Crimea
Zaporizhzhya (Zaporozhie)

UZBEKISTAN (2)
Kokand
Toshkent (Tashkent)

ChRWs status:
Operating
Closed/Dismantled
Maintained by grown-ups
Never realised project
Incomplete information

English version:
Section translated.
Not translated. Russian version available only!

The children's railways also exist in other countries: Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, China, Cuba. You can read about some of them if you click Links.

Sometimes we hear about the children's railways operating in other towns but in fact they turn out to be either roundabouts with small carriages or they are served by grown-ups. So, they have nothing to do with the children's railways.