Introduction to today's journey
Today's journey takes me across the Siberian wilderness towards Moscow, making numerous stops including the city of Krasnoyarsk in the middle of the day, and Novosibirsk in the late evening.
Today's Journey
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The sun rises over the pine and silver birch forest in the remote depths of Siberia. The temperature outside is a little below zero. |
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We pass the occasional remote cabin as we continue westward through the Siberian wilderness having left the Angara River in the middle of the night. |
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Stopping at one of many stations in each town as passengers from the 3rd class crowded cabins get on and off. |
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Passing an old steam engine which once crawled along the original Trans Siberian railway at little more than walking speed when it was first opened about a hundred years ago. The original track was very rough, but has vastly improved during the Soviet times. |
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Crossing the Ob River as we pass thorugh Novosibirsk, Siberia's largest city and the third largest in Russia (after Moscow and St Petersburg). This is the 7th longest river in the world at 3700 kilometres in length, and the westermost of the three great Siberian rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean. |
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More cabins along the remote Siberian route. |
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Passing through another station with trains loaded with ore to be taken across different parts of Russia. The mountains in the background are a small part of the Siberian Traps, an enormous volcanic flood basalt eruption forming much of what is now Siberia wiping out 95% of the world's species over the million years it erupted. |
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One of many ore trains that pass us in this autumn landscape. |
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Crossing another river winding its way through the Siberian Plains northwards towards the Arctic Ocean. |
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The sun sets an hour and a half later than it had yesterday due to having travelled 20 degrees longitude from Irkutsk. |
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