International Railroad Discussion > Armenia, part 2. Regional Trains

As noted in the trainboard in yesterday's post, there are 5 round trip regional trains departing from the Yerevan Railway Station.
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,4497661

I was eager to see what the Armenian Railway system had to offer, after reading the alluring description on Caravanistan.com

"there are daily local trains connecting Yerevan with... ...these are mostly of interest to train lovers, sniffers of couleur locale and slow travel enthusiasts."

I was pleased to see that at least one trainset was an ancient turret cab configuration, which I had also seen in Ukraine in 2016 but didn't have time to linger and really enjoy all the curved lines. A little Googling might tell us the details, but I didn't need to know the details, just wanted to spend time appreciating the product itself. (Though I'm now curious as to where else in the former Soviet Union they might still be running the turret cabs, or other types of styles long gone from the North American rail scene.)

One other set was a boxy sort of cab set.

Armenia is at war with Azerbaijan (and has been since 1993 or so, but any shooting seems to be only symbolic nowadays), so there were a few places with soldiers deployed to watch for any shenanigans. The train station had soldiers one of the times I was there, who held their forearms in an "x" shape and said "nyet" and maybe a few words of English after I took my first photo. The other times no such problems.

Photos

1) Train 682 (I think), Yerevan to Gyumri, on the right (light engines on the left).

2) Interior photo

3) Photo of 682 and the platform side of the station, seen from the adjacent subway station.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/18 23:33 by gobbl3gook.

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The next day I made sure I was at the station to see train 686 depart at 14:30, also for Gyumri.

Unfortunately it didn't have a turret cab, but was still a perfectly handsome train.

There didn't seem to be any issues with walking on the tracks here. No fences, no signs. The housing towers had garages and storage buildings built up close to the tracks, with no differntiation between apartment-controlled land and railroad controlled land. And in many places in Yerevan (and elsewhere) there are footpaths across tracks and yards used by people going to work, going shopping, going to school, etc. I'd just try not to wear bright clothes, and wander on through like the locals. Just south of here were some yards, and (I recall) I was politely motioned to leave by a security person when I got close to the engine facility. (Pics tomorrow).

4) Departing the station

5) Passing by me at the Rostovyan St. Bridge

6) Turning right at the junction to head west and eventually north to Gyumri

Photo location https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1502473,44.50782,458m/data=!3m1!1e3

Photos taken late October, 2017



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/18 23:16 by gobbl3gook.

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Bonus pics:

Exploring the city after watching 686, I came across a large market. With

7) Sturgeon (pretty tragic circumstances for these ancient fish)

8) Spices (I bought some saffron)

9) Dried fruit, some with almonds pressed into them.

I bought a tray of the fruit with almonds. It served me well, whenever anyone would invite me to share food with them (at a hostel, roadside shepherds, etc.) I'd pull out the fruit and have something nice to offer them in return.

Note, also, the incandescent lighting at the market. Central Asia, like most places in the world, has converted over to LEDs and Compact Fluorescents. I find the light from these really garish. Especially in places where the items on display are supposed to be beautiful and enticing. Or in places with classic, warm architecture. Like markets, cathedrals, train stations, etc. I've been through dozens of ancient churches and classic train stations with horrific compact fluorescent lighting, it makes the art and architecture look awful, to my eye, cold, greenish, and hard to see because of the high contrast with the bare CF bulbs all over the facility. I was pleased to see that the fruit vendors at the market had it right, though. I'm guessing they sell more dried apricots when lit with incandescent than with LEDs.

Photo location
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1674226,44.5151557,379m/data=!3m1!1e3

Questions, comments?

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That EMU is a RVR (Riga Carriage Works) built ER1.

Edit; my mistake, fellow TO member Steinzeit has pointed out it's an ER2